WILL-POWER IN BUSINESS

must ask yourself —‘‘ Have I been slowed
down ? > At forty, most men have been
slowed down by failures, or opposition, or
unteachability, or a streak of bad luck.
They have begun to think—‘‘ What’s the
use of ambition ? Half a loaf is better than no
bread. There are plenty of men who are worse
off than I am.” ‘They have learned, perhaps,
that an active, energetic man creates opposition
and they slow down and follow the line of least
resistance.

All the fight has been taken out of them.
Their eyes have become dull: At forty, with
half of their adult life in front of them, they
have settled down to become automata in the
business world.

There is no need for this. The body does
become stiffer at forty, but the brain need not
harden. Usually, a man’s brain is at its best
between forty and sixty. Kelvin did not slow
down at forty, nor at seventy. Neither did
Gladstone. He was Prime Minister at eightythree.
 [Edison is till busy at seventy-nine.
Smedley is making the Roneo Company
prosper at eighty-four. Rockefeller is still
guiding the Standard Oil Company at ninetyone.
 Why should any man give up the race
at forty ?
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