 CHAPTER 22
God is All and Everything -be very sure of that. He is everything that exists, not only in the mental and spiritual world, but everything that really exists in the material world. If you think and plan in ideas and act in accord with them, be certain that you will leave out some essential factor of your effort and probably fail to attain that which you desire. In thinking and planning to secure the position you desire, or to create a position for yourself, your plans may not become realities if you fail to idealize and use any one of the factors. Here is a little incident: that of a young man who changed in a few weeks from making thirty-five dollars a week and working eight hours a day to making five hundred dollars a month working but four hours a day. I met him by accident -no, not by accident, but by God's designing. It happened thus: One Sunday afternoon I went up into that section of the wild north end of Central Park where one can imagine oneself in the deep woods. I stretched myself on the ground and, reclining against a big rock, started to read. A young couple had come up from the other side and had stopped for a moment and begun to talk. I thought they would move on in a moment, so I kept still. But instead, they sat down on the very rock against which I was reclining. "You see, dear, "the young man said," you've accepted a mere trailer. I'm just pulled along by business, that's all. I advance as it advances, but I am not the racer you think me; I am not even a flivver. I can't even see a chance of spurting ahead of the others." "But you're so wonderful and such a good stenographer," she protested. "Someone will find out your real worth." "I am only one in 40,000," he answered. Startled, astounded, they jumped up and looked around -for from the other side of the rock had come these words: "Well, you blubbering young Romeo, why don't you stop thinking of things as they are and work them out as they ought to be?" It was my own voice and it astonished me almost as much as it astounded them. I realized I had “thought out loud” and determined to make the best of it. Getting up, I said, "I am sorry; I was here reading. You came up and I could not help but hear." "Well, I'll be damned," said the young man. "A good greeting, that," I replied, "and an introduction also; I offer my services as business counselor -no fees -it is Sunday you know," and I held out my hand. The girl smiled and I smiled; and then, he smiled and grasped my hand. We sat down and I talked about idealizing things as they ought to be, of the necessity of avoiding dreamy visions, of pinning one's idealization down to fit the possibilities. "But, what do you mean by this idealization?" he said. "Just this," I replied. "Idealization is the process of establishing a perfect standard in the mind. That means considering every part; the individual, the means at hand, the place, the work itself, the other people concerned, the conditions and the time: making a composite whole out of all the ideas. "Apply these to your case. You are a good stenographer. I accept you at your own valuation, but you are no better than a thousand others, -perhaps, five thousand others in New York City. If you can make yourself stand out from all the rest as rendering a service they cannot render, would you be able to command almost any income you pleased? " "Well, I should say I could." "Can you, by merely bettering your work, make yourself stand out as a stenographer above all other stenographers? "Perhaps I could, if I worked ten years at it; but then, a thousand others could do the same." "That, then, is one part of the idea considered, and discarded. "Next, take up the idea of place. You live in New York City. How long have you lived here?" "All my life." "Have you ever idealized it?" "I don't know what you mean." "Well have you ever attempted to think of New York City in a big way, -to vision all the possibilities within itself and its relationship to the rest of the country? Close your eyes. Picture New York City with its millions of people, its hundreds of thousands of offices, its tens of thousands of big business men and bankers and shippers doing business with all parts of the world. Vision businessmen coming to New York City from all over the country, from all the rest of the world. Do you see New York City as a great opportunity for a business stenographer? Do you see the place as offering the great opportunity?" "Yes," he answered," I do." "Now, idealize your own work. I heard you say you were a mere stenographer. Think of your work as it actually is by picturing its ideal side. Picture it as a perfect whole. Vision its importance. Visualize what would happen if, in one moment, all stenographers should forget everything they knew about stenography, and all knowledge of stenography should be lost. Imagine the conditions that would exist if all businessmen and all their clerks were compelled to make all records and handle all correspondence by handwriting. Has your idealization given you a realization of the importance of stenographic work?" "Yes," he replied, monosyllabically. "There are still to be considered the other people concerned -those needing services the existing conditions, and the time. What class of people is most in need of stenography?" "Why, business men, of course." "Are the needs of these business men met every day by the work of the stenographers in their offices?” "Yes" "Are there any business men in New York City who do not have offices?" "Why, none of importance." "When you idealized New York City as a business center, did you not vision big business men coming here from all over the country?" "Certainly." "Do you know there are about 200,000 of these men in New York City every single day of the year?" "Is that so!" "Have these men need of stenographic services?" "Yes, but they go to public stenographers or hotel stenographers. I don't see any special chance there." "Neither do I. Frankly, I don't know what the solution is going to be; but I do know that if we continue idealizing every single factor and keep them all in mind, we will see a new relationship and a new need. It always works out something.” "Let us take the next point--conditions of service.” "Are you ever asked to work overtime?" "Not often; but sometimes I work till ten or eleven o'clock when the boss wants to get out special letters or telegrams for the midnight mail." "Then the conditions of stenographic service are such that business men do now and then, even those living in New York City, wish service which, under ordinary conditions, is not rendered. "This brings us to the subject of time. It is clear that stenographic service is rendered in the daytime; it is also clear that it is not rendered at night. Even hotel stenographers do not work later than nine or ten o'clock. Does that give you any idea? "Yes, but nothing I can get hold of; nothing I can actually use!" "Well, let's drop it, now. Think of all these -yourself, the means, the work, the other people, the conditions, the time -over and over again tonight. Idealize every one of the factors -don't omit a single one. Come to see me tomorrow night. Here's my address." The next night he came. He was a different man. He was no longer a stenographer; he was a creator. More than that, he was an inspired creator. A new idea, a new thought, an inspiration, had come to him. This is what he did: he organized a stenographic night service between nine in the evening and one in the morning, -for businessmen coming to the city for a day or two. For this service, at such a time, he was able to charge twice the price of a public day stenographer. The service rendered to a big business man -who, having settled business affairs in the early evening, wished to get off contracts or letters or telegraphic instructions after the hotel stenographic offices bad closed -was worth the price. By idealizing the time of rendering service, he made his stenographic work surpass and lead all other stenographic services in the city. A little home was bought and furnished; they're married now! |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||