CHAPTER VII
VISUALIZE YOURSELF IN A BETTER POSITION
No matter in what business you may be, or what your profession, your prime ambition should be to attain a high-water mark in it. The love of excellence is the lodestar that leads the world onward. It is this that makes not only the successful business or professional man, but also the all-round successful person in any line of endeavor.
Andrew Carnegie said, “I would not give a fig for the young man in business who does not already see himself a partner, or the head of the firm.”
Do not rest for a moment in your thought of yourself as a head clerk, foreman, or manager in any concern, no matter how big it is. Say each day to yourself, “My place is higher up.” Be king in your dreams. Vow that you will reach the position with untarnished reputation, and make no other vow to distract your attention.
I am frequently asked by youths and young men whether I think they really have enough in them to make much of a success in life, anything that will be distinctive or worth while, and I answer, “Yes, you have. I know you have the ability to succeed, but I don’t know that you will. That rests entirely with you. If you have the energy and the will to succeed nothing can hold you back. But if you have not, no amount of education, no pull or influence, no power on earth outside of yourself can push or lead or boost you into success.”
There is nothing so important in your life as your mental attitude towards yourself, what you think of yourself, the model which you hold of yourself and your possibilities. If this is small, narrow, and dwarfed your life will correspond.
You must see yourself above a clerkship or you will never be anything higher than a clerk. You must visualize yourself in a better position, and hold constantly a grim determination to reach it or you will never get there. Never for a moment blur your motive or weaken your determination by harboring a doubt of your ability to reach your goal. Whenever you do this you are neutralizing just so much of the force which would take you there.
Remember, there is a partnership waiting for you somewhere if you are big enough and determined enough and have pluck enough to take it. If you do not there is probably someone very near you who will do so, someone who perhaps has not had nearly as good an opportunity as you have had. And in the years to come, if you do not take advantage of this opportunity to climb, you will no doubt, grumble at your “ill luck” and wonder how Billy or Johnny or Jo, who worked alongside of you, managed to get the partnership or coveted position.
A recent writer says: “My advice to all those just starting to travel life’s turnpike is: ‘Don’t start until you have your ideal. Then don’t stop until you get it.’”
Very few of us realize how dependent our growth is on some special stimulus. Every act must have a motive. We do nothing outside of our automatic habitual acts without an underlying motive. Perhaps the stronger life motive of the average man is that which comes from his desire to get up in the world.