by Elsie Lincoln Benedict
Available in 98 free installments
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¶ In this, as in other things, we have a tendency toward smugness, shortsightedness and egotism. The man who makes but one mistake a year because he makes but two decisions is wrong fifty per cent of the time. Yet he self-satisfiedly considers himself superior to the Thoracic because he has caught the latter in six "poor deals within six months." At the rate the average Thoracic acts this would be about one mistake in a thousand?a much "better batting average" than the other man's.
But because the confidence of others in our stability is of prime importance to us all, this type or any one inclined to definite thoracic tendencies should take pains to prevent this impression from settling into the minds of his friends.
¶ The greatest reason for striving toward stability in action and more slowness in decision, however, is for his own future's sake. The man who is constantly making decisions and being compelled to alter them gets nowhere. He may have the best engine and the finest car in the world but if he runs first down this by-path, and then that, he will make little progress on the main highway.
¶ An aim, a definite goal is essential to the progress of any individual. It should be made with care and in keeping with one's personality, talents, training, education, environment and experience, and having been made should be adhered to with the determination which does not permit little things to interfere with it.
¶ The big problem of individual success is the problem of eliminating non-essentials?of "hewing to the line, letting the chips fall where they may." Most of the things that steal your time, strength, money and energy are nothing but chips. If you pay too much attention to them you will never hew out anything worth while.
¶ If you are a Thoracic don't regret the fact that you are not a one-decision-a-year man, but try to make fewer and better decisions.
Your quickness, if called into counsel, will enable you to see from what instincts your mistakes habitually arise and the direction in which most of them have pointed. And you will see this with so much greater dispatch than the average person that you will lose little time.
You should begin today to analyze your most common errors in judgment that you may guard against their recurrence.
¶ Even when apparently composed the Thoracic is always a wee bit thrilled. Everything he sees, hears, touches, tastes or smells gives him such keen sensations that he lives momentarily in some kind of adventure.
He languishes in an unchanging environment and finds monotony almost unbearable.
¶ "Never two minutes the same" fitly describes this type. He passes rapidly from one vivid sensation to another and expresses each one so completely that he is soon ready for the next. He has fewer complexes than any other type because he does not inhibit as much.
¶ The "lid" is always off of the Thoracic. This being the case he suffers little from "mental congestion" though he sometimes pays a high price for his self-expression.
¶ Most of us are much more interesting than the world suspects. But the world is not made up of mind readers. We keep our most interesting thoughts and the most interesting side of ourselves hidden away. Even your dearest friends are seldom given a peep into the actual You. And this despite the fact that we all recognize this as a deficiency in others.
We bottle up ourselves and defy the world's cork-screws?all save the Thoracic. He allows his associates to see much of what is passing in his mind all the time. Because we are all interested in the real individual and not in masks this type usually is much sought after.
¶ The Thoracic does not by preference cover up; he does not by preference secrete; he does not, except when necessary, keep his plans and ways dark. He is likely to tell not only his family but his newest acquaintances just what he is planning to do and how he expects to do it.
The naturally secretive person who vaguely refers to "a certain party" when he has occasion to speak of another is the exact opposite of this type.
