We constantly hear people make remarks like this: “I know that I ought to this thing to-day, but I do not believe I will,” or “I do not feel like it.” And they, perhaps, procrastinate, or let the thing slide along, and do just the opposite to what they know they ought to do.
Every one who expects to make the most of himself, to make his life a success, must take himself in hand just as he would a pupil or a child, and, no matter how disagreeable or hard it may be, discipline himself to do the right thing always, the wisest thing, and not let himself off with the easy thing or allow himself to do a thing the wrong way.
A very successful man, who found that he was getting into a habit of letting things slide along, doing the easiest and putting off the hard, difficult thing, suddenly realized that if the habit became fixed it would seriously handicap his career. He turned completely around, forced himself to begin his work early in the morning, and always to do what he felt that he ought to do and in the way which appealed to his best judgment, regardless of whether or not it interfered with his leisure or comfort. The result is that within a very short time he has made himself a strong, vigorous character, and now finds it comparatively easy to do what he ought to.
But he says that unless he had taken himself in hand, and trained himself as a teacher would a pupil, forcing himself to do the right thing, the wisest thing, regardless of whether it was the easiest or not, he would practically have wrecked his career, because he was naturally inclined to indolence, and to take things easy, to postpone the disagreeable, the difficult task, and to do the agreeable, easy thing first.
Great characters have ever felt the necessity of this stern self-discipline.
If you always force yourself to do what you know you ought to do, instead of listening to your inclination, or consulting your comfort or convenience, you will very materially strengthen your character and your judgment, and you will also increase your reputation for level-headedness.
The trouble is that most of us use our second or third best judgment, instead of our first, because it often fits our comfort and convenience to do so.
Deplore it as we will, we are most of us lazy, and we like to get out of disagreeable tasks. We do not like to do things which interfere with our comfort, things which tax and perplex us.
Because we have taken the easy road so often, most of us have fallen into the habit of avoiding the difficult, of shunning the disagreeable, and of procrastinating, putting off the uncomfortable.
Now, the way to avoid the sting of a nettle is to grasp it vigorously, quickly. The way to take the sting out of a disagreeable task is to do it quickly, vigorously; not to dilly-dally with it, not to play with it and torture ourselves, but to get right after it, to attack it, wrestle with it, with determination to accomplish it.
Courage is an indispensable quality in our success; but if it is not balanced and regulated by prudence, cautiousness, it will run away with us and lead us into all sorts of foolhardy things. Boldness is a great quality when it is held in check by proper cautiousness and guided by good judgment.
I know a man whose courage is very much over-developed and his faculty of caution is very deficient. He does not know what fear means, and he plunges into all sorts of foolish operations which do not turn out well, and he is always trying to get out of things which he has gone into hastily. If his prudence had been equally developed with his courage, with his boldness, he would have made a very strong man.
Even the highest moral faculties, like benevolence, may ruin a man if he does not have good sense. It might lead him to give away everything he has, and not even provide for his family; and in that way great development, even of the highest faculties, may defeat their beneficent ends. I know another man who is the perfection of kindness, who would do anything to help any one in trouble; but he entirely lacks the restraining, regulating quality of prudence, good judgment, and he gives away everything he has, and even robs his family of the comforts of life. He does not mean to, but he is not well-balanced.
Whatever you believe or do not believe, do not get morbid or cranky upon any subject, for it is inevitably fatal to advancement.
Some of the ablest young men and young women I know have been fearfully handicapped in their efforts to get on because they have developed morbid tendencies.
People who are carried away with fads and fancies, who become morbid and cranky, are usually very susceptible to suggestion. If there is any new fad that is epidemic in the neighborhood, they always catch it. It has its regular run with them like the measles, and they are all carried away with it until something else takes its place.
Now, all of these mental peculiarities, cranky notions, do not belong with a level head. They indicate one-sided development. They do not accompany good judgment or soundness of mind, and this is why their victims are always placed at such a disadvantage.
Morbid people are narrow. They lack breadth, sympathy, generosity. The magnanimous, charitable soul does not think that he is right and everybody else is wrong. He gives everybody a fair chance. He is charitable and broad and generous towards those who differ with him, knowing that he is just as liable to be mistaken as they are.
I know a handsome, splendidly educated young lady so morbid on religious subjects that she has become a nuisance by always harping on religious matters. She is almost ostracized from society, and has lost about all her friends. She does not realize that people do not understand her, and has grown so morose and melancholy that her family are very much alarmed about her. She has a great deal of ability and is extremely attractive. She is also a fine teacher, and loves to teach, but she can not get a school because of these morbid tendencies. And the worst of it all is that she has settled down to the conviction that she is peculiar, and that she can not get rid of these peculiarities. If she would only stoutly plan to be normal, and persist in being like other people, and not allow herself to dwell upon things which have been such a serious injury to her, she would soon regain her reputation and largely overcome her morbid tendencies. But she insists upon carrying religious tracts in her pocket wherever she goes and handing them out to strangers, and especially to those she sees under the influence of drink or who bear the marks of dissipation, till everybody who knows her avoids her, because they do not like to enter into unpleasant discussions on religious subjects.
Many people persist in always airing their peculiar beliefs, their fads and fancies, at every opportunity. Many regard this as a sacred duty. They feel that it would be cowardly not to declare themselves, or to hide their beliefs and theories.
We are only considering the results of morbid tendencies upon one’s chances in life.
The fact is that people are afraid of those who are morbid, because it indicates a lack of balance, indicates weaknesses. They are prejudiced against all peculiarities, because they have in mind the normal standard.
Employers are always afraid of people with morbid minds. They are afraid of personal peculiarities that indicate departures from the normal.
I have in mind a man of estimable qualities, who has gone daft on the subject of foods. He is one of the most intelligent men I know, but you can not talk with him five minutes without his trying to draw you into a philosophical discussion of food values, and to convince you that the real reason you are fat or lean, have dyspepsia, poor sight, or' rheumatism, is because of too little or too much of certain constituents in your foods and drinks.
He will proceed to go into the chemistry and the physiology of foods until you will get disgusted and leave him, and endeavor to keep out of his way in the future.
Another acquaintance, a man of great ability, has become morbid upon the question of medicine. Every time you see him he will have some new remedy which he believes will revolutionize the physical condition of the race, if people would only persist in trying it. Yet he came near ruining his own health in his experiments, and, although a man of great general ability, he carries little weight in his community, because everybody points to him as a crank.
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