“Rule your mind or it will rule you.” — Horace

As a collection of ideas that were divided into three parts, it is important to appreciate every part on its own and the power it has to help us grow. If we improve on how we learn, think, and act, we are closer to unlocking our potential.

We have learned the importance of learning, thinking, and doing, and the interconnectedness between the three when it comes to personal growth. In a large way, the meaning of life is growth. We constantly have the need to grow.

Where does growth comes from? It is an important question that has many potential answers. The hope for growth is what gets us up in the morning and improve our life, whether we want to attain enlightenment or push our ideas forward. Even those of us who already are successful still strive to grow in the future. When we grow, we challenge what we can achieve and go beyond what we see as currently possible.

The thesis we posed at the beginning of the book was that our thinking can make us or it can break us. We entrap ourselves in our thinking by the way we think. To some extent we all live in our own world that limits our potential. By applying the lessons contained in this book, we can find a way to escape from our mental prison. It requires a continuous effort that goes beyond this book. It’s up to you to continue the work.

While initially written as reminders to myself and expanded into chapters for this book, the elements contained in this book are meant to be a starting point to reflect on your life. I’m still struggling how to live within purpose, how to attain equanimity, develop an independent spirit, and have more bias for action. Trust me, there are a lot of things I still have to learn. Writing this book was an exercise in crystallizing my thoughts and developing a blueprint that can help me to grow in my own life.

With any book that simplifies its message to a wider audience, there is only so much you can say. In order to keep the chapters brief and easy to read, I couldn’t go into as much depth as I wanted. The good thing is that with your curiosity and the help of the internet, you can dig deeper into anything that you want to explore further.

We have learned through stories and anecdotes on how to become a better thinker. We should now have a better understanding of how we can grow as an individual. We have discovered new ways to grow and also learned what not to do.

I hope you have left inspired and start to see the world and yourself with new eyes. If any of the seeds offered here help you to grow in the future, even if it is just in a small way, then the book has served its purpose.

We cannot sit back and wait for things to happen. After finishing this book, it is time to start the real work. It is your task to go out into the world and make things happen. And in the end, we need to learn to take responsibility and stay self-reliant. As Latin writer and former slave Publius Syrus understood, “Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.”

Rule Over Self: Epilogue