gard every task
that goes through your hands, every piece of work you touch, as Tampion
regarded every watch that went out of his shop. It must be the very
best you can do, the best that human skill can produce.

It is just the little difference between the good and the best that
makes the difference between the artist and the artisan. It is just
the little touches after the average man would quit that make the
master's fame.

Regard your work as Stradivarius regarded his violins, which he "made
for eternity," and not one of which was ever known to come to pieces or
break. Stradivarius did not need any patent on his violins, for no
other violin maker would pay such a price for excellence as he paid;
would take such pains to put his stamp of superiority upon his
instrument. Every "Stradivarius" now in existence is worth from three
to ten thousand dollars, or several times its weight in gold.

Think of the value such a reputation for thoroughness as that of
Stradivarius or Tampion, such a passion to give quality to your work,
would give you! There is nothing like being enamored of accuracy,
being grounded in thoroughness as a life-principle, of always striving
for excellence.

No other characteristic makes such a strong impression upon an employer
as the habit of painstaking, carefulness, accuracy. He knows that if a
youth puts his conscience into his work from principle, not from the
standpoint of salary or what he can get for it, but because there is
something in him which refuses to accept anything from himself but the
best, that he is honest and made of good material.

I have known many instances where advancement hinged upon the little
overplus of interest, of painstaking an employee put into his work, on
his doing a little better than was expected of him. Employers do not
say all they think, but they detect very quickly the earmarks of
superiority. They keep their eye on the employee who has the stamp of
excellence upon him, who takes pains with his work, who does it to a
finish. They know he has a future.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., says that the "secret of success is to do the
common duty uncommonly well." The majority of young people do not see
that the steps which lead to the position above them are constructed,
little by little, by the faithful performance of the common, humble,
every-day duties of the position they are now filling. The thing which
you are now doing will unlock or bar the door