how to select those who can do things-men who can hit the bull's-eye once in a while, or he'll find himself ahead at the bottom instead of at the top. There's an education for a man in college, and he ought to have it. There's a great worldwide education for a man outside of college, and he must have that. College education alone will never put a man in the United States Senate, but a knowledge of the world and how to deal successfully with men will. The great need of the hour, for every man, is a better knowledge of human nature. We are dealing with men now more than we ever did before. If you are going to sell a man a bill of goods or a piece of real estate, trade horses with him, or buy what he has to sell, you have to get his confidence and his good will; otherwise he will go elsewhere for what he wants, because he knows he can get it elsewhere. He will sell his produce to others, if he doesn't like you. The business in hand, therefore, is not half so important as the men who are back of that business. You may go into business with plenty of capital, and with the best goods on the market; but unless you know how to handle people your goods won't make you any money. Of course, if you had a monopoly people would have to buy from you whether they liked you or not, but you haven't a monopoly and you haven't anything unless you have the ability to serve the public in the way it likes. If you have that you have everything. I don't mean that you should be wishy-washy nice or so polite that you wear your neck out bowing. Be yourself. Be yourself if you are pleasant and courteous and frank, and know that you are treating people right. If you are cold and distant, don't try to be yourself; forget all about yourself, and cultivate warmth and sunshine, and a happy disposition. Get over on the south side of life where the sun can get at you. Cut out of your own life "disgruntle" and "worry" and the petty annoyances you don't like in others. Discover yourself and your abilities. This will take systematic study, but it is the kind of study that will be a delight to you and a source of profit from the very start. If you don't cultivate a field it will grow up to weeds. If you don't cultivate your personality your usefulness is limited. You can't be successful unless you can interest others in your way of thinking, and you can't do that successfully without learning how. Get yourself in line for the best there is. Your possibilities are unlimited. You have in you the elements required to make a splendid personality. All they need is a little developing. Then you can do the thing yourself. It's not so hard. The people who are succeeding are not more capable than those who are not. They have simply got the scent, that's all. They have discovered their possibilities and cast aside the "not cut out for it" theory. They have quit going to some cheap kitchen for their mental food. They get the best there is. Big ideas make big men. Get up above the clouds-the clouds of doubt, fear, and suspicion. Get a man out of the notion that people are trying to beat him, and you broaden his horizon a thousand miles. Big men are not suspicious. They don't stop to quibble about not getting their money's worth. They need their energy for other things. They call for the best there is, and that's something everyone is entitled to. It's simply a matter of knowing how to "ginger up and get in the game." He can who thinks he can. |