Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Straight Line

The Deseret News - Aug 20, 1913


The Straight Line
By GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS


There is a world of simple, yet sound philosophy, in our school book axiom that "a Straight Line is the shortest distance between two points." Self-evident as it is, it embodies a wonderfully true principle of Success--something like this--

Have a Central Purpose in life, and then follow it through by The Straight Line route.

Everybody carries a Tag. Some carry it in their Faces, some in their general Attitude, and some in their very walk. But the Tag is there. And it tells to the shrewd student of human nature the exact destination of the holder of the Tag.

Each day as you freshly rise to the performance of new duties, be sure that the first thought of your day is to get into The Straight Line habit by following every worthy Purpose of the day before, and welding it the more strongly to the main and most important Purpose of your life. Do this and all the world will easily read your Tag and know that you travel The Straight Line.

Make The Straight Line a plan second nature to you. When a problem faces you, immmediately Think out The Straight Line solution--then Work it out. No matter how trivial the thing may seem, go through it and apply The Straight Line idea and you will have formed a habit of directness, decision and efficiency sure to hold you in strong hand at any time.

Think and Work in terms of The Straight Line.