Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
REVIEW
THE
V O L . LIII. N o . 22. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lynian Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, Dec. 2,1911
SINGL
,!.O?PER S VEAR: E N T S
The Power Back of the Resolve
T
HE nail is a very useless piece of metal without a hammer to drive it home where it will perform
. the functions for which it was intended, and ability great or small never accomplishes achieve-
ment unless there be energy and force behind it sufficient to drive it to victory.
Capital fails in its purpose when not employed by directing minds; and an individual may
have a brain overstocked with lovely theories, but unless he has the genius of application and sufficient
power to operate them successfully they are worthless to the world and to the individual who possesses
them.
Unless there be a fixity of purpose behind anything there is mighty little chance of winning out in
this active age.
It is the fixed ideas that count and not a brain full of ideas that jostle loosely around like dry peas in a
pod.
It is far better to have one fixed idea, mediocre though it may be, and stick to it until success is won,
than to have a score of brilliant theories all of which show the possession of considerable gray matter and
to develop none of them.
Firmly adhering to one thing until its success or failure is clearly proven is better than starting half a
dozen enterprises, all of which seem good, but without sufficient energy behind them to make any one win
out.
It is the one thing at a time that counts; and if a man is selling a piano, and while talking to his
customer has his mind full of a half dozen other possible sales, ten to one he will fall down absolutely on the
one which he is starting to put through.
And why?
Because he has not learned the law of concentration.
Ability counts best when that ability is concentrated upon one subject.
There is an old saying that if you want something and want it hard enough you will get it; and, there
is a good deal in that; and when a man has made up his mind firmly to win he will win out in most cases.
It is not the number of pounds of avoirdupois or the number of convolutions in the brain that counts—
it is the will power back of the resolve.
Opportunity swings in upon the scene and the right man is sure to come to the front.
But a man should be taught to stick to a set course—to conserve his energy until the proper time and
then hang on until he wins.
There is a great deal which can be accomplished by careful, concentrated work; and no matter how
great a genius a man may be he must whip his ideas into practical form.
We build the measure of commerce, Government and professional life on definite lines, and we must
plan every part to fit in relation to every other part; and so it is in business life.
A man must plan his work for'a particular purpose, but if his ideas and energies are scattered he will
not get as close to the fighting line as he should,
\