The pleasure derived by the musical ear exceeds the work and practice
required to become a skilled musician.
]
In the great game of grab after money, which is enthralling the earth at
the present time, the man who dares takes no part except to see that his
compensation is adequate to his efficiency. His abnegation of the canker
worm of gold is a strong recommendation in his favor, and brings him
much more than it does to one who bites every dollar to test its
genuineness. He becomes renowned for this disposition, and nobody turns
him down on any proposition for everybody knows that his disposition is
to dare, to venture, to try, to win, to succeed. It is the best sort of
renown to possess; it is a policy, really a dare.
He knows that everything comes to him who knows how to wait, and he
plays the waiting game in a diplomatic manner, so diplomatic, indeed,
that he wins.
=The man who dares may scale the walls of Paradise to gain a crown of
eternal glory.= Nobody can slide through St. Peter’s gate unobserved. It
requires a constant fight to reach it even, and blessed is he who gets
that far, for he is sure to enter. We have it from the Saviour Himself:
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
There is authority, therefore, for saying that the man who dares may
scale the walls of Paradise. The fact is, that a mollycoddle cannot be
connected with the idea of taking the kingdom of heaven by force. It
requires a man who dares to accomplish that feat, and it is the man who
dares that gets there.
Let us suppose that you are a timid man and have little initiative—that
is you are a follower of somebody and can not lead in anything. You must
raise some steam and get a move on or you will never succeed. That is a
settled fact, and if you to whom this is addressed, can not raise enough
steam to start out on a dare, why then, fall out and let somebody else
take your place in the waiting line.
Suppose you wanted to make a stagger at a dare, how would you go about
it! That’s about the idea you are after. Well, in the first place, you
must make ready. You can not ride without a horse, and even if you have
a horse, he is no good to you unless you know how to ride. To learn to
ride, you must get on the horse, of course, and take your chances of
being thrown or of falling off through sheer fright.
That is nothing. A few bruises are honorable scars in the onward
struggle. Let us start you our way:
=Fix your mind on what you aim at and never lose sight of it. It is your
target.=
=Fix a straight road toward it. This will enable you to get there
sooner, and if there are competitors, you will out-distance them.=
=Make a start. You may not be entirely ready and may have to stop on the
way for repairs, but all the same—start. Some people are always making
ready and never starting, so they never get anywhere because they never
start. It is better to start, even if you have to return and begin over
again. It shows your intention to win out, and that will encourage your
backers, or find backers if you have none.=
=Don’t wander. Keep on the straight road, and don’t let counter
attractions tempt you away. Keep thinking about what you are going to do
when you arrive, and build up a strong castle.=
=Let tomorrow’s troubles take care of themselves. The saying is:
“Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” Fight the troubles that
you have in hand now, and you will gain skill to fight those of
tomorrow.=
=Attend to your own business and let other people’s alone. You can’t
take care of your own business and that of another at the same time. To
do that a man must sit on two stools at once. A difficult thing to do
and not fall between. Try this as an experiment.=
=Keep your nerve, and your eyes in front. There are always times when a
man meets some obstacle that spells failure if he lets it. Don’t let
failure appear in any shape. Cut the word out of your dictionary.=
=Make haste slowly. This is an old saying of the Romans who knew a few
things about success. Hurry, but hurry slowly. That is, be careful in
getting everything ready and then make a break for the target. A man can
act quickly and methodically, which is making haste slowly.=
=Take plenty of physical exercise. You do not have to go to a gymnasium
to get enough exercise. Take a walk for the sake of walking. You can not
make exercise work and derive any benefit from it. You must take
pleasure in it or it is work and not exercise.=
=Do not work ahead. Keep your mind up with your work. Do not think about
the hours it will take to complete it. If you do that, you will tire out
your mind and make it do extra work. Mind and body should keep
together.=
=Dare to aspire to a higher position. Study to get it. Talk with others
who have risen and find out how they got there. Don’t copy them, but try
to initiate some better way. If you are sawing boards, study how to run
the engine, and incidentally learn how to manage the whole business. It
can not harm a man doing a small work to know how to do a greater one.
He will be ready to slip into the better work when the opportunity comes
and it is sure to come.=
=Do not run behind in your work. This is a fatal deficiency. It means a
backward movement and you must keep on pressing forward. If you feel
yourself going back, study the reason. Perhaps you are bilious, eating
too much, or not enough nourishing food. Keep your body working
regularly, for your health is the most important item toward success.=
=Save your money. But do not become a miser. You must live among others
and you can not afford to be considered small or mean. But you do not
have to squander money for any reason. If you are considered mean
because you refuse to squander money, let it go at that, and some day
you will be better understood. Such things are small details not worth
noticing.=
=Keep in touch with the outside world. Read newspapers and magazines and
learn to discuss or talk over the various topics of the day, whether you
understand them or not. Somebody will give you the keynote and then you
will add to your stock of knowledge. You can not learn too much, you may
fail by not knowing enough. Please remember this, no man is turned down
because he knows too much.=
=Learn to master yourself. Don’t let anything ruffle your temper, and
think seriously before starting a fight. You may win the fight but lose
your own self-respect and gain enmity. A man can not afford to throw
away a friend. He needs all he can get.=
=Don’t be afraid to work. Take work as it comes to you. Do not select
the easiest jobs, or you will get tired of the hard ones before you
reach them. Accustom yourself to work easily, and with your whole heart
and skill.=
=Give your imagination full swing as to the uses of the work you are
doing, and imagine how you could better it. This is efficiency and leads
to invention.=
=Don’t brag about what you can do. Do it and there will not be any need
to brag. Everybody will see what sort of a man you are and give you
credit for common sense and for knowing more than you really do.=
=Surround yourself with good influences, a club, a church, or some
society where you will be in touch with other men. Nobody who dares can
afford to be a hermit, and the man who gets disheartened at the
obstacles in his way, is a fool and ought not to and will not succeed.=
=Keep away from small vices and the large ones will not trouble you.
This will make your sailing on a smooth sea, where there are no rocks or
concealed reefs to wreck you.=
There are many other things that pertain to human life in its aspects as
a road to success. But when you have done your best, do not be anxious
because you have not done more. No man can accomplish everything in one
short life, and the best we can do is all that is required of us. Look
upon every man as a fellow worker, not in a vale of tears, but as
cultivating a pleasant valley blooming with flowers. If your friend
falls down help him up, and he will help you in return. If he offends
you, do not notice it, for no man deliberately offends a friend. If
disagreement is likely to lead to trouble, turn around to your
opponent’s way of thinking. Everybody has burdens to bear; and never
forget that yours are not the only ones hard to carry. Be a man who
dares, and when life’s fitful fever is over, and you have accomplished
all you could according to your lights and your ability, let a feeling
of peace steal over you, and trust in God for the rest.
The man who desires to become a man of courage, and a man who dares, may
gain force from the words of wisdom in the wise man’s philosophy
expressed in the following essentials.
“Who so wise, and will observe these things, even they shall
understand the loving kindness of the Lord.”
—(_Psalms CV, 11–43._)