Chapter 7

The employe who trusts to his memory hurts the business, and after he quits a lot of misunderstandings will come up.

Insist on your employes making memorandums of things and prices, for when the employe goes he takes his memory with him. If he has a memorandum you know the facts.

Worry

Nothing will prevent effective work like worry. If you are given to introspection and worry, and allow these things to go unchecked, they become habits with you, and while your sleep, in a measure, is an antidote for worry, yet the more worry you have the less soundly you will sleep, and consequently the less effective sleep will be in correcting the injury caused by worry.

Sunshine and darkness cannot be present at the same time, for in nature one of the first rules we find is that no two objects can occupy the same place at the same time. No matter how much one is given to the worry habit, he experiences reflex moments when he does not worry. Some of our pessimistic friends who are given to the worry habit say it is impossible for them not to worry. You are thinking of what you are reading, and if your mind is interested in it you are not worrying while you are reading these articles, and this shows that if you are interested in reading there is little chance for worry to get in; for your mind is occupied.

Men have tried all sorts of things to escape worry. Some of them frequent places where gaiety and mirth abound, so that they are for the time being banishing worry, but in proportion as these things keep one from worrying, the reaction is stronger when it does come, and the individual who tries to escape worry by going the pace and occupying his time with light things, suffers more keenly from worry when it does come. Some men turn to drink to kill worry. Many a man imagines while he is drunk and his brain is clogged with alcohol that he is the happiest man in the world, and some of them go to the extent of imagining their finances are in a flourishing condition. The alcohol fills the brain with fancy pictures, and for the time being the mind forgets to worry. When the alcohol wears away the brain takes up the worry again in an increased degree.

To kill worry by the active process is like trying to cure rheumatism by external application. The only thing you do is to stop the pain temporarily. The best way to cure rheumatism is to go at it through the blood. Eradicate the uric acid from the system, and then the rheumatism will disappear. The best way to cure worry is not by local applications, but by getting at the root of things. Eliminate as far as possible the things which cause worry. Remember that as long as you live there will come things across your path that are not to your liking. You should be philosophical, and make the best of things that are about you. Look at the bright side rather than the dark.

There are only two things in the world to worry about. First--the things we can control or change; second, the things over which we have no control. Now, it is manifestly useless to worry over the first kind; for we can correct the thing and there will be nothing to worry about.

It is manifestly useless to worry over the things we cannot control, for, as set down in the second proposition, we cannot change the things. It therefore behooves us to eliminate from our calculations the second kind of worry, for no amount of worry can possibly change that kind. We must therefore confine our attention to the first kind, the kind we can change, and when we have changed the thing there is no cause to worry.

Nothing helps a man's health so much as contrasts in climate or habits. When the doctor tells you it is necessary to go to California or Arizona, or some other distant point, he knows that fifty per cent. of the good you will get by the change is from the water, air, sunshine and surroundings, and the other fifty per cent. of the good you will get is because you have been taken away from the very things that have been causing you worry. If you can't get contrasts by trips to other distant points, you can get the contrasts right where you live. If your mind is occupied in the day with deep thinking and hard business problems, you should occupy your evening with something that will contrast with it. Take up some light literature, play with your children, or work at some hobby in which you are interested.

The trouble with those who worry most is that they have worked themselves up to such a frenzied state they can't read anything excepting startling newspaper articles and freakish, frothy books.

The man with rheumatism cannot cure himself in a day, neither can the man with the worry habit eradicate worry from his make-up in a day or so.

The man who worries should make up his mind he is going to read and get interested in the reading. Let him set apart ten minutes the first day, and agree that he will devote those ten minutes honestly, intently to the subject before him. The next day he can add a minute or two, and so on until he can read one or two hours at a time. Finally, the wrinkles will be ironed out and the horizon will be brightened.

As we are, so is the world to us. The most familiar objects change their aspect with every change of the soul. When you worry, everything is distorted, everything appears unnatural, the world looks dark, our friends seem far off. The jokes we hear fall flat. We indulge ourselves in pessimism.

When the whole matter is summed up philosophically, there is no bad luck in the world except sickness. All other so-called hard luck is simply temporary. If you lose your money, don't worry about it, make some more. If you lose a friend, don't worry; show him his mistake. If you lose an opportunity, do not worry; be ready for the next one.

Life is short. The end of life is death. What's the use of worrying.

Worry is like drink. The more you give it the more it fastens on you.

Cultivate a cheerful disposition. Mix with people who are cheerful. Do not allow the garden of your mind to grow up with worry weeds.

Occupation kills worry. If your mind is filled with uplifting work or brain training it will have little time to worry.

Promises

A business man may be rated as worth a million, but if he breaks his promises regarding payments or fulfillments of contracts, he will find later on those who deal with him will insist upon cash transactions.

Keeping promises is the basis of credit. Let it be said of you that you always keep your promise; that you have never been known to break your word, and you will need little persuasion to get the credit man's O.K.

If you purchase for cash right along, some day you can ask for and will receive a small credit, if you promise to make your payments on a certain date. If you keep your promise you can repeat the operation. Later on you will be given larger credit, because you have been keeping your promises. You can increase your credit step by step to amazing proportions if your promises are always kept.

The business world places much confidence in promises. The note in the bank is a written evidence of the promise. The note says on the face of it "I promise to pay." The Government of the United States issues bank notes on the face of which is a promise.

When you make promises as regards dates, jot down the promise in your memorandum book. Whatever you do, keep that promise. The man who breaks his promise in little things will break them in greater ones.

When you make a promise to meet a man it is just the same as promising to pay a man money. In either instance you are in the man's debt, and the obligation is not cancelled until the debt is paid. In other words, until the promise is fulfilled.

Just so sure as the sun sets, the man who habitually breaks his promises will surely break his business.

Independence

It seems to be the rule rather than the exception that the moment a business man attains success he grows independent.

There is no such thing as independence within the full meaning of the word. Every creature in the world is dependent more or less.

The man who takes delight in his so-called independence and forces it to the front, soon receives knocks.

The constant tapping and knocking hurts anyone. Boosts beat knocks. The man who has a reputation for being independent never gets boosts.

Some business men forget the obligations they are under. They forget the help that was extended to them in time gone by. They furnish up a fine mahogany office, with an outer room, and outside of this another room with an information desk. They cultivate coldness and independence. They make it difficult for their friends to see them. They put a lot of red tape around their business, and by these acts they get out of touch with the pulse of the business. They look at things through colored glasses. Their judgment gets warped.

In proportion as a man cultivates independence and autocratic ideas, just so in proportion is he nearing the brink over which many have fallen to destruction. When an independent man has a fall, his enemies glory and loud are the shouts that arise from them, and if we listen closely we will hear the multitude say: "Serves him right."

There is nothing like democracy in business. By this it must not be understood that the head of the concern is to see every pedler, or every life insurance agent. But if the business man is accessible, and greets you with a glad hand, and in the pleasant manner turns you over to the proper department head, you go away from the office satisfied, and you give this man a boost instead of a knock.

The late P. D. Armour was a good example of the point we are making, he did not waste time in social visits during business hours, but anyone who had business with the Armour Institution could get an interview with Mr. Armour. It has often been remarked by business men that they would rather have a turn-down from Mr. Armour than an order from some of the other houses, for Mr. Armour always made one feel good.

No one can be independent. The larger one's business is the more the proprietor is dependent on those around him.

It takes many months to build a sky scraper, yet a wrecking company can tear a sky scraper to the ground in a few days, and so it is with a man's reputation. It takes years to get good credit in the commercial world, but if success spoils a man and makes him independent, he has created enemies, and there is no telling where these enemies will get in their work. It is like the worms eating through the bottom of a ship. Some day the craft goes down because of the silent attacks made in it, which were not visible from the surface.

Some day the independent man is surprised to have the bank call him in and insist that he take up his loans. He is astonished; he does not know why this sudden change has happened, but like as not some secret enemy in the bank, or some secret competitor who has a friend in the bank, has gotten in his work, and then this independent man finds out how really dependent he is.

The safer a man is from attacks, the safer his business is from the financial standpoint, and the more generous this man should be in his consideration for others.

No man can afford to be independent. Men who have built up their business slowly are not the ones whose heads are turned and who affect this independent air. The independent man is nearly always the newly rich or the suddenly successful business man, and the moment he sets himself up as independent he is made the target for an army of enemies who are waiting for a chance to injure him.

Short Letters

Most business men make much ado about nothing in the matter of correspondence. They use a wilderness of words to express themselves. They write at such length that the original meaning runs into so many by-lanes that the meaning is lost.

The man who writes long letters usually deals out high sounding phrases and customary paragraphs such as he has picked up through his perusal of others' letters.

The average business man seems to glory more in his ability to use euphonious sentences than to talk to the point.

Letters should be like telegrams, they should be short and to the point, so there will be no misunderstanding on the part of the recipient.

There is one business man that we have been in close touch with for over fifteen years. We have heard from him an average of once a week, and in all that time he has never written a letter of over twenty-five lines. Our records show there is no customer with whom we had so much business dealings and so little misunderstanding as this one.

Write short letters. Use small words. Don't be blunt, but be short.

Perspiration

No matter what one's aspirations may be, success will not come without perspiration. It is well this is so, otherwise success would not be appreciated. That which a man earns by perspiration he appreciates and knows how to enjoy.

If success were something that could be drawn by chance, like a prize, success would not be worth anything.

The measure of any valuable thing, or condition, or relationship is the amount of work, energy, trouble and sacrifice that has been expended to obtain it.

None is to be more pitied than the rich idle-born, who have every comfort around them. They do not know that perspiration must be added to aspiration before they get success.

Friends

How little the average business man understands this word "friends."

In everyday conversation we hear one man say to another "Mr. Blank is a friend of mine."

As a matter of fact the word acquaintance could be substituted in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where the word friend is used.

Real friends are few and far between. A real friend is never determined until a test has been made, and this test is usually troublous times, adversity or the loss of a loved one.

When afflictions come to our families, or reverses come to our business, when the dark clouds hang over us, when stormy seas are about to swamp us, when we need help, then is the time we find who are our true friends. When such calls for friendship arrive it is surprising to see how we have been mistaken in individuals. Those upon whom we counted most shrug their shoulders, draw their skirts about them and give us good advice, while those whom we had never counted as friends come to the front and lend helping hands.

The word friend has been greatly abused. Around places of gaiety, where drinks and good fellowship abound, we frequently hear the word friend, but in the time of trouble those who pose as friends will not help us, and the few who would help us cannot because they have squandered their substance and have not the ability to help us. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

There is no relationship more sacred than friendship.

Friendship carries with it love. The true friend is not one made in a hurry. There is no friend like the old one with whom you went birdnesting in your youth, the friend that has plodded along life's road with you shoulder to shoulder.

When you have a friend who has proven himself such, never let up so long as you live in your evidences of gratitude for the kindness he has shown you. Repay him with interest for his good offices, and let your actions towards him ever be a source of happiness and pleasure to him.

Nothing is so much appreciated between friends as gratitude, and nothing will kill friendship like ingratitude.

Genuine friendship is such a rare jewel that when you have a positive demonstration of it, let it be your great concern that you will do nothing to mar this friendship, for broken friendship is a source of grief to both friends so long as they live.

Employes

The success of any business depends upon the hearty cooperation of the employes.

We have often heard that a corporation has no soul. A corporation probably has no soul but most of us forget that the officers of the corporation have souls and hearts, and in proportion as the individual at the head of a corporation or private enterprise treats his employes just so he will be repaid.

We are paid back what we pay out. If we are harsh and mean to others, ever suspicious, ever looking for evil motives, those who work for us will be suspicious of us and look for evil motives behind our every act.

The employer who shows consideration, cultivates respect and sets a good example will find it pays from a monetary standpoint, as well as in the satisfaction he has in knowing that he is doing the right thing.

Lincoln said "A house divided against itself must fall." If the employes of an institution spend their time in wrangling and quarreling, it means a divided house, and the house will certainly suffer.

Set a good example to your employes. Take them into your confidence. Recognize ability. Advance worthy ones, and you will find everyone from the office boy to the officer pulling on the rope in the same direction, and you will get full measure of ability from everyone who works for you.

It is impossible to suddenly get a perfect working force. A good organization comes through the process of evolution and elimination.

Whenever an employe does all he is hired to do and a little more, that employe is in a position to occupy a place of greater responsibility.

If an employe is a sluggard or a four-flusher, he may be sure these things will be found out and he cannot hope for advancement.

Employes should remember that the most successful institution is the one whose managers are developed from the rank and file. The best houses do not hire high class help from other concerns. The most successful men are those who started in at the bottom of the ladder, and by perseverance and pluck and aptitude they climbed the ladder until they reached the top.

Employes should remember that the most difficult problem the employer has to solve is that of good employes.

A small want ad. in the metropolitan daily will bring an army of cheap help. The market is full of cheap help, but good employes that are worth over $2,000 a year are very scarce. The high priced employes are generally the best money makers of the institution, for they are selling their brains rather than their hands. The hands are limited, the brains are not.

Employes, there are golden opportunities before you. Disregard the clock. Bend your energies toward doing your work well. The advancement will be sure to follow.

The trouble with many employes is that their minds are filled with outside matters of a frivolous nature.

In every large city there are thousands of dude employes, the kind who wear high collars, the kind who spend all their salary for clothes.

The dude employe stands in his own light. He wears a higher priced tie than the boss; he is immaculately neat; he looks like a fashion plate, but at the same time his tailor bill is not paid, he is owing money right and left. He spends his evenings in the cafes, and at odd moments during the day he dodges out to look over the racing form and smoke a cigaret. This dude employe sits up late at night. He spends his salary, and more too, in the gay life. He is tired next morning when he comes down.

The dude employe who wears a high collar is not the one that knuckles down to hard work. Perspiration and high collars do not go well together. The dude employe does not like perspiration, so he sees to it that he does not exert himself enough to perspire.

Employes should remember that very truthful axiom: "The employe who never does more than he is paid for is never paid for more than he does."

The employe should remember that the boss takes large chances in hiring help, for there is not one employe out of ten that is a good investment. The employes should remember that it is necessary for the boss to make a good margin of profit on each employe, else he could not maintain his business.

Every employe who studies how much he can do is a help to an employer. Every employe who sees how little he can do is a hold-back to the institution.

Employes should remember that prosperity goes in cycles, that it is but three generations from shirt sleeve to shirt sleeve.

Over ninety per cent. of the bosses today started in and worked their way up from the ground. The young man who inherits a partnership in his father's business really has a handicap on him, and is not as likely to succeed as an employe who starts in at the bottom of the ladder.

Employes should remember that responsibilities only come to those whose shoulders are broad enough to bear them, and when additional responsibility comes to an employe that employe should look upon the responsibility as a distinct advantage to him, for it gives him an opportunity to show the stuff he is made of.

Laxity

When young men start in business their thoughts are all prospective. They look forward to the time when they will attain success. They work hard. They put enthusiasm and long hours into their business. As years pass they attain success and cash in this world's goods. They buy beautiful homes and surround themselves with luxury. They indulge in high living. They have country places. They take things easy. They sit back in their chairs and imagine their business will go on forever because they are so well established.

The hard worker is entitled to slacken up a little as success comes to him, but the moment his energies commence to wane, he should see to it that he gets the right sort of young material in the institution to keep up the enthusiasm and hard work which he himself has had.

In the very nature of things it is impossible for a man to keep up his youthful pace in his mature age, for, as we have frequently observed, you can't go fast far.

One of the principal elements in Marshall Field's success was that he got enthusiastic, hard workers around him. The moment he saw signs of laxity in any of these individuals, he let them out and got new material.

Laxity means loss of power, and with loss of power the machine does not do as good work.

Laxity in business is a waste.

Enthusiasm

In these days of keen competition and wonderful activity it is necessary for the business man to have enthusiasm. If he lacks in this, his business will be at a stand-still, while his enthusiastic competitor goes forward.

Enthusiasm should not be carried to an extreme any more than any other good thing should be carried to an extreme, but at that it is better to be over-enthusiastic than not enthusiastic enough. No one can be truly enthusiastic who does not believe in his business. Enthusiasm is a form of advertising. It shows the people you deal with that there is something going on and that you believe in your own medicine.

Catching Up

Nearly every one in this business world seems to be engaged in the occupation of "catching up." Nearly everyone is a little behind in the matter of finances.

As soon as one gets across the stream and is on dry land and has his bills all paid, then he takes on new responsibilities and goes deeper in debt.

It is a very hard game, this catching up. The game of existence is very easy to play when you are caught up.

We have tramped through the forests of the great West, and we have invariably found that the pace-makers or leaders are the least tired at night, while the followers or those who are behind trying to catch up, are the ones who are most fatigued.