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“How
to Develop Self-Confidence
In Speech and Manner” eBook Online Version
We should be as frank with ourselves as we are with others. We are not slow to point out to them the dangers that lie in a certain course. We can quite as earnestly advise, caution, and urge ourselves in what is best to do.
A realization of personal responsibility has an important influence upon the building of the will. We owe it to our manhood, to others dependent upon us, and to our eternal destiny, that we make the most of ourselves here and now. Our will, no less than our other powers, is given to us for intelligent development. As we more clearly realize this responsibility we shall see the vital importance of willpower and make an increasing effort to build it for high and definite ends. "The education of the will," says Dr. Morell, "is really of far greater importance, as shaping the destiny of the individual, than that of the intellect; and it should never be lost sight of by the practical educator, that it is only by the amassing and consolidating of our volitional residua in certain given directions that this end can be secured. Theory and doctrine, and inculcation of laws and propositions, will never of themselves lead to the uniform habit of right action. It is by doing that we learn to do; by overcoming, that we learn to overcome; by obeying reason and conscience, that we learn to obey; and every right act which we cause to spring out of pure principles, whether by authority, precept, or example, will have a greater weight in the formation of character than all the theory in the world."
The fatal habit of procrastination should be fought persistently. To do things promptly, clearly, and systematically, will insure peace of mind and pleasure in one's work. A business man upon being asked how he managed to attend to so many intricate details of his daily business with apparently no care or worry, said it was due to an invariable rule to clear off his desk by the close of the day in order to begin the following day clear and fresh. This same plan can be advantageously followed in the ordering of one's mind. Instead of permitting ideas and plans to lie about the mind in confusion, like scattered papers on an untidy desk, they should be classified, "pigeon-holed," and put into their proper places. Then a man can take a problem at a time; give it due consideration, and dispose of it in satisfactory and orderly fashion. This actually doing things gradually strengthens the will and at length renders it capable of great achievement.
To begin is often half the battle. "I shall start to-morrow," pleads the indolent man, forgetting that "to-morrow" never comes. "Next winter I shall study
French, drawing, shorthand, or public speaking," says another man of good intention. But the season comes and goes, and at the close he finds he has not done one of these things. Procrastination, love of ease or amusement, indefiniteness, imprudence, or miscalculation, have conspired against him, so a whole lifetime may be frittered away in needless and unproductive occupations, due not to lack of ability but to weakness of will. Goethe sings:
"Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute. Whatever you can do, or dream you can begin it."
It is surprising how difficulty yields before a strong and earnest will. A little more resolution and effort, a determination "to do or die," and the seemingly impossible is accomplished. This has been remarkably illustrated in the achievements of men of advanced age. Cato learned Greek, Plutarch studied Latin, and Socrates music, in old age. Gladstone became again Premier of England at eighty-three, and spoke with great eloquence, while Tennyson at the same age wrote his imperishable hymn, "Crossing the Bar." A record of the great things done by men between the ages of seventy and ninety, chiefly through indomitable willpower, would include such names as Michelangelo, Goethe, Titian, Wesley, Kant, Von Moltke, Spencer, Jefferson, Browning, Clay, Calhoun, and Bismarck.
"Where there is a will there is a way," is still true, and if a man draws upon the infinite resources within him he may exclaim with Napoleon, "There shall be no Alps." No man should allow temporary failure to disarm or discourage him. A too easy success would hardly be worth the winning. It is the realization of difficulties overcome, of opposition conquered, and of great heights scaled that bring satisfaction to the mind and joy to the heart of the victor.
In his suggestive essay on "Self-Culture," Channing reminds us that "A vigorous purpose makes much out of little, breathes power into weak instruments, disarms difficulties, and even turns them into assistances." A man who firmly says "I will," is already on the way. But he must not suffer himself to be lured away into by-paths. Once the goal is fixed before him, let him walk unswervingly toward it. Dr. Jules Payot, in his inspiring work on "The Education of the Will," says:
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