is so ready to adopt new measures, plans, and projects, is enabled to
carry into his business or profession an energy and inspiration which is
totally lacking on the part of those who are followers. Hence the latter
ofttimes fail of success which their talents might almost be said to
have promised them. Therefore, those who enter the lists to win life's
battles must expect, if they would reach their goal, to wage the fight
not only by the old methods but by the new. To use only those tactics
which are sanctioned by usage is to invite defeat. Throw open the
windows of your mind to new ideas, and keep at least abreast of the
times, and, if possible, ahead of them. Nothing is more fatal to
self-advancement than a stupid conservatism or a servile imitation. The
days when a man could get rich by plodding on without enterprise and
without taxing his brains have gone by. Mere industry and economy are
not enough; there must be intelligence and original thought.
Whatever your calling, inventiveness, adaptability, promptness of
decision, must direct and utilize your force, and if you do not find
markets you must make them. In business you need not know many books,
but you must know your trade and men. You may be slow at logic, but you
must dart at chances. You may stick to your groove in politics, but in
your business you must switch into new tracks, and shape yourself to
every exigency. We emphasize this matter because in no country is the
red-tapist so out of place as here. Every calling is filled with bold,
keen, subtle-witted men, fertile in expedients and devices, who are
perpetually inventing new ways of buying cheaply, underselling, or
attracting custom; and the man who sticks doggedly to the old-fashioned
methods—who runs in a perpetual rut—will find himself outstripped in
the race of life, if he is not stranded on the sands of popular
indifference. Keep, then, your eyes open and your wits about you, and
you may distance all competitors; but, if you ignore all new methods,
you will find yourself like a lugger contending with an ocean steamer.
It is enterprise that oils the wheels of energy and industry. Industry
gathers together, with a frugal hand, the means whereby we are enabled
to develop our plans and purposes. Energy gives us force whereby we
gather the courage to persevere in the lines decided on, bids us put on
a bold mien and go forth to do valiant battle against opposing
circumstances. But it is enterprise that suggests ways and means to
overcome difficulties that threaten to overwhelm us. It is enterprise
that bids us explore entirely new fields, discovering expedients that
enable us to change what, by the force of circumstances, was fast
becoming a failure into a glorious victory, bringing to us wealth,
position, and fame. It is to enterprise that we are indebted for those
rich discoveries in scientific fields by which we decipher the records
of past ages, and unravel the secrets which nature surrounded with
mystery, compelling them to serve us.
It was enterprise that harnessed steam, teaching it to do our bidding,
and brought the lightning down from the heavens to carry our thoughts to
the uttermost parts of the earth. It is the spirit of enterprise driving
curious minds to work in new directions that has given us all those
useful and curious inventions, which have done so much to make this
nineteenth-century civilization to shine with so lustrous a light. In
short, it is enterprise that lifts the man of but mediocre abilities and
attainments into the foremost ranks of the successful ones.
Enterprise is an inheritance and not an acquisition. But it can at the
same time be improved by cultivation, the same as bodily strength or any
mental faculty. He who would excel as a swimmer must be often in the
water, and the gymnast does not spare himself long and fatiguing
exertions. So of an enterprising spirit. Some men seem born with an
overflow of this, while others possess it in a slight degree only. But
if any would be known as enterprising men, they must not hesitate to
show by their every-day actions that they rely upon themselves in cases
of emergency, and the greater the necessity the better means of
surmounting it are constantly discovered. They must not hesitate to try
plans because they are new; but if sober judgment can discover no
objection to it, they must seize upon the very novelty of the plan as an
inducement, and be only the more eager to put it to the test. There is
no life so routine but that it constantly affords scope for the exercise
of enterprising energy. The very fact that you are finding it routine
and commonplace should at once set you to work to devise some new way to
change this.
Do not stand sighing, wishing, and waiting, but go to work with an
energy and perseverance that will set every obstacle in the way of your
success flying like leaves before a whirlwind. A weak and irresolute way
of doing business will shipwreck your plans as readily as effects follow
causes. You may have ambition enough to wish yourself on the topmost
round of the ladder of success; but if you have not the requisite energy
to commence and enterprise enough to push ahead even when you know you
are off the beaten track, you will always remain at the bottom, or at
least on the lower rounds. Providence has hidden a charm in difficult
undertakings which is appreciated only by those who dare to grapple with
them. But this can only be true when you, by your own exertions and the
strength of your own self-reliance and enterprise, have achieved the
results. Nothing can be more distasteful than to see men of apparently
good abilities waiting for some one to come and help them over
difficulties.
Be your own helper. If a rock rises up before you, roll it along or
climb over it. If you want money, earn it. If you want confidence, prove
yourself worthy of it. Do not be content with doing what has been done;
surpass it. Deserve success and it will come. The sun does not rise like
a rocket or go down like a bullet fired from a gun; slowly and surely it
makes its rounds, and never tires. It is as easy to be a lead horse as a
wheel horse. If the job be long, the pay will be greater; if the task be
hard, the more competent you must be to do it. We must apportion our
strength and exertions to the requisite tasks and duties. He who weakly
shrinks from the struggle, who will offer no resistance, who will endure
no labor nor fatigue, can neither fulfill his own vocation, nor
contribute aught to the general welfare of mankind.
The spirit of the times demands that all who would rise in life shrink
not back from labor, but it also demands that they exert themselves
understandingly; that they spare no effort to master all the intricacies
of the business or vocation in which they are engaged; that they be
alert to discover new ways by which they may reach the desired goal
easier than the old; that they bear in mind that sticking to the old
ruts is only the right policy so long as no better way presents itself,
and when that way is discovered, be not at all slow to improve it. If
you do not, others more enterprising will rush forward to reap the
profits it promises, and you will be left behind in the race. No matter
what your position in life may be or the conditions which hem you in,
there will be a "tide" in your affairs, "which, taken at its flood,
leads on to fortune." But you must be ready to accept the chance. While
you are hesitating and deliberating the occasion goes by, in most cases
never to return again. Therefore, be prompt to seize it as it flies.
Cultivate as far as possible the spirit of enterprise, for on that in a
great degree depends your success or failure.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: ENERGY.]
[Illustration]
Energy is force of character, inward power. It imports such a
concentration of the will upon the realization of an idea as to impel it
onward over the next gigantic barrier, or to crush every opposing force
that stands in the way of its triumph. Energy knows of nothing but
success. It will not hearken to the voice of discouragement; it never
yields its purpose. Though it may perish beneath an avalanche of
difficulties, yet it dies contending for its ideal.
There is, perhaps, no mistake of a young man more common than that of
supposing that, in the pursuits of life, extraordinary talents are
necessary to one who would achieve more than ordinary success. There is
no greater genius than the genius of energy and industry, It wins the
prizes of life, which appeared destined to fall to those brilliantly
constituted minds, who, to an artificial observer, seemed to be the
favored sons of fortune. But they lacked energy, and in that want lacked
all. Energy of temperament, with a moderate degree of wisdom, will carry
a man farther than any amount of intellect without it. It gives him
force, momentum. It is the active power of character, and, if combined
with sagacity and self-possession, will enable a man to employ his power
to the best advantage in all the affairs of life. Hence it is that men
of mediocre power, but impelled by energy of purpose, have often been
able to accomplish such extraordinary results.
The men who have most powerfully influenced the world have not been so
much men of genius as men of strong convictions and enduring capacity
for work, impelled by irresistible energy and invincible determination.
Energy of will, self-originating force, is the soul of every great
character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is
faintness, helplessness, and despondency. There is a proverb which says
that "the strong man and the waterfall channel their own path." The
energetic leader of noble spirit not only wins a way for himself, but
carries others with him. His very act has a personal signification,
indicating vigor, independence, and self-reliance, and unconsciously
commands respect, admiration, and homage. Such intrepidity is the
attribute of all great leaders of men.
There is a difference between resolution and energy. Resolution is the
purpose, energy is the quality, and it is possible to possess much
resolution with comparatively very little energy. Energy implies a
fixed, settled, and unswerving purpose; but resolution may vary its
inclination a thousand ways and embrace a thousand objects, keeping up,
perhaps, an air of steadiness and determination, while, in reality,
nothing may be accomplished. There is observable the same difference
between resolution and energy as there is between kindness and
goodness—kindness being displayed by occasional acts of good-will,
whilst goodness exists always, by a principle of love. Do not make the
mistake of confounding energy with rashness. Energy is a Bucephalus,
guided by the hand of an Alexander. Rashness is a Mazeppa's fiery steed,
unbridled and unrestrained, bearing its rider over hill and dale to
probable destruction. The former is power guided by wisdom; the latter
is power goaded to action by blind impulse.
Energy, to reach its highest development, must be controlled by wisdom.
Many men now pining under discouragement have expended energy sufficient
for the highest success. But they have failed of their reward because
they have not sought counsel at the lips of wisdom. Rash enterprises
impetuously begun hurry them on to ruin. True energy is ever the same;
but the energy of many men is impulsive. It is to-day a destroying,
roaring torrent; yesterday it was a stagnant pool. An accidental
circumstance will call out every power of their soul, and for a season
they will excel themselves and startle their friends. But they speedily
expend their force, and lapse into stupid somnolency, till aroused by
some bugle-blast of excitement. Such minds accomplish but little. They
lose more in their slumbers than they gain in their fitful hours of
action. The calm, steady energy of the snail, slow as are its movements,
is better calculated to produce results than the spasmodic leaps of the
hare. Hence, in the formation of character, it is of the utmost
importance to cultivate a steady, uniform, unyielding energy. The quiet
energy that works to accomplishment is what rules the world. There is
more energy shown in quietly doing your duty through years of patient
toil than to rush with great clamor at the obstacles of life, only to
relinquish the attempt if success does not immediately crown the effort.
The game of life is won less by brilliant strokes than by energetic yet
cautious play.
Energy of character has always a power to make energy in others. The
zealous, energetic man unconsciously carries others along with him. His
example is contagious, and compels imitation. He exercises a sort of
electric power, which sends a thrill through every fiber, flows into the
nature of those about him, and makes them throw out sparks of power. But
such men are but few; and for one man that appears on the stage of human
affairs that can rule events there are thousands who follow. The earnest
men are so few in the world that their very earnestness becomes at once
the badge of their nobility; and as the men in a crowd instinctively
make room for one who seems to force his way through it, so mankind
every-where open their ranks to one who rushes valiantly toward some
object lying beyond them.
Man is but a feeble being, but he belittles his high estate unless he
puts forth his exertion, and forms a commendable and heroic resolution
not to permit life to pass away in trifles, but to accomplish something
in spite of obstacles. At difficulties be not dismayed. We may magnify
them by weakness and despondency, when an heroic spirit would have put
them to flight. There are cobble-stones in every road and pebbles in
every path. All have cares, disappointments, and stumbling-blocks. It
were well to remember, though, that sobs and cries, groans and regrets
are of no avail, but that high resolves and courageous actions may with
safety be relied on to do much to lighten life's load. He who never
grappled with the emergencies of life knows not what power lives in the
soul to repel the rude shocks of time and destiny, nor is he conscious
how much he is
"Blest with a kindly faculty to blunt
The edge of adverse circumstances."
All traditions current among young men that certain great characters
have wrought their greatness by an inspiration, as it were, grows out of
a sad mistake. There is no inspiration so potent for good as the
inspiration of energy. There are none who wrest such conquests from fame
as those earnest, determined minds, who reckon the value of every hour,
and rely on their own strong arm to achieve their ambitious resolves.
You can not dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge
yourself one. But remember, there is always room for a man of force, and
he makes room for many. It is a Spanish proverb that "he who loseth
wealth loseth much; he who loseth a friend loseth more; but he who
loseth energy loseth all." It is folly for a man or woman to sit down in
mid-life discouraged. True, it is a severe test of character calmly to
reflect that life has thus far proved a failure, but it does no good to
abandon one's self to despair. With energy and God's blessing it is
possible they may yet win a glorious victory. God in his wisdom has seen
fit to so ordain that life with all shall be a scene of labor. To make
the most of it, it is necessary to make the aim high and noble, the
energy unflagging. No matter how apparently solid the foundations on
which we stand, it often happens that by the remission of labor and
energy, poverty and contempt, disaster and defeat steal a march upon
prosperity and honor, and overwhelm us with remorse and shame.
It is energy that makes the difference in men. It is the genius of
persevering energy that carries so many men straight to the goal of
success. It is energy that sheds the light of hope on pathways that had
been lost save for that, and thus enables so many men and women to
persevere therein. It is energy that calls upon all—and calls upon
you—to rouse yourself. Would you make a success of life? Would you
acquire fortune or renown? It bids you take heart and hope for the best.
It bids you walk in the paths of patience, to do with all your might
what you have marked out as necessary to do. It bids you pursue it with
resolution and vigor.
A young man is, in the true sense of the word, the architect of his own
fortune. Rely upon your own strength of body and soul. Remember that the
man who wills it can go almost anywhere or do almost any thing he
determines to do. You must make yourself, or come to nothing. You must
win by your own exertions, and not wait for some one to come to your
assistance. Take for your star self-reliance, faith, honesty, and
industry. Keep at the helm, and, above all, remember that the great art
of commanding is to do a fair share of the work yourself. The greater
the difficulty the more the glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots
gain their reputation from storms and tempests. The soul of every great
achievement is energy; but enervation and indolence sap its life, and
doom the man to obscurity and ill-success. Men of feeble action are
accustomed to attribute their misfortune to what is termed _ill luck_.
They envy the men who climb the ladder of eminence, and call them lucky
men and men of peculiar opportunity. This is a vain and foolish
imagination. Energy produces good fortune and success, while enervation
breeds misfortune and ill luck.
Fortune, success, fame, position are never gained but by determinedly
and bravely persevering in any course until the plans are finally
accomplished. In short, you must carry a thing through if you want to be
any body or any thing, no matter if it does cost you the pleasure of
society, the thousand pearly gratifications of life. Stick to the thing
and carry it through. Believe you were made for the matter, and that no
one else could do it. Put forth your whole energies. Be awake; electrify
yourself; go forth to the task. Learn to carry it through, and you will
be a hero. You will think better of yourself. Others will think better
of you. The world in its very heart admires the stern, determined doer.
It sees in him its best sights, its brightest objects, its richest
treasures. Proceed with energy, then, in whatever you undertake.
Consider yourself amply sufficient for the deed, and you will succeed.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: PUNCTUALITY.]
[Illustration]
Amongst the elements which conduce to success in life there is one of
rare value, which, by some strange oversight, is classed as of little
account. We refer to punctuality. We regard it as a virtue. To be
punctual in all of your appointments is a duty resting upon you no less
obligatory than the duty of common honesty. An appointment is a
contract, and if you do not keep it you are dishonestly using other
people's time, and, consequently, their money. "Punctuality," says Louis
XIV, "is the politeness of kings." He need not have confined his remarks
to blood royal; it is politeness in every body; and know that whenever
you fail to meet an engagement promptly, which by exertion you might
have done, you are guilty of a gross breach of etiquette.
It is certainly impolite to do a wrong to others and when you have made
an appointment with another person you owe him punctuality, and you have
no right to waste his time if you have your own. Success and happiness
depend in a far higher degree on punctuality than many suppose. It is
not sufficient to do the right thing, nor in the right way, but it must
be done at the right time as well, if we would reap the rewards of our
labor. But when so done its effect in the problem of success is great
and efficacious. Lord Nelson attributed all his success in life to his
habit of strict punctuality. Many of our most successful business men
date their success from the time they commenced to practice this virtue.
Thousands have failed in life from carelessness in this respect alone.
Nothing inspires confidence in a business man sooner than this quality;
nor is there any habit which sooner saps his reputation as a good
business man than that of being always behind time.
Lack of punctuality is not only a serious vice in itself, but it is also
the parent of a large progeny of other vices. Hence he who becomes its
victim is the more and more involved in toils from which it is almost
impossible to escape. He who needlessly breaks his appointments shows
that he is as reckless of the waste of other people's time as of his
own. His acquaintances readily conclude that the man who is not
conscientious about his appointments will be equally careless about his
other engagements, and they will refuse to trust him with matters of
importance. To the busy man time is money, and he who robs him of it
does him as great an injury, as far as loss of property is concerned, as
if he had picked his pockets or paid him with a forged or counterfeit
bill.
It is a familiar truth that punctuality is the life of the universe. The
planets keep exact time in their revolutions, each as it circles around
the sun coming to its place yearly at the very moment it is due. So, in
business, punctuality is the soul of industry, without which all its
wheels come to a dead stand. If the time of a business man be properly
occupied every hour will have its appropriate work. If the work of one
hour be postponed to another it must encroach upon the time of some
other duty, or remain undone, and thus the whole business of the day is
thrown into disorder. If that which is first at hand be not instantly,
steadily, and regularly dispatched other things accumulate behind, till
affairs begin to accumulate all at once, and no human brain can stand
the pressure.
Punctuality should be made not only a point of courtesy but a point of
conscience. The beginner in business should make this virtue one of the
first objects of professional acquisition. Let him not deceive himself
with the idea that it is easy of attainment, or that he can practice it
by and by, when the necessity of it shall be more cogent. If in youth it
is not easy to be punctual, then in after life, when the character is
fixed, when the mental and moral faculties have acquired a rigidity, to
unlearn the habit of tardiness is almost an impossibility. It still
holds a man enthralled, though the reason be fully convinced of its
criminality and inconvenience.
A right estimate of the value of time is the best and surest foundation
for habits of punctuality, for you are not likely to economize time,
either for yourself or others, unless you fully realize how valuable it
is, and when lost how utterly irreclaimable. The successful men in every
calling have had a keen sense of the value of time—they have been
misers of minutes. Hence you must try and realize the value of time.
Each hour, as it passes swiftly away, is gone _forever_. Lost wealth may
be replaced by toil and industry; lost friends may be regained by
consideration and patience; lost health may be recovered by medical
skill and care; even lost happiness and peace of mind may be restored;
but lost time, never. Whilst you read these lines it is being numbered
with the dead past and dying present. There is no recalling it; there is
no regaining it; there is no restoring it. You must make the most of
time as it flies. You have no right to waste your own, still less, then,
that of others, by your lack of punctuality.
Not only should a person be thus punctual in all his express engagements
and appointments, but in all his implied ones as well. If he has a
regular hour for his shop or office, let it find him there, at his desk
and at work. Punctuality in the performance of known duties other than
the keeping of appointments is also one of the chief promoters of
success in life. If a certain work or other duty is to be performed, we
are too prone to put it off for a more convenient season. Such delays
are often a fruitful source of after troubles. How many business men
have been brought to bankruptcy and ruin by the failure of one man to
meet his obligations promptly! How many times are we put to great work
and expense because we neglected, or put off, the performance of
admitted duties! It is easy to say, "Wait awhile;" so easy to let the
burden of to-day's work and duties fall on to-morrow. But when to-morrow
comes it has its own peculiar duties, and the result is, we simply have
extra burdens to meet when the time finally comes that our work can no
longer be delayed.