When a man starts off on a voyage he generally has some definite destination in view, some object to be attained when he reaches it. Nobody can spend his life traveling about for the mere purpose of keeping in motion. There is no advantage in this except to the transportation companies.
Here is the keynote to success—character. We do not know what character is, we know only that it accomplishes results.
Why do some men succeed and others fail, assuming that they all start out on the same plane equally well equipped? The reason why can not be told, it lies in the man himself, it is his character.
We are living in an age when new things are utilized; new ways of doing business are demanded. We run to specialties more than we did in the past. Even ten years make a difference in business methods.
If you have aspirations, are they up to the times?
Not so very long ago, one man made everything about a machine. If he had a watch to make, he made the case, the wheels, the springs and all the parts, and also put them together into a perfect instrument. Now, a dozen or more men make, not the watch, but each of the several parts. The cases are machine made by one man; another rolls the springs, another turns the screws, another the wheels, and so on. Every thing is done piecemeal, so to speak, and none of the workers is able to make a perfect watch. So it is with clothing, with furniture, tin and iron ware.
The doctor is a specialist. Something ails your eyes—you must go to an eye specialist, the throat specialist knows nothing about the eyes. Have you a fever? You go to a bacteriologist to find out what germ is infecting you. Formerly you took a dose of salts and senna, or other nauseating drug.
You have a case of collection, but your regular lawyer makes a specialty of criminal cases and can not help you. Perhaps you have been injured in an automobile accident and want damages from the owner, but your regular lawyer does not know anything about damage cases, he is a corporation lawyer, or a divorce lawyer, or a patent attorney, or takes admiralty cases only.
A bookkeeper applies for employment. Do you know anything about cards? This is the question. You know about playing cards, but the employer keeps his accounts on loose cards, not in heavy books.
There is division of labor in every pursuit, and no man can become learned in all of one thing. He may acquire a smattering, but there are no more universal geniuses, the world of industry has become complicated, unlimited, and special.