s. They had to
size up things in solitude instead of reading the sizing up from text
books, as is done in the regular university.

Every man before retiring at night, or even during the day, should take
a few minutes to himself and carefully analyze the doings of the day.

He should weigh the positive and negative acts, the good and the bad,
the wise and the foolish, the right and the wrong impulses, the gain
and loss in achievement. He should strike a balance, and if he sees
that the bad, deterrent and backward things in the lead he should
resolve to get a move on himself.

The man who goes along without this sizing up things in solitude is
like the merchant who keeps no record, who pays his bills from the cash
drawer and takes what is left for profit. He will still be running a
little shop in twenty years, while his competitor who sized things up
each day will be in the wholesale business or will have retired with a
competency.

Try this sizing up things for two weeks, and the benefits you will
receive will be so manifest it will need no further suggestion to make
you keep up the practice.

Competition

The saying is "competition is the life of trade," and this saying is
true, or it would not have endured so long.

If it were not for competition we should be living in the woods in a
state of savagery.

Ages ago all men and women led the simple life. Their chief vocation
was idleness. When the weather was hot the man sat in the shade; as the
sunshine crept to him he moved into the shade again. In winter he
reversed the process.

When our savage ancestor felt a pain in his stomach, his simple
instinct showed him that if he put things in his mouth and swallowed
them the pain in the stomach would leave.

This low browed man's whole object in life was to keep from having
those hunger pains, and the only energy he expended was in hustling for
food and in protecting his food from the other savages.

One day a man observed that the beasts lived on each other, so he
conceived the idea that it would be good for him to live on other
animals. That it would be easier than digging roots and gathering
herbs, so this man caught and ate slow-moving animals. He used a club
to do the killing.

Along about here competition began, for another man learned to throw a
club and kill his game. Then another competitor discovered that a round
stone was a more effective weapon than a club.

These hairy forbears of ours l