PERT POINTERS FOR PROSPECTIVE INVENTORS THAT WILL BE FOUND HELPFUL
While it is impossible to lay down fixed rules for the would-be
successful inventor to follow, the following will be found useful:
Observe everything carefully. Try to remember everything you see.
Acquire the habit of concentration. Reason logically. Do not overlook
details. Be a hard worker. Keep your mouth shut. Don't count your
chickens before they are hatched. Don't get inflated with your
superiority, neglecting to avail yourself of the accumulated
knowledge and experience of others. Don't imagine yourself a Solomon.
Don't bite off more than you can swallow. (Read Æsop's fable about
the "Eagle and the Jackdaw.") Don't set yourself a Quixotic task,
and, on the other hand, don't think it is impossible for you to
succeed where others have failed.
[Illustration: OBSERVE EVERYTHING CAREFULLY. TRY TO REMEMBER
EVERYTHING YOU SEE. REASON LOGICALLY. DO NOT OVERLOOK DETAILS.]
Do not start an advance account in greatness by telling everybody you
come in contact with what a wonderful invention you are working on,
thereby trying to enhance your importance with them. Remember you are
not "It" until you have succeeded, and when you do, the world will
know it soon enough, and you will not suffer by reason of its having
found it out for itself. Remember an inventor is only judged by what
he has made good, not by what he has attempted.
Don't, oh! please don't go about with a face as solemn and anxious as
if you were an Atlas. Using the inside of your head, should not be
sufficient reason for neglecting the outside of it by "boycotting"
the barber. Hair is not "Wisdom teeth."
Do not waste your time complaining for the want of appreciation in
your wife, for the "great ideas" you have in your head. She may
have a strain of Missourian blood in her veins, and "She wants to
be shown." When you "do," you can be sure she will not be slow in
handing you up the "sugar lumps."
Because Shakespeare, Napoleon, Ruskin, etc., have parted from the
partners of their youth, should not lead you to the deduction that it
necessarily is the earmarks of greatness to cast aside, when you have
become successful, the sharer of your early poverty and struggles.
You will be greater by not following anybody's example, in that
respect.
[Illustration: DON'T IMAGINE YOURSELF A SOLOMON.]
[Illustration: "THE EAGLE AND THE JACKDAW." DON'T BITE OFF MORE
THAN YOU CAN SWALLOW.]
[Illustration: DON'T SET YOURSELF A QUIXOTIC TASK.]
[Illustration: DON'T GO ABOUT WITH A FACE AS SOLEMN AND ANXIOUS
AS THOUGH YOU WERE ATLAS.]
[Illustration: SHE WANTS TO BE SHOWN.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: SHE WILL NOT BE SLOW IN HANDING YOU UP THE SUGAR
LUMPS.]
[Illustration: TO CAST ASIDE WHEN YOU BECOME SUCCESSFUL THE
SHARER OF YOUR EARLY POVERTY AND STRUGGLES.]
[Illustration: YOU WILL BE GREATER BY NOT FOLLOWING ANYBODY'S
EXAMPLE IN THAT RESPECT.]
[Illustration: ONLY A TEMPERATE ABSTEMIOUS REGIME OF LIFE CAN
GIVE THE HEALTHY BRAIN.]
[Illustration: DON'T FORGET THE PEOPLE YOU KNEW.]
Remember that only a temperate abstemious régime of life can give
you the healthy brain required for the successful accomplishment of
anything worth doing. Don't fail to give credit to others when it is
due. Don't forget to repay those who have helped to make your success
possible, and, lastly, gain your success in such a manner that your
enjoyment of its reward will not be marred by the remorse
of your conscience.