CHAPTER II

QUALITIES THAT MAKE FOR SUCCESS

"The words of the wise are as goads."

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

F late years business men have taken more

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and more to adopting mottoes to keep always before their minds and stimulate them to efficient work. One of the most popular to be seen hanging in a prominent place in many an office is, “Do it NOW." An enterprising advertising firm adapted this as a kind of trade mark in the phrase, “Do it better." Years ago, before the practice became so general as at present, some great man, whose name is lost in obscurity, took for his motto the text, "Do the next thing"; and I know of another which was a favourite saying of a very prominent industrial magnate, now dead: "Do it at once and do it well." A business friend told me that he thought a good motto would be, "Do it yourself"; and within sensible limits the phrase is excellent, since many of us are too fond of leaving to others the things we should do ourselves.

It is well to have some such guiding principle in life, some mental spur that will always make us produce our best. Take for your motto the words "Do your best," and you will never have cause to complain of failure in life. Whatever you have to do, do it as well as you know how. The habit of doing everything as perfectly as you can will influence your character and your whole future. It is so easy to get into slipshod methods. There is often a temptation to rush a thing in order to get it done quickly and out of the way. Why do that, when you know that one thing well done is worth a dozen half done? When you have once done a thing as well as you possibly can, it is finished with. Do it imperfectly, and if it is to be of any use at all it must be done again, and you waste your time and energies when you do it carelessly.

Have you ever realised how much success in life depends upon the choice of associates and friends? You can take it as a safe rule that the tendency is for your friends to draw you to their own level. If you mix with people who are idle you will tend to become idle. Remember the old warning about playing with fire. Do not risk being burnt. Ask yourself frankly about people : "What shall I gain by knowing them?" If you cannot gain something from intercourse with a man, it is not worth your while to know him. Life

is too short to waste time with people from whom you can gain nothing. Mix with your intellectual superiors, with the people who can call forth your knowledge and keep your mind active. Associate only with those whose minds are worth measuring your own against. Be sure that if you make friends with people who waste their time, who have no intellectual force, and no strength of character, you will dull your intellect and your powers will degenerate. If a man is noble in character, if he is industrious, if he is intellectual, if he is a thorough good sportsman, you will be all the better for knowing him. Examine yourself as to whether you will be better for knowing a man, and if you cannot answer in the affirmative, drop his acquaintance.

Personally, I have one great friend. My family tell me sometimes that I have spoken just like he does, and his family, on occasion, have said the same thing. We all get tricks of speech, thought, and action from each other. One might well say, "Show me a man's friends and I will tell you what sort of man he is." You can be sure that an intimate friend of Lord Rothschild or of Lord Kitchener would be a man of great intellectual and personal force. Such men would not associate with mediocrities.

It is a useful habit to acquire the capacity for judging oneself. No man is insensible to flattery,

but every man ought to be able to distinguish between praise that is merited and flattery that means nothing. The man who lives for flattery is blinding himself to his own deficiencies. The clever man watches for his weaknesses and strives to overcome them. "A man is known only to himself and God," is a true saying. If we are praised for doing work which may be good enough in itself, but is not the best we could do, we ought to be ashamed rather than pleased.

Learn to blame yourself. A successful man once told me that when he was negotiating with a firm for an agreement for long employment, he said to the principal, "If I do not satisfy you, you will never need to ask me to go. I shall go myself before that is necessary." Such a man does not rely on others for praise or blame. He judges every action as he performs it. If it is done according to the best of what he is capable, he is satisfied otherwise, he blames himself. Do not be content to judge yourself by what others do or by what others think. You know what you are capable of, and you should never be satisfied with anything short of your most perfect work.

We are for ever assuming that vices grow upon us, and we should do well to remember that our virtues do also. The habit of doing our best work will develop our powers of will and make our

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work better and better. The men who succeed are those who always try to go one better than their competitors. Every man in your office is a competitor for the top place. The man below you wants your place, just as you should want the places that are above you. A man who employed hundreds of clerks and workmen all over the world, when asked to give some suggestions for success in life, remarked, in the course of his reply: “I have often heard it said that there are not so many chances for a young man to rise nowadays as formerly. I do not agree with this view. I believe that there are even greater chances for young men than ever before. But these greater opportunities demand greater qualities-qualities that can only be acquired by an increased devotion to studyto greater self-discipline, and to an unconquerable determination to master the principles that underlie the profession or business engaged in. Less opportunity for getting on! Why, one of the greatest difficulties of large

thoroughly capable men to

employers is to find manage the various there are many who

departments of their concerns; think themselves capable, but few who can stand the test.

"It has been said that 'Knowledge is Power,' but a man may have a great deal of knowledge with very little wisdom. Wisdom-which is distilled