INIany of our habits are formed unconsciously. Hence a man who would tmow himself must be care ful to scrutinize that part of his conduct which springs, as it were, from his second nature. He must find out his bad habits and correct them.
It takes a strong will to master habit. When a man has done a thing the wrong way so often that the performance of the task is automatic, his very soul seems to rebel when one seeks to make him change. His intellect will argue that his method is for him better than the standard method, for he is used to it. It is possible that after a certain age man cannot change his habits for the better. The particular year in which a man's habits are recog nized as a fixed and unchangeable part of him must be regarded as the beginning of his old age, and we are not now particularly concerned about the future of his career.
Since it requires a strong will to smother a bad habit and develop a new and better one, there is here a chance for the man aiming at efficiency to "kill two birds with one stone." If he will strive persistently to correct some of his bad habits, however harmless they may seem to him, he will at least have the satis faction of strengthening his will.
10. Environment.—Unconsciously we are all imi tators. If a Kentucky youth of twenty should move to Boston and live there twenty years, his Southern accent would be lost in the East wind. An American youth who spends a few years in a European uni versity comes home with manners that startle his na tive townsmen, but his imported manners last only for a, season or two. If a young man begins his business career in a concern whose methods are slip shod, bustling and noisy, he will, in spite of himself, acquire some very bad habits. It is most important, therefore, that a young man's first business connec tion be with a house that is run on first-class busi ness principles. The character and quality of his as sociates are to him of much more consequence than the nature of the business.
The ideal environment for a man who wishes to grow in character and efficiency m.ust be one in which business is done in the best possible way, and in which his own abilities are often put to serious test. The efficient rnan does not look- for easy jobs. The more hard work- he gets tbe more he smiles. He has no interest in the clock. When the man above him is off duty from sicloriess or for any other reason, he is glad of the chance to do double work. Difficulties, obsta cles, perplexities do not make him sick. The harder the problems he has to solve, the greater his pleasure and the more rapid his growth.
11. Poise, or self-possession.—A man who knows himself, who has learned the best way of doing a thing, who thinks before and while he acts, is not a loud-voiced, bustling swashbuckler in business. He need not 'seem to be a hustler, or to be in any way leading the strenuous life. He will have such com mand of himself and such confidence in his ability to do the right thing that his ta.sks will be done easily and without apparent effort.
Poise is an exceedingly important trait. It means perfection of balance, the harmonious adjustment of all the faculties. The highest degree of efficiency is impossible without it.
When a man lacks poise he may get excited and blunder tbru hasty judgment, or he may lose his temper and for hours be nervously unfit in conse quence, or in the presence of important customers he may be embarrassed, all his faculties momentarily go ing on a strike, or he may foolishly seek to conceal a mistake and save himself from blunder, or he may show his pique and disappointment if another hap pens to get credit for his good work. The man of perfect poise does not worry about non-essentials. His concern is the work he has to do. Everything else is of minor consequence. What matters it if now and then another gets credit which really belongs to him, or, if he is bidden to do something which properly is the task of another, or if he is inconvenienced by the postponement of his vacation, or if he fails to receive a hoped-for increase of salary, or if his im mediate superior has a bad temper and is now and then harsh and un just? Thru it all he keeps his bal ance, is courteous, even-tempered and everlastingly at work. He knows that his future lies in his work and that the petty little annoyances of today hie of no more consequence than the "thankyouma'ams" on a country road.
12. Weak spots in character.—I have said that a man must rely most on that faculty in which he spe cially excels. Yet he should not neglect the weak places in his character. A man naturally disorderly and unsystematic should cultivate a love of order and system. He may not see the charm or advantage of order. He may be order-blind, as some people are color-blind. He must recognize his weakness and seek to correct it. Let him begin in a small way; for example, be orderly and systematic in the treatment of his mail.
If a man is a confirmed procrastinator he is the vic tim of a vice which he positively must cure. The man who puts off until tomorrow what ought to be done today kills business. Procrastination and efficiency are born enemies.
A man may be of a very sociable disposition and waste time visiting and gossiping with his associates ; he wastes not only his own time, but that of others. In business hours only business should be talked about or thought about.
Some men, otherwise excellent in all respects, are long-winded talkers. So marvelous is their flow of words that they take five minutes to answer a ques tion which should be answered in ten seconds. A man of that sort, having discovered his weakness, should practise the art of condensation. It would do him good to read a colunm article in a newspaper and then put the gist of it into five short sentences. Busi ness men have no time for unnecessary or unimpor tant details. The really efficient business man does not even see them.
Truthfulness, candor, courtesy, tactfulness ILypith,-_-.
these five thi—rigT7fRrai those qualities which are mentioned in the chapter on "The Effi'cient Business Man," it should go without saying, must be striven for by the man seeking to increase his personal efficiency.
It is well to remember these words of Bacon: "A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds. There fore let him seasonably water the one and destroy the other."