I
am dissatisfied and unhappy in the work I am doing. I do it poorly. I long
constantly for an opportunity to express myself in public. Years are going
by, I have not developed my talent as I should, and I am beginning to feel
that my case is hopeless." This lack of self-confidence is more common by
far than many people would imagine. Arthur Frederick Sheldon has said:
"Most men accomplish too little because they attempt too little." Our
observations incline us to believe that this is the truth. Taking humanity
as a whole, far more men fail because they try to do too little than
because they try to do too much. Humanity is a great mine of undiscovered
and undeveloped talents. It follows that we fall far short of our best
because we do not expect and demand enough of ourselves.

CONSERVATISM

A man came to us for consultation in regard to his vocation. Just why he
had come, it afterward turned out, it was hard to see. Perhaps he only
wanted to settle matters in his own mind without taking definite action
upon them. He was engaged in mercantile business, a business left to him
by his father. He hated it. After a careful analysis, we informed him that
he had undoubted scientific talents, and that, with training, he could
make a name for himself in research and discovery. He was overjoyed at
this information, but he manifested no disposition to change his vocation.
He said: "Much as I dislike the mercantile business, I hate to change. A
change will mean selling out, upsetting my whole mode of life and
activity, removing into a different community, beginning a new life in
many of its phases. I cannot look forward to such a complete revolution
with any degree of pleasure, so I guess I will have to keep along in the
old store, much as I would like to devote the rest of my life to
test-tubes, crucibles, and scales."

There are many such men. Change is more hateful to them than unloved work.
They fall into grooves and ruts. They would rather continue in their
well-worn ways than to go through the mental anguish of breaking old ties,
remaking methods of life and work, moving away from friends and relatives,
and otherwise changing environment, conditions, and employment.

LACK OF COURAGE

Many men have self-confidence and yet lack courage. That may seem to be a
paradoxical statement, but if the reader will study carefully some of the
men he knows, he will understand that this is the truth. Men may have
plenty of confid