BE GOOD TO YOURSELF by Orison Swett Marden

Author:Orison Swett Marden [Marden, Orison Swett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788075839671
Publisher: Musaicum Press
Published: 2017-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XI.

Keeping A Level Head

Table of Contents

Give us a man who is not easily thrown off his guard, or off his balance,” is the cry when danger threatens. The man who can think clearly and act wisely when others get excited is the man who is everywhere sought to save the day in a crisis; he is always wanted for important positions, because, in emergencies, which are always likely to arise, everybody feels safer in his hands. It is the man who knows what to do when others are disconcerted, who is cool when others are excited, that is wanted; the man who is not easily flustered when pressure is brought to bear upon him or when he is obliged to assume great responsibility.

Men who easily lose their heads, and who go all to pieces in an accident, or when any great strain is brought to bear upon them or anything very unusual occurs, are weaklings, and are not to be depended upon in an emergency.

There is something superb, something we can not help revering and admiring in a person who can stand perfectly calm, unmoved, and serene when others become excited, lose their heads, and have no control over their acts.

To keep a level head in all circumstances and under all conditions, to keep it when others lose it, to maintain an even judgment, good “horse sense,” when others around one are foolish, is a difficult thing. It shows a great reserve power, that which characterizes the poised, self-controlled man.

What a magnificent example of serenity and poise under all conditions we have in the iceberg at sea! No matter how hard the tempest rages, or how hard the mountainous billows dash against its sides, it does not tremble or quiver, or give any signs of having been touched, because seven-eighths of its enormous bulk is below the surface of the water. Its immensity is securely balanced down in the calm of the ocean depths, beneath the agitation of wave or tempest. It is this tremendous reserve below the surface, this powerful momentum, which makes the exposed part of the iceberg bid defiance to the elements.

One of the most difficult things for a young man to do is to keep a level head. It is so easy to lose one's balance, to get a “swelled head” over a little prosperity, to lose one's ambition for forging ahead by a raise in salary. A little ease and comfort are great tempters, great destroyers of ambition.

It is a difficult thing to keep a level head when the storms of temptation and financial difficulties are raging about one; but it is easier than in prosperity. There is something in human nature which braces up against adversity, which stiffens up when the world goes hard and makes one tug the harder; but somehow ease, comfort, and the thought of prosperity take the spring out of the ambition. The motive to push ahead, to struggle, to strive, is usually weakened by the feeling of satisfaction that one has achieved something worth while, that he has gained what he started out to get.

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