e work. This restlessness,
unfortunately, is a characteristic of many of the most energetic, most
capable, and most intelligent young people, to whom an education would be
worth much, to whom proper training and preparation would bring unusual
self-development. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that the
young man or young woman and his or her parents or guardian should be
especially cautious when there is this feeling of intense eagerness to
begin work.

VERSATILITY

Perhaps one of the most difficult causes of misfits to overcome is
versatility. He who can do many things well seems always to have great
difficulty in fixing upon any one thing and doing that supremely well. The
versatile man is usually fond of variety, changeable, fickle; he loves to
have many irons in the fire; he likes to turn from one kind of work to
another. It is his great failing that he seldom sticks at any one thing
long enough to make a marked success of it. Because of his great
versatility, too, he is often a serious problem, even for those who can
study his case scientifically. It is difficult to give him counsel and it
is even more difficult for him to give heed to that counsel when it has
been given. The one hope of the exceedingly versatile individual is to
find for himself some vocation which has within it an opportunity for the
exercise of many different kinds of talents, and for turning quickly from
one kind of work to another. Routine, monotony, detail work, and work
which is confining in its character and presents a continual sameness of
environment, should be avoided by this type of individual.

MEDIOCRITY AND UNGUESSED TALENTS

The inability to do any one thing particularly well is, in its way, as
serious a handicap in the selection of a vocation as great versatility.
One who can do nothing well finds it just as hard to decide upon a
vocation as one who can do everything well. Perhaps the large majority of
those who come to us for consultation do so because they feel that they
have no particular talent. Oftentimes this is the case. But frequently
there are undeniable talents which have simply never been discovered and
never developed. Even in the case of those with no particular talent,
there is always some combination of aptitudes, characteristics,
disposition, and other circumstances which makes one particular vocation
far more desirable than any other. It is most important that the
individual with only a moderate inhe