San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-09-10
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS.
ALWAYS KEEP YOURSELF IN AN
ASPIRING STATE OF MIND.

sibilities-How to Push Your Business.
No matter what position you are in, be it
clerk, typewriter, porter, bookkeeper. car
conductor, an employe in factory or else
where, if you make up your mind or fall into
the way Of thinking that you are always to
remain where you are, and never rise any
higher, or receive more for your services, the
chances are very largely against your rising
You make those chances against you by
keeping in that state Of mind in which you
see yourself in the future as occupying that
same position. You make chances in your
favor by seeing yourself in what you call
imagination on the rise. The state OF mind
you are most in is force pushing for or
against your business and welfare. One
permanent state of mind will bring to you
success and another failure
The pushing of any kind Of business al
ways commences first in the mind. The man
who is today controlling a dozen railroads
commenced in some relatively humble posi-
ton. But in mind he was always aiming
higher When he gained step ahead he did
not in mind stop there; in imagination be
was on the next step. But the man who, for
years a ragpicker and scavenger, has never
looked or aimed any higher, sees himself
always a ragpicker. In his thoughts he
never gets beyond the ragpicker's limits he
may envy people who are better off. He
may wish for some of the things they enjoy.
But he never says in thought, II am going
to get out of this occupation. / am going
into something higher, cleaner and more re-
munerative." So he remains always rag
picker.
If you keep always in a low, unaspiring
state of mind, if you look on the best and
most beautiful things in this world as things
you never can have or enjoy, if you see your
self always at the foot of the ladder, grum-
bling at those above you, then at the foot of
the ladder you are very likely to stay. Any
state of mind you are in for any length of
time will carry you to things in the material
world in conformity with that state. If you
are very fond of horses, and think of them a
great deal, you are very likely to 60 when
opportunity offers where you can see the
finest horses, and where others fond Of horses
60. You are then the more likely to be led
to talk to some one about horses. You are
also more likely to become engaged in some
thing connected with the buying, or keep
ing, or caring for horses But it was the
thought that led you first into the kingdom
of horsefesh.
If your fondness for horses goes no farther
than the desire to be among them, and you
are always saying in thought, II can only be
hostler or driver" and you hold yourself
aloof lin mind from the wealthy owners of
stock, then always a hostler you will be-
But if you say, ~ am going to get up in this
business, l have as good a right to own a
stable as any one else" you are then very
likely to own stable.
Why7 Because that very state of mind
brings you nearer the men who do own sta
bles. They feel your thought unconsciously,
and when you are alert and civil, and as
much interested in their business as if it were
your own las you must be when you are in
the pushing, aspiring state of mind, they
begin TO feel an interest in you. You will
have more and more opportunities to talk
with them. They find you useful. They
find, probably, at last, tsat they cannot get
on without you. Out of this comes friend
ship. Friendship sets you up in business or
assists you in some way. There is great
deal Of friendship in trade" Men are de-
pendent on each other for assistance in every
branch of business.
II, when among people, you carry always
with you the thought of self depreciation,
and think of yourself as of little value or
use, those about you will not treat you with
that difference or respect as If you regarded
yourself more highly; nor will they feel dis
posed to help you to any higher position
Now, are you fit for any higher position, so
long as you lower yourself in your own
mindi
You may find, on searching into yourself,
that there are positions in life now appar
emily beyond your reach, in which you dare
not see yourself. Probably nine hotel scrub
bling women out Of ten would not dare to en-
terrain seriously for moment the thought
that they might some day control the hotel
of which they are now the hurblest part.
But occasionally a person does rise from
some similar position to one far higher.
That person dared to think of him or herself
in such higher position. This was the I'M
seen moving force that carried him there.
Wherever you put yourself in mind, and
persistently keep yourself, toward such posi-
ton you will be carried. You may not gain
the actual place aimed at, but you will stand
somewhere near it, which is better than
standing in the gutter of aimlessness aid
hopelessness.
Dare, then, and live now in mind as tie
head of a business or the head of a depart
ment for whose work you are entirely re-
sponsible You are then attracting TO you
the unseen forces which will put YOU in such
places But if you will not aspire above the
place of a wage worker you put out the force
which will always keep you mere worker
for weekly wages. If you are afraid of TAX
ing responsibilities, and desire only what
you think the safe corner of sure and steady
wages, you will always remain in that cor
ner, more or less, a machine moved at the
pleasure of others, and obliged, possibly, to