Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1906-11-02
MAKE FOR sue CESS
CHANCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
I'M LIFE. asj
Actions That lead to Wealth and POI
sItion Almost Always q Mat q
ter Of Development limo
Lost In Regrets.

osssSAh sNshstS0s ~ tsteAsI
ter Of Development Time
Lost In Regrets. .
When was q boy, said an elderly
gentleman who has done well In thei
world, In discussing the c0ntributing
elements TO success. 81 used TO hayei
jdrummed into me by benevolent and
kindly disposed people, that %
wished TO succeed ] should take ad-
vantage OF my opportunities.
& And this same advice goes to-aay,i
and 1t is good advice, Too, though IA
am Of the opinion that too mMeh OIL
this sort Of treaeIe is worse In iss
effects than none at all. Some peoI
pie 90 all through life nneonseioHasE
taking advice, and that is abous alaI
they do take. have given this sRhrI
jeet Of opportunities eonsidsRahlsi
study from praetieal standpoinA
and my results are these:
t'The word opportunities should Bel
shifted 10 'ehaneeG.' There is a yash
amount Of distinction in this matter
which will make clear to yea+
Wherever you so, and In all ca1hEgg
and stations In life, you will heaN
men say: oh, if had only taken
advantage OF that opportunity wonld
have been rieh,' and lot Of Similar
talk, which, as matter Of 1aetr
means nothing. 10 they really had
their lives to live over again they
would do precisely the same as In the
first instance.
An opportunity is an evolution. IT
is matter Of development. It Is mob
an initial instance OF event, but it IL
Of subsequent development. In other
words, it does not become an opp0r-
tunity until the particular crisis
which makes Of it an opportunity has
elapsed or passed. Until that period
it is merely chance.
This is not as refined a distinctions
as the casual reader would imagine.
A familiar illustration, in the realms
Of speculation, as in the stock market,
will suffice to prove this statement. a
man follows the market closely for,
say, three weeks During this time
the opportunity he had of making
successful turns make you tired to
listen to. They have come up every
day. TT he had bought this paFticu-
lar stock he would have done 30 and
so. IF he had sold another stock he
would have made enough to have re-
tired. But as he didA't do either, he
goes around singing his tale OF lost
opportunities
Ac a - fa nd o1r
cisely the same, or very similar ops
portunities' exist for him in the en-
suing three weeks. But the distinction
is this: All in the future is but
chance-the passing Of the day, or OF
the crucial moment In speculation
and in business transactions deEel-
ops or shows what the opportunity
may have been. Until then II lies
| hidden, and human foresight does not
discern it. II man makes a move
| he strikes at the chance and not al
the opportunity. Thus, II he sells his
stock short, and the turn OF the mar
| ket shows that he should have held
on, to 1t, he cries about missing. his
opportunity, when the opportunity
could not possibly have been deyes
oped until he had taken whatever ae-
ton he was destined to take. ~
1T is the same where a man moves
from one town to another to engage
\ in business, when subsequent develop
| ments show that he would have bet1
tered himself had he remained ia the
| first town. But he had to make the
move, and go through it all, to prove
that there was really an opportunity
for him in the first place, and ha
| couldn't have developed this fact, on.
Opportunity as he calls it, unless he
had actually made the move In quesI
ton. :sts
And thus many men pass their
lives regretting what they term lost
| opportunities, when they had simply
| been confronted by chances, and snbs
sequent developments showed that
4 these chances were nnfavorable To
them when actually taken. The man
who really grasps an opnortunity, fa
he who discerns the possibility Of IS
4 chance evolving or eliminating iii
what subsequently reveals itself 70 ba
i an Opporfu nifty IL nsen, especially
] those who are called the unfoTSunat6
4 sort, viii digest this illustration andq
4 what it proves, they win save them
selves q lot Of retrospective, nnhap
4 BY thoughts. They win also be, EN-
abled to discern In future stems and
# business transactions what the posi-
sible chances Of their acts may ke,||
81 and win thus develop what We are all
3 booking for and 50 few Ana so-ealSsd
golden pprtnnie les. Z.
judge Cave Thieves 4 TIP. 81
Now, Sir, [, said the cross exaIssa.