The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-05-23
THE VALUE OF SYSTEM.


So much has been said about the
value of system in the business life
that it seems almost futile to attempt
anything along this line, and yet
there are young men and women oc-
cupying positions all over the coun-
try who have never read a word
about order in work. They simply
drifted into positions because more
efficient people were not to be had,
and they stay for the same reason.
If thei: employers could get more
competent helpers they would gladly
do so, but in these prosperous times
it is out of the question. And for
this very reason the young folks
dodge the advice as to system and
point to the fact that they are draw
ing their pay just the same as their
mates who make slaves Of them
selves, as if the last word had been
spoken on the subject. True, they
are drawing their pay and as much of
1t often as some other young people
who have system and order in their
lives, but they will not always do so.
The systematic young workers are
bound to rise, while the others will
always remain at the foot of the lad
der.
In times of prosperity it would
seem that system was not rated very
high, for even the most incompetent
persons and the least faithful are
gladly taken, but when adversely
comes there is a relentless wedding
out. Even if a young man is salts
fed to do mediocre work in a hap
hazard fashion without the chance of
rising in the world, he must remem-
Der that the first chance his employer
finds to replace him with an efficient
worker he will do so, and the incom-
petent one without a recommended
ton will be set adrift. And another
thing to be considered is that unless
system is acquired and made a part
of ones life in youth it can never be
added in middle life. The habits are
fixed and, struggle as he may, the
poor worker is powerless to live his
life over.
And, after all is said, the average
position in life, whether it be work
ing for another or working for ones
self, does not require brilliancy or
great knowledge or shrewdness half
so much as it needs faithfulness, or
der and system. Most of the sue
cessful men and women in the
business world will disclaim great
luck or good management, and put
down as the secret of success just
common systematic work. To daily
and hourly be ION the job is the
secret of most successful enterprises,
and the young person who wants to
rapidly climb the business ladder can
do nothing better than to order his
life after a fixed plan and then stick
to it The young man who can lay
his hands instantly on the thing de-
sired, the young woman who knows
her work thoroughly and who is
never tempted by novel, fancy work,
or laZiness to soldier" are the ones
who will soon be in positions of
greater usefulness, while the fussy,
IO1CSSs
will be Tuning about bad luck and ia
voritism as the causes of their sta
tionary positions.
To go to work at a certain hour,
to have meals regularly, to take up
a definite line of work and have to
finish it we'll and quickly, to be able
to put aside pleasure for duty and
to be smoothly working cog in the
great machinery of life are things for
which every young person should
strive. 1t may be that the work is
like the work of q household, con-
tinually shifting from one thing to
another, continually being interrupt
ed and broken into, continually set
aside for some more pressing task,
as often happens where work is
pressing in store or Office, yet, after
all, this is the work that needs sys-
tenn the most There are men and
women under twenty-five who have
been so carefully schooled. and that
by themselves, that they can pa
tiently go back to interrupted tasks
twenty times in a single hour and
without the slightest feeling of an
noyance take up the regular work.
It is only system that keeps then,
sweet and sane III the midst of these
petty nnoyances. and by and by they
will o into the larger positions
WIZ Interruptions are unknown.
A ~ busy woman who accom-
piisles more than two or three un-
trained women says her success is