Once we get the proper start we have only to take stock now and then in
order to keep our machinery in a fine state of repair. If we have chosen
wisely we love our work and stick to it closely--not forgetting the home
duties and our share in its success. Right here we run up against the
danger signal if our business success wins us away from the hearthstone.
_Love of home_ is a quality of the workers of the earth. "What doth it
profit a man to win the whole world if he _loseth_ his own soul?"

To sum up the case--once we have made up our minds to win and how we are
going to do it, the next step is to act. _Health is synonymous with
action._ The healthy man does things, the unhealthy man hesitates. And
when we get ready to act we will act with the air of a conqueror. We
must supply from our own store our atmosphere of confidence in order to
win confidence. The successful man is the one who _knows he is right_
and makes us realize it.

It is always worth while to study the successes among our
acquaintances. Are they gloomy, morose and irritable? If they were to
that extent they would not be successful. On the contrary, they are
robust, confident individuals who have taken advantage of every rightful
opportunity and possessed _the power to smile_ when all about them were
in the dumps. When everyone else thought that there wasn't a chance to
win these fellows stepped in and took charge.

When we interview the failures we find that all of them give one excuse:
"_I didn't have the confidence._" They may not say it in exactly these
words but the meaning is plain. They ran through the whole gamut of
_self-distrust_ which is the natural result of not having started early
in the study of self--the serious realization of their own capabilities.