The San Francisco call and post., 1913-12-30
The Girl, the World
and the Devil
No. 3-Getting Ahead
BY ADA PATTERSON

"job." not enough that you are
keeping It It II most desirable
that you have satisfying sense of
progress. OF getting ahead"
Don't reckon this too strictly on the
basis OF dollars. 1t is quite possible
to render service worth more than
the wage you receive for 1t. but. that
is not tragic state, unless 1t lasts
too long. The important point is to
be worth more, and there is q GER
tainty practically az great as tho fact
that despite mist and rain the sun
Will shine some time next week. that
sooner or later you will receive all
tnat your service Is worth. The law
OF supply and demand IL almost as
unfailing as the laws of the Modes
and Persians. Every new letter you
take" every seam you sew. every
sale you make, 10 q chance for ad-
vancement- Do 1t not with the in
dinerent. Il must get through this
somehow" spirit or manner. but reso-
lutely see 1T as another step in the
climb toward success. Do everything
you do as we'll as you can 30 that you
can say as Robert Louis Stevenson
said: Il am happy because have done
good work" Every position" you
fill Is training school that Ats you
for a better one.
THE REASON WHY
If you feel that you are not getting
ahead. and II this be really true, 1t
may be for one of these reasons. Per-
haps you are trying to be both a bee
and butterfly. Any naturalist will
tell you that can't be done. Every en-
ployer will say that you can not blend
those characters.
II you go out to dances every night
you can not go fresh and At to your
work in the morning. You are tired
before you begin. Employers recog-
nize the I've been to . danca" air,
and are impatient If they have often
to recognize 1t. The bee is very
attractive creature on its own ac-
count, and 1t has chance Of living
through the winter which the butter
fly hasn't
Il don't ask you never to go to a
dance, but ask you to go only occa-
sionally, once or twice q week at
most, and take your other pleasures
in the more wholesome surroundings
of the out OF doors. Make long
tramps on Sundays. brisk/walks in the
mornings and evenings.
Sleep with the windows in your
rooms wide open. Take a few turns
around the fat roof OF the house You
live In every day. You will be repaid
by rosy cheeks. cheerful outlook
and doubled efficiency. You can not
get ahead" unless you keep your
energy at par. and energy droops
when the health Is weakened by late
hours.
ANOTHER REASON
Perhaps you are not getting ahead
because you are wasting your vital
force in fretting against conditions
OF your work
No work Is, In the respect of sur
roundings. wholly congenial. Wher-
ever more than two or more persons
are met together there is sure to be
conflict Of Wills. Don't allow your
self to be handicapped by likes or dis
likes for the persons about you. This
ones voice may CRATE upon your SEN
sibilities. That ones brand of jokes
may seem silly and that others sto-
ries repellant. But, after all, that is
no concern of yours. Keep at work.
So insulate yourself by your interest
in your work that these details pass
unnoticed. Don't Join cliques. and. be
sure to ignore factions. Every Office,
store or shop has its foolish little
cabals. Kitchen politicians" spring
UP In every industry, and 1t is not
these petty tricksters, but the worthy
independents who survive.
Arnold Bennett says the triumph is
not to find conditions that suit you.
| for conditions seldom or never do,
| but to succeed within restrictions. No
work shop, mental or mechanical or
meniaI, is a bed of down on which to
slumber.
Keep on training. Gain fround in
skill and experience and knowledge
every day
TRY SOMETHING ELSE
II the work you have taken up Is
not your work lay it down and try
another sort But be very sure it
isn't your work. Don't join the great
army of drifters, of incompetents,
who are known in some of the Park
row offices as "peripatetics." which is
a polite name for tramps. Generally,
it Is certificate of character to have
served long in any capacity in one
place. / admit there are excep-
tions. There are a weakness and
berth Government employees in
Washington are pathetic examples of
these ingrown traits. There may
come a time when it will be well to
change your work Think we'll and
long about 1t. Think. not feel, for a
whim in an unbidden guest that must
not be allowed to govern us in i'm
portant steps in life, and a temper
can easily be worked up about an in
adequate cause.
Weigh the probabilities as to the
~ Il u - y
propose to undertake as carefully as
grocer weighs his sugar. and be
sure the new heavily tips the scales
against the old.
BE SURE
II your work pleases you, but the
pay doesn't, first be sure you are
worth more, then ask for it. An en-
p1oyer may need little urging and
encouragement In this direction. But
don't plead poverty Don't affiict
him with details of home and family.
Don't make a mendicant of yourself,
for you are likely to be Inundated as
beggars are. Ask for an increase in
salary as your fruit peddler explains
the rise in the price of apples because
they are firm and Reckless.
Explain that you desire better pay
because you are doing more and bet
ter work. 1t is the only argument
that counts In the business world.
LOOK TO YOURSELF
If things are not going we'll; it, in
stead Of going ahead you seem to be
standing still or slipping backward.
try yourself at the bar of your judy
ment and plead for and against your
self. Discover whether you are not
standing still or retrograding because
you are lazy or Indifferent or conten-
tious, or unskilled. Place in the cor