Power of Mental Imagery | Page 8

(4) The difficulties that may confront you. Having
selected your field, (5) Consider various possible plans of action; (6)
Have prevision of their working out; (7) Compare the ultimate results
as you foresee them; (8) Decide upon the one most promising, and then
with this plan as a foundation for further imaginings, (9) Once more
call before you the elements that will contribute to success; (10) See the
possible locations for your new place of business and choose among
them; (11) Outline in detail the methods to be pursued in getting and
handling business; (12) See the different kinds of employees and
associates you will require, and select certain classes as best suited to
your needs; (13) Foresee possible difficulties to be encountered and
adjust your plans to meet them; and, most important of all, (14) Have a
clear and persistent vision of yourself as a man of action, setting to
work upon your plan at a fixed hour and carrying it to a successful
issue within a given time.
[Sidenote: The Expansion of Business Ideals]
There is excellent practical psychology in the following from
"Thoughts on Business":
"Men often think of a position as being just about so big and no bigger,
when, as a matter of fact, a position is often what one makes it. A man
was making about $1,500 a year out of a certain position and thought
he was doing all that could be done to advance the business. The
employer thought otherwise, and gave the place to another man who
soon made the position worth $8,000 a year--at exactly the same
commission.
[Sidenote: Rising to the Emergency]

"The difference was in the men--in other words, in what the two men
thought about the work. One had a little conception of what the work
should be, and the other had a big conception of it. One thought little
thoughts, and the other thought big thoughts.
"The standards of two men may differ, not especially because one is
naturally more capable than the other, but because one is familiar with
big things and the other is not. The time was when the former worked
in a smaller scope himself, but when he saw a wider view of what his
work might be he rose to the occasion and became a bigger man. It is
just as easy to think of a mountain as to think of a hill--when you turn
your mind to contemplate it. The mind is like a rubber band--you can
stretch it to fit almost anything, but it draws in to a small scope when
you let go.
[Sidenote: The Constructive Imagination]
"Make it your business to know what is the best that might be in your
line of work, and stretch your mind to conceive it, and then devise
some way to attain it.
[Sidenote: Little Tasks and Big Tasks]
"Big things are only little things put together. I was greatly impressed
with this fact one morning as I stood watching the workmen erecting
the steel framework for a tall office building. A shrill whistle rang out
as a signal, a man over at the engine pulled a lever, a chain from the
derrick was lowered, and the whistle rang out again. A man stooped
down and fastened the chain around the center of a steel beam, stepped
back and blew the whistle once more. Again the lever was moved at the
engine, and the steel beam soared into the air up to the sixteenth story,
where it was made fast by little bolts.
"The entire structure, great as it was, towering far above all the
neighboring buildings, was made up of pieces of steel and stone and
wood, put together according to a plan. The plan was first imagined,
then penciled, then carefully drawn, and then followed by the workmen.
It was all a combination of little things.

[Sidenote: Working Up a Department]
"It is encouraging to think of this when you are confronted by a big task.
Remember that it is only a group of little tasks, any of which you can
easily do. It is ignorance of this fact that makes some men afraid to
try."
Suppose, now, that instead of making a radical change in your business
situation, you are simply seeking to improve some particular
department of your business.
[Sidenote: Imagination in Handling Employees]
In commercial affairs men are the great means to money-making, and
efficient personal service the great key to prosperity. In your dealings
with employees do not be guided by the necessities of the moment.
Expediency is the poorest of all excuses for action. Have regard not
only for your own immediate needs, but also for the welfare and future
conduct of your employees. It is part of the burden of the executive
head that he