The Washington herald., 1916-07-10
The Psychology Of Success.
BY oRIsoN swErr MARpEN,

A Tremendous additional power is impaired
to an individual through the psychology OF GER
tam situations. Compare, for example, the power
OF candidate for the presidency who believes
he is practically sure of election, and the power
OF the same man when he finds on election day
that he has been defeated A force has gone
out OF him, which no will power of his can re-
place.
The cold blast of disappointment which struck
the other Republican presidential candidates
when Mr. Hughes was nominated at the Chicago
convention was very marked. Their enthusiasm
! collapsed; their courage dropped; their hopes.
their expectations all received severe shock A
blight fell upon their spirits their buoyancy
! evaporated, and any demonstration for the sue
cessful candidate which they attempted was
forced. 1t lacked heart and spontaneity.
Compare the personal power of the Pro-
gressive leaders after Mr.. Hughes nomination
with what it was before, when their hopes were
nigh and they honestly expected that Col. Roose-
welt would be the victorious nominee. Like the
defeated presidential aspirants, the wreck of their
hopes and expectations had robbed them Of their
previous energy and enthusiasm
/ No man is strong enough to fight abso-
lutey hopeless case, when he knows it is hope
less, with the same power, the same vigorous,
buoyant enthusiasm, he would fight if he frnl-
iy believed he was going to win out. In other
words, there is a mysterious, indefnable, psychol-
ogy in high hope in expectation of victory which
multiply ones power just as the psychology in
defeat weakens and undermines the strength of
one who is facing a hopeless case, or who has
already failed.
When Justice Hughes received the news of
his nomination there came into him new power
which not there before and which will not
be there if he is defeated at the polls in Novem-
ber President Wilson is very much ADLER,
stronger man, more vigorous character today
than he was as private citizen, and if he is de-
feated in his candidacy for second term at the
White House, certain power which inheres in
his position will inevitably leave him.
In short, there is power inherent in sue
cess which is passed along and impaired to tie
individual by the force of his position.
The psychology of success and of failure, or,
| in other words, the fact that success is a tonic
and failure depressant, further illustrated in
familiar way in the effect of series OF sue
cesses and failures on professional baseball and
football teams. After the team has formed the
habit of winning, the skill of every member in
the team is increased by self-confdence, sense
OF security and safety. They are all buoyed up,
stimulated, encouraged to greater effort because
they have demonstrated their superiority over
their opponents
The trainers of the professional baseball and
football teams say that their most difficult task
is to put team which has been losing into the
winning mental attitude before entering con-
test, the infusng of confidence and of expecta-
ton OF victory, the getting out of their minds
every suggestion of their possible failure, so that
when they to the game their psychology,
their mental attitude is right They must expect
TO succeed; must firmly believe they are going to
JaJ
fears, sense of uncertainty, lack of assurance,
will lose the day.
The great tragedy in being out OF place in
life, round peg in square hole, is the accom-
panying sense of depression, the consciousness
of failure, which weakens and devitalizes the
whole being.
1 know young who for number of
years had conviction that he was an accident
that he did not belong in this world at all Civil
zation itself, his environment conditions, his
work, nothing seemed to fit him. He was un-
happy. He felt he could do better if he could
get started on the right track. But he didn't
seem able to get the right start. For many
years he was practically nobody, until finally
he struck a job which seemed to change his
whole attitude toward life. This was the turn
ing point in his career. Previously he had been
like fish thrown up on the sand. He had
floundered about hopelessly, heplessly, without
advancing. His mental firms seemed to mean
nothing to him. He couldn't get start, couldn't
make any progress. But when he found his
place, when he dropped into his natural niche,
his latent powers sprang forth and he became
creature.
Our ability and strength are multiplied many
times when doing the thing we were made
to do. This psychology of success and failure
plays tremendous part in our lives. The psy-
chology of our mental attitude furnishes the kew
to successful living.