Slow and Steady Advance
is the Best
by J. R. Miller, 1912
Many young men are impatient of slow success. In
their enthusiasm, they expect to advance rapidly and without hindrance in
their chosen career. The young physician is eager to find at once a large
and remunerative practice. The young aspirant for literary honors is
disappointed if immediately his work is not accepted and his name written
high in the list of popular writers. The young business man expects to have
success from the day he begins. The artist thinks that the excellence of his
work should win fame for him the day his pictures are shown to the public.
The same is true in all professions and callings. The fact is, however,
that, with very few exceptions, beginners in every occupation must be
satisfied for a time with but meager recognition and slow results. Many
young men who know that this is true in general, have the feeling that their
own case will be an exception. We like to think ourselves a little different
from other people. We may as well make up our minds, however, to the fact
that there are few exceptions to this rule. The only genius that
counts is the capacity for hard work. The men who have achieved the greatest
success in the various callings, have had to struggle for it most intensely.
There are reasons why it is better that young men should
not get on too rapidly or too easily at the beginning. No matter how gifted
they may be or how well prepared, they are not ready at once for full
responsibility. At the best, their preparation is theoretical, not
practical. They need to learn by experience, and it is better that they
should do so leisurely, without too great pressure. A young physician who
should have the responsibilities of a large practice thrust upon him at
once, could only fail. A young business man who, immediately after leaving
college, should take sole charge of a large establishment, would find
himself unable for its management. It is better that every young man should
begin in a quiet way and grow up with his growing practice or business. It
is also better for a young man's personal development, that his progress
should not be too rapid. Easy success is the bane of many a life. It
is struggle with difficulty and hardship, which brings out the best that is
in a man. Those who rise quickly, without much effort, too often fail to
grow into noble character meanwhile.
The object of living in this world is not to make a
brilliant career—but to build up a worthy manhood. To have large worldly
success, and not to grow into strength of character, is a great misfortune.
In putting up tall buildings, a great deal of work is done on the
foundations. The workmen dig down deep until they find rock or solid
ground. They will spend weeks in work below the surface of the ground, and
all this is covered up and hid out of sight. It is necessary to have a
strong and secure foundation, if an imposing and durable superstructure is
to be reared upon it.
In the building of character, it is the same. The
foundations must be strong and secure. There may be a mushroom success,
without any really worthy character—but the end can be only failure. A
one-storied man may be built on a cheap and flimsy foundation. But a
twenty-story man, who is to face the storms and stand foursquare to all the
winds that blow—must have strength of character, principles from which
nothing ever can swerve him, and almost infinite power of endurance; and
these qualities can be gotten only in life's common experiences. While a
young man is struggling to get a foothold in his profession or occupation,
he is meanwhile building up in himself the qualities of a noble manhood,
which will endure the severest tests.