WILLIAM W. ATKINSON — THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

efforts. And then remember the effect it produces upon yourself when you feel it. Enthusiasm is Mental Steam—remember that. original: "Mental Steam," a metaphor comparing human drive to the high-pressure steam that powered the industrial age

A few days ago, a tablet was erected in one of the great colleges of the land as a memorial to a former student. This young man saved the lives of seventeen people during a great storm on the lake. He swam out after them, one by one, and brought them all in alive. He fainted from exhaustion, and when he regained consciousness, his first words were, “Boys, did I do my best?”

The words of this young man express the great question that should urge every true seeker of success to live and act in such a way that they may be able to answer it in the affirmative. It is not so much a question of “did I do a lot,” or “did I do as much as someone else?” as it is a matter of “DID I DO MY BEST?”

The person who does their best is never a failure. They are always a success; even if that "best" should be a small or humble thing, the world will still place the laurel wreath of victory upon their brow when it is accomplished. The one who does their best is never a “quitter” or a “shirker”—they stay focused on the job until they have given it the very best that is in them to give at that particular time. Such a person can never be a failure.

The person who does their best is never heard asking the pessimistic question, “What’s the Use?” They do not care much about that—their mind is fixed on the idea that they are “on the job,” and they are not going to be satisfied with anything less than their best. And when someone is truly able to answer that great question with an honest, “Yes, I did my best,” then truly, they will be able to answer the “What’s the Use” question properly. It is “of use” to have brought out the best work in oneself, if for no other reason than because it is a character-building process original: "Man Making process"—a way to develop the Self.

This wretched “What’s the Use” question seems to have been invented by some pessimistic demon of darkness to discourage people who are making desperate struggles or leading lost causes. It has brought many a person down into the Mire of Despondency original: "Mire of Despondency," likely a reference to the "Slough of Despond" from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim’s Progress, a place where travelers sink under the weight of their own doubts and failure. Chase it out of your mind whenever it appears, and replace it with the question, “Am I doing my best?” knowing that an affirmative answer settles the other question as well. Anything is “useful” if it is done in the right spirit, for a worthy cause, and because one’s own manhood demands it. Yes, even if one dies in the doing of it, it is still a success.

Listen to this story, told in a recent magazine article: It is the story of a sailor on the wreck of a German kerosene steamer, which dashed against the rocks of the Newfoundland coast in the early part of 1901. The ship had caught fire and had been run ashore on a submerged reef about an eighth of a mile from the coast. The coastline itself was a wall, some four...