This week's book: "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen.
"Circumstances do not make the man; they reveal him."
James Allen
Can a book written in 1903 still teach us something about living in 2026?
Last week we found that Dale Carnegie's 1936 classic holds up remarkably well. This week's book is even older, and even smaller. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen is barely more than an essay, but it carries one very important idea: our thoughts shape who we become.
Allen compares the mind to a garden. You can tend it with care or let it run wild, but either way, something grows. His line of reasoning is simple and, I think, right on: our thoughts drive our actions, our repeated actions become our habits, and our habits shape our character and the whole direction of our lives. "Mind is the master weaver," he writes. What we think, we eventually become.
I read this little book years ago. I'm curious how I’ll feel now, at 64, with a lot more life experience behind me.
And I'll be honest with you, because that's the deal I have with you: I’m not buying all of it.
That quote at the top is the book's most famous line, and it's the one I wrestle with. "Circumstances do not make the man; they reveal him." There's a real truth in it. Hard times absolutely reveal what we're made of. But taken too far, it goes to something I have a hard time with, the idea that people simply think their way into their circumstances, good or bad. Tell that to a child born into poverty, or a good person hit with an illness they did nothing to cause. Our thinking matters enormously, sure, but it is certainly not the only thing that matters. Life deals real hands, and we are not all dealt the same one.
So that's the rub I want to explore this week. How much of our lives really does begin in the space between our ears, and where does that idea stop being empowering and start being unfair?
Here's the promise for the week: by Saturday you'll have the genuinely useful ideas from this little book, my take on where I think it overreaches, and a way to put its best idea to work without taking on the parts that don't hold up.
One last thing, and it's a shift for All Star Mentors. After 14 straight weeks of a book a week, I've realized something: the goal was never to read more books. It's to get more out of the ones we do read. The last thing I want is for these books to start running together in your mind. That won’t help you get anywhere.
Starting next week, I'm slowing down. We'll spend two full weeks on one great book, Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy. Quality over quantity. If you're only going to grab one book right now, make it that one.
Quick question to start this week: how much of where you are today do you think came from your thinking, and how much from your circumstances? It’s a tough question but hit reply and let me know, if you want. I’d love to hear where people come down on this one.
I'll go first: I've come to believe it's both, seriously. And that’s not a cop out. My thinking has opened some doors and closed others. I’ve already shared many of them with you. But I've also been dealt some lucky hands and some hard ones I didn't choose. The wisdom, I think, is in acknowledging the part that’s your own, while still dealing with the rest.
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Talk tomorrow,
Mike
Helping you become the best version of yourself