PROFITING BY EXPERIENCE
_Experience comes by contact._ There is no way we can have experiences
without passing directly through them. If we are up and doing they come
thick and fast into our lives, some of them weighted down by the
peculiar twists and turns of circumstances, others simple, easily
understood, and still others complicated to the point of not being
understood at all.
People are divided into two classes--_those who profit by experience and
those who do not_. The unfortunate part of it all is that the latter
class is by far the larger of the two.
The man of vigorous purpose, fine constitution, and the full knowledge
of self, sees through an experience as clearly as through a window. The
glass may be foggy, but he knows what lies beyond. Self-reliant and
strong he seeks knowledge through experience, while the weak man, the
unhealthy-minded, the inefficient, stands aside and gives him the right
of way. In later years, however, they bitterly complain that they were
not given the same chance to succeed.
The man of experience having long since passed through the stages of
indecision has, through careful self-analysis learned to bridge
difficulties that would make others tremble with fear. He knows that
every lane has a turning. He may not see it at the moment. He may not
know where it is. _But that doesn't worry him._ He picks up his bundle
and trudges ahead, confident that victory awaits him somewhere along the
line.
The fact that he believes in himself, sets him apart from ordinary
mankind. Many great men have been at loss to understand why they
attained success. It is well nigh impossible for them to outline the
causes that led them to the top rungs of the ladder. The reason is that
_their lack of fear_ of experiences was an unconscious one, rather than
a conscious one. However, they are willing to admit that acting on the
principle of profiting by experience _loaned them initiative_ with which
to proceed. They soon came to know opportunity at sight and had only to
look around to find it.
The young man standing on the threshold of life is, from lack of
experience, puzzled over the future. He looks above him and sees the
towering successes. He reads in the papers of the massive characters who
have risen from the bottom to the top. Naturally he would like to meet
one of these giants of success and hear what he has to say. The
interview is quite needless. "_Get busy and profit by experience_," is
about all the advice one man can give to another. There is no way to
profit by experience until we have had experience so there is nothing to
do but get busy and experience will come as fast as we can absorb it.
Our duty is to strive for success and not expect to attain it except by
successive steps. A wholesale consignment would be our undoing. Quick
successes through luck or good fortune have not the lasting value of
those won by virtue of knowing how--of accomplishing what we started
out to do.
Faith in one's self does not come from the outside--it must spring up
naturally _from within_. A healthy body and a sane mind are the best
foundations for this. The young man who begins his career with these
facts in mind is given a running start over his competitors. Poverty and
failure are the result of _an ignorance of the value of experience_.
Worry, anxiety, fear of not doing the right thing, lack of insight into
character ... these, too, are the result of a lack of experience.
Good health is necessary to experience, but a majority neglect to take
care of it. If we are to profit by what we learn we _must have the vim_
with which to push forward. We must have every ounce of vitality we
possess at command--ready for use. This we conserve for the _big
emergency_ which we know is coming. New experiences are pushing us
forward and previous experiences are helping to move the load.
Experience tells us what to do at this point and that--and at last puts
its shoulder to the wheel and "_over she goes_!"
Every mind is in possession of an enormous amount of dormant power and
only experience can release it into proper action. We often hear a fond
mother say that her son is full to bursting with the _old nick_, which
means that the youngster is overflowing with _pent-up energy_. With
experience he could find good use for it--but without it this surplus
may turn out to be a dangerous possession. Young men of this type should
be guarded most carefully and advised to "get busy" _early in life_ at
something worth while. Many a bright fellow brimming with excess power
has gone as a lamb to the slaughter into the maelstrom of vice because
of being held back from _legitimate occupation_. He just had to blow off
steam so he did it in a gin mill rather than a rolling mill.
This dynamo called the mind can be trained to do anything. Not only can
it be guided at the start but it can be guided by all that follows. It
can be used for building additional dynamos to be called into action in
times of need. This statement may seem at first far-fetched. If we think
so it is proof that we have not _profited by our experiences_ and should
get down to "stock taking" before it is too late.
The practical man, after all, is only _one who takes advantage of
opportunities_. He could double and triple his power if he only realized
how superficial the average setback really is. The young man has just as
much chance of being considered practical as the so-called older one,
always provided that he has a store of experiences to profit by. The
first _big experience_ of life usually makes or breaks us. For this
experience we need to be prepared. We must have a _strong heart_ that we
may bear defeat nobly from this is not to be our last kick--our last
breath--_not by a jugful_!
We are going to start all over again after our setback and we are not
going to wait any longer than it takes to bury the dead. This will be
done decently and in good order--our training will admit of no
indecorum. If the smash was a bad one we will assume the liability,
nevertheless, and get back on the job. We are out to win and
_eventually we will win_.
And that is what we mean by taking profit from experience. _The powers
that break down are also the powers that build up._ The electrician who
handles the motor could just as well end his own existence by that
mysterious current as he could make use of it for the good of humanity.
He spends years of conscientious study and masters the knowledge of it
so that its uses are as simple as his A B C's. There is no doubt in the
world but that he had to learn by experience. He had to go into the shop
and _climb up from the bottom_. There was no other way by which he could
come to know how to turn a deadly force into a well-trained necessity.
Yet the average man goes into life with as little knowledge of its
forces as the baby who puts its foot upon the third rail. That fact
keeps the thoughtless man down until experience comes to the rescue.
When it does come, _if he has the sand, the common sense, the will to
do_, there is naught to hold him away from his goal.