Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-01-08
HOW TO KEEP RESOLUTIONS.

If there is one characteristic that
more than anything else makes a boy
weak and inefficient and .undermines
his chances OF success, it is his inablll-
W TO carry out what he intended to
90. In the case of any single plan,
ne may not care greatly whether he
executes 1t or forgets it, but one
lapse OF purpose prepares him for a
second, and third one starts habit
that may last him through life. The
question of how to keep your resolu-
tlons is therefore very practical one.
There are two weII-tested rules for
keeping resolutions. The first one is:
observe that you are not to tell
everybody; the boaster does that, and
he is the last person in the world to
accomplish anything. But select some
person, your father or your mother,
your brother or sister, your teacher or
your chum. Go to him and tell him
that you intend to do certain thing
at certain hour tomorrow. Use pre-
cisely the same method about any bad
habit that you wish to drop.
You have now acquired a powerful
all-your contidant's expectations
and when the stated hour comes, you
will march up promptly and do the
thing that you have been wavering
over tor weeks. 1t is as if two persons
were working at it, instead of one.
The other rule is as simple, and even
more effective; make up your own
mind, after due thought. The reason
why most resolutions fail is because
they never we're resolutions in the trLe
sense, but cnly vague hCpes or desires.
You get up in The morn.nr, AZ: think
a wou'l be a good thing il afte- break
fast you should clean the snow from
sidewalk; but while you are aing
your brea lfast, the boys ,chac shG:t
ing for yo,' - help build a snow 1. rt
in the pasture, and when you get bark
at noon, vou see that yo Ir mother has
had to hire a nan to TAX. care of ycur
duties.
The trouble is that you had
never really determined, you should
have stopped a moment and
said deliberately to yourself, 81 am
going to clean the sidewalk" The
idea would then have fixed itself in
your mind, and would have made the
boys wait while you shoveled off the
snow-and probably they would have
nelpeo you. t
It often makes a vast difference
when you do your thinking. Do not
wait until it is time to act. Begin
early, and yet not too early. The best
time to make a resolution for day is
the night before. If you have a ven-
ture ahead of you that requires. cour-
age, if you have a habit that yphf can
not break, sit down for ave minutes
just. before going to bed, and solemnly
firmly, make up your mind, Try "a
believe that you are going to do it. Go
to bed and to sleep so believing. III
the morning you will find that your
customary doubts and hesitations have
vanished, and you will go through the
task with a rush, hardly aware of its
! difficulties.
! It is a scientific fact that when you
grapple a resolution in that way be-
fore you go to bed, the mind will shave
it out with" the thing while you sleep
and be ready to furnish you all the
necessary will power when the time
for action comes. aEs
If you are strong on sgood sinten-
tions, but weak on achievement, try
these rules. They may appear simple;
but simple also are the laws of swim
ming. which may save your life and
enable you to save others.