Excerpted from "You Can Do Anything!", by James Mangan
READ
What you read
is important, but not all important. How you read is the main consideration.
For if you know how to read, there’s a world of education even in the
newspapers, the magazines, on a single billboard or a stray advertising
dodger.
The secret
of good reading is this: read critically!
Believe
nothing till it’s understood, till it’s clearly proven.
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WRITE
To know it
— write it! If you’re writing to explain, you’re explaining it to yourself!
If you’re writing to inspire, you’re inspiring yourself! If you’re
writing to record, you’re recording it on your own memory.
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LISTEN
You have a
pair of ears — use them! When the other man talks, give him a chance. Pay
attention. If you listen you may hear something useful to you. If you listen
you may receive a warning that is worth following. If you listen, you may
earn the respect of those whose respect you prize.
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OBSERVE
Keep your
eyes open. There are things happening, all around you, all the time.
There are
only two kinds of experience: the experience of ourselves and the experience
of others. Our own experience is slow, labored, costly, and often hard to
bear. The experience of others is a ready-made set of directions on knowledge
and life.
Observe!
Especially the good man, the valorous deed. Observe the winner that you
yourself may strive to follow that winning example and learn the scores of
different means and devices that make success possible.
Observe!
Observe the loser that you may escape his mistakes, avoid the pitfalls that
dragged him down.
Observe the
listless, indifferent, neutral people who do nothing, know nothing, are
nothing. Observe them and then differ from them.
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