The Habit Of Doing More Than Paid For

Not only have you been fooling yourself as to the real cause of your failures of the past, but you have tried to hang these causes on the door of someone else. When things did not go to suit you, instead of accepting full responsibility for the cause, you have said,

"Oh, hang this job! - I don't like the way 'they' are treating me, so I'm going to quit!"

ALL salesmen will profit by remembering that none of us want anything that someone else wishes to "get rid of."

Don't deny it!

Now let me whisper a little secret in your ear - a secret which I have had to gather from grief and heartaches and unnecessary punishment of the hardest sort - Instead of "quitting" the job because there were obstacles to master and difficulties to be overcome, you should have faced the facts and then you would have known that life, itself, is just one long series of mastery of difficulties and obstacles.

The measure of a man may be taken very accurately by the extent to which he adapts himself to his environment and makes it his business to accept responsibility for every adversity with which he meets, whether the adversity grows out of a cause within his control or not.

Now, if you feel that I have "panned" you rather severely, have pity on me, O Fellow-Wayfarer, for you surely must know that I have had to punish myself more sorely than I have punished you before I learned the truth that I am here passing on to you for your use and guidance.

I have a few enemies - thank God for them! - for they have been vulgar and merciless enough to say some things about me that forced me to rid myself of some of my most serious short-comings; mainly those which I did not know I possessed. I have profited by the criticism of these enemies without having to pay them for their services in dollars, although I have paid in other ways.

However, it was not until some years ago that I caught sight of some of my most glaring faults which were brought to my attention as I studied Emerson's essay on Compensation, particularly the following part of it:

"Our strength grows out of our weakness. Not until we are pricked, and stung, and sorely shot at, awakens the indignation which arms itself with secret forces. A great man is always willing to be little. While he sits on the cushion of advantage he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learned his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill.