The contents of this volume originallyappeared as weekly articles by Lord Beaverbrookin the Sunday Express. They aroused somuch interest, and so many applications werereceived for copies of the various articles, that itwas decided to have them collected and printedin volume form.
He who buys Success, reads and digests itsprecepts, will find this inspiring volume a surewill-tonic. It will nerve him to be up and doing.It will put such spring and go into him that hewill make a determined start on that road which,pursued with perseverance, leads onwards andupwards to the desired goal—SUCCESS.
The articles embodied in this small book werewritten during the pressure of many otheraffairs and without any idea that they wouldbe published as a consistent whole. It is,therefore, certain that the critic will find inthem instances of a repetition of the central idea.This fact is really a proof of a unity of conceptionwhich justifies their publication in acollected form. I set out to ask the question,"What is success in the affairs of the world—howis it attained, and how can it be enjoyed?"I have tried with all sincerity to answer thequestion out of my own experience. In sodoing I have strayed down many avenues ofinquiry, but all of them lead back to the centralconception of success as some kind of templewhich satisfies the mind of the ordinary practicalman.
Other fields of mental satisfaction have beenleft entirely outside as not germane to theinquiry.
I address myself to the young men of the newage. Those who have youth also possess opportunity.There is in the British Empire to-dayno bar to success which resolution cannotbreak. The young clerk has the key of successin his pocket, if he has the courage and theability to turn the lock which leads to the Templeof Success. The wide world of business andfinance is open to him. Any public dinneror meeting contains hundreds of men who cansucceed if they will only observe the rules whichgovern achievement.
A career to-day is open to talent, for there isno heredity in finance, commerce, or industry.The Succession and Death Duties are wipingout those reserves by which old-fashioned banksand businesses warded off from themselves fortwo or three generations the result of hereditaryincompetence. Ability is bound to be recognisedfrom whatever source it springs. The strugglein finance and commerce is too intense andthe battle too world-wide to prevent individualefficiency playing a bigger and a better rôle.
If I have given encouragement to a singleyoung man to set his feet on the path whichleads upwards to success, and warned him of afew of the perils which will beset him on theroad, I shall feel perfectly satisfied that thisbook has not been written in vain.
BEAVERBROOK.