r?J|ji « E|£l HOWTO BE PERSONAUY EFFICIENT IN BUSINESS 5' 87 PLANS AND SHORT CUTS USED AND PROVED AT THE DESKS OF 43 EXECUTIVES H^U QJallegg of AgrUuUuw At QJarnell MniuerBttji Htbcarg Cornell University Library HF 5386.S53 How to be personally efficient in buslne 3 1924 014 002 715 A Cornell University 'S Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014002715 HOW TO BE PERSONALLY EFFICIENT IN BUSINESS HOW TO SYSTEMATIZE YOURSELF AND YOUR BUSINESS— HOW TO MANAGE TODAY'S WORK AND PLAN TOMORROW'S HOW TO HANDLE ROUTINE AND COR- RESPONDENCE— HOW TO SAVE TIME AND MULTIPLY RESULTS TENTH REVISED EDITION A. W. SHAW COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK A. W. SHAW COMPANY, Ltd., LONDON 1915 THE MAGAZINE OF BUSINESS SYSTEM "HOW-BOOKS" How TO Increase Your Sales How TO Increase a Bank's Deposits How to be Personally Efficient in Business How to Increase the Sales of the Stork How to Sell Real Estate at a Profit How to Sell More Life Insurance How to Sell More Fire Insurance How to Write Letters that Win How to Talk Business to Win How TO Write Advertisements that Sell How TO Sell Office Appliances and Supplies How TO Collect Money by Mail How TO Finance a Business How TO Run a Store at a Profit How TO Advertise a Bank How TO Manage an Office FACTORY "HOW-BOOKS" How TO Get More Out of Your Factory How Scientific Management is Applied How TO Get Workmen How TO Manage Men How TO Systematize Your Factory STANDARD SETS THE KNACK OF SELLING (In Six Books) BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE LIBRARY (Three Volumes) BUSINESS MAN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA (Two Volumes) BUSINESS MAN'S LIBRARY (Ten Volumes) LIBRARY OF BUSINESS PRACTICE (Ten Volumes) LIBRARY OF FACTORY MANAGEMENT (Six Volumes) STANDARD VOLUMES THE AUTOMATIC LETTER WRITER BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MORE POWER FROM COAL GOOD WILL, TRADE-MARKS AND UNFAIR TRADING KEEPING UP WITH RISING COSTS Other Business Books in Preparation THE MACAZINE a/'MANACEMENT Copyright, 1915, by A. W. SHAW COMPANY CONTENTS FAB,T I THE BASIS OF PEESONAIi SYSTEM Make Yourself Chapter Page I. System in the Man 6 II. Guide Posts to Eesults 12 III. System in the Desk 16 IV. Putting the System into Practice 27 V. The Executive's Desk Partnhi 31 FAET U TAKING CAEE OP DETAILS Forget It VI. First Aids to the Memory .-. 42 VII. The Tickler as a Business Getter 49 VTII. An Emergency Stock of Facts 57 FAST III HAJSTDLING THE DAY'S WOEK Keep Going IX. Planning the Work Ahead -.-. 62 X. The Steps in the Day's Work 71 XI. Routine roR the Desk Man 's Assistant 75 4 CONTENTS PAST IV WRITING A BUSINESS-GETTING LETTER Know the Facts Chapter Page XII. Winning the Reader 's Attention 80 XITI. Creating a Desire to But 85 ZIV. The Climax That Brings Orders 90 XV. The Automatic Correspondent 94 PAET V SHORT CUTS THAT WILL SAVE TIME TJse the Minutes XVT. Making the Most of Minutes 104 XVII. Short Cuts That Beat the OrpicE Clock 108 XVIII. Little Schemes pok Saving Time Ill Part I THE BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM Make Yourself O YSTEM is a living being. Its home is ^ your business office — your workshop — your factory — your store; even your desk. It lives on your work — devours your detail. Your system is your creature. You fashion it yourself. You may make it do the very things you want it to do — or you may let it grow rank and suffocate your business. You alone can make it a good system or a bad system. Your system should be your junior part- ner. If sickness keeps you at home, you need not worry, provided your system prevails in the business. System is your second self — the self which works while you play; which catches the reins when you retire. Be studious of system if you would be sure of yourself. CHAPTER I System in the Man IT DOES not need a million dollar responsibility and a $10,000 job to develop a good executive. Clerk or accountant, and even office boy, if he has the care of a desk and its contents, have just as good an opportunity to ground themselves in the principles of system and management as the high-salaried department head, if they are as ready to take advantage of it. System means simply the ability to get the thing done ; to get it done thoroughly, and to get it done on time. It does not mean cards and blanks, red tape and f ol-de-rol ; it means doing the task nearest at hand ; doing it in sea- son; and doing it in full. If a man puts this trinity of effort into every task that comes up, day after day, year in and year out, it matters not whether he makes out bills on a bookkeeper's stool or general orders at the director's table, system will develop in thought and act. Directors of great works are first masters of themselves, their desks, their every effort. The Most Lowly Desk May he Made a Training Table for System No matter how lowly and unimportant the desk, it can be made to provide a complete training course in syetem SYSTEM IN THE MAN i7l and organization, if its owner cares to make it so. Ee- eently, in an article on personal routine, a director of a large Ohio corporation makes this shrewd observation: "It is not only unnecessary to wait for larger opportu- nities than your desk provides — it is unwise. You may never get the larger opportunities, and even if you do, they may come too late. You may find that you were not suiBciently grounded in the rudiments of system as presented in your everyday, individual work, to make you truly fit to master the higher and more intricate branches." The clerk who keeps an orderly desk uses much the same sort of ingenuity and method used by the manager who keeps an orderly business. When the clerk keeps his desk free of chaos, dead wood and red tape ; when he handles a multiplicity of detail with methodical precision and dispatch; when he completes each task and proves its accuracy before passing it on to someone else ; when he checks up each day's work at night and satisfies him- self that he has overlooked no promise and forgotten no task; when he makes these things an unchanging part of his day's routine, and does them with the imf ailing certainty of a machine, week in and week out — he is training himself in the very basic principles of business organization— training himself in capacities that will enable him to handle with ease the heavier tasks that will come with promotion later on. Self-Made System and What It Does Toward Success The systematic office man is like any other flesh and blood success; he is not bom with his equipment full- fledged and ready-made; he either makes it himself, or 8 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM has it made for him. In the latter case, he gets his sys- tem from a fatherly department head, who takes him under his wing, and schools and coaches him in ^s- tematic precepts until "the pupil learns by rote the methods of the master." But most systematic men— and the best of them — make themselves — and the system in these men is real, enduring and ingrained. The self-made system man invents his own system and invents it because he finds it necessary. He has to discover a way to keep ahead of the other fellow and in devising such a way, he cultivates not only system, but his initiative and originality. The self-made system man accepts and uses system early in his career, because he discovers that it is the easiest way "to get the thing done." He finds that orderliness, promptness and a positive hatred of the ex- cuse, "I forgot," are just as necessary as hard work; that the clever lazy man may outclass the most conscien- tious plodder who does not pause to plan ; in fact that the hardest task can be made the easiest if he applies a little system and ingenuity to it. The systematic habit starts vidth system in the little things. The general manager with the seemingly ex- haustless capacity for detail may have started as the clever order clerk, who found that he could make out three times as many orders in a day, by using a triplicate order system instead of copying each order over three times. Again, perhaps he began as the ambitious cor- respondent who used the "form paragraph" system and by judicious use of these forms, answered twice as many letters as the higher salaried correspondent who dictated every letter in full. Or he may even have commenced as the office boy who made short cuts in his desk clean- SYSTEM IN THE MAN 9 iiig, or in his keeping of office supplies, so lie could ask for something else to keep him busy. When Opportunity Knocks, the Systematic Man Has His Hand on the Door Knob The success of system in these minor things inevitably creates more system in larger ones. At his own desk, within his own affairs, the desk man finds the schooling that eventually makes the systematic course of action the obvious course in every problem he undertakes. When promotion comes, he does not have to organize and train himself to fill it; he is an organized man when the big opportunity calls him; and his business or department becomes well organized in turn, because he knows no other way to direct his affairs so easily and profitably. All this is true and commonplace enough to all ex- perienced office men. Yet how many employers have ever made any definite, persistent effort to school their clerks and assistants in method and organization? An employer will eagerly and gladly pay thousands of dol- lars to have a corps of system specialists come into his business and put system into his books and his records, — but who can name an employer who ever spent this money to put system into his Men? If any employer ever did make this expenditure he wouldn't find it necessary to call in experts to fix up his books, or to doctor his methods, for few businesses manned by trained, systematic, methodical men inside ever need "fixing" by outside specialists. In most houses it is thought fully enough to send around stereotyped and moss-covered mottoes, and to dec- orate the office walls with time-worn platitudes on "Do- ing It Right" and "Doing It Now," etc.— but seldom 10 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM are there any definite system-plans and short-cuts given to the desk man to facilitate his routine and increase his capacity. Develop the Human Machine and the Metal WUl Shape Itself In some businesses, a department of $5,000 experts and inventors is maintained solely to ^tudy ways and means of increasing the output of the factory machines. If some shrewd manager would devote a mere fraction of this expenditure to studying ways and means to increase the output of his human machines, he might easily reap more dividends than the worth of his whole machinery equipment. The arrival of a corps of business experts and the installation of new machinery often arouse animosity among employees, for they fear that their jobs are thus jeopardized. Rather than have all of the attention de- voted to the machinery of the plant, the men would pre- fer that some notice be given to them. Any one of them would be gratified to be shown a way to do his work easier and better. For while we are all more or less lazy, we take pride in work well done. Regardless of the development of the machines of the future, the man be- hind them will continue to remain the vital factor in production. Toward him, therefore, the employer must bend his energy. He must make him systematic, for that is the basis of profit-making productivity. A course of instruction in desk system can accomplish three definite and vital results. It can increase the capacity of each desk and thereby reduce the number of employees needed for any given piece of labor. It can SYSTEM IN THE MAN 11 increase the quality and accuracy of the work turned out. And lastly, it can train up and develop more valuable men for the future. But it cannot be done by platitudes or maxims, — by passing around "copy-book" instructions and "Do It Now" mottoes. It means a careful analysis of the exact classes of work handled by all employees, and actual specific schemes and short cuts worked out to expedite and accomplish this work, in the least time, with the best results. Dividends on Mistakes A MISTAKE may be made the key- "^~^ stone of system — the foundation of success. The secret is simple : Don't make the same mistake twice. The misspeUingof a customer's name — an error in your accounting method — an unfulfilled promise ; these are valu- able assets if they teach you exactness. Let your mistakes shape your system and your system will prevent such mis- takes. When you discover a mistake, sit down then and there, and arrange the system to prevent its repetition. Paint it on your walls; emblazon it on your door; frame it over your desk ; say it to your stenographer ; think it to yourself ; burn it into your brain ; this one secret of system, this one essential to success: DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE. CHAPTER II Guide Posts to Results DON'T" grates on our sensibilities — it is equivalent to rubbing the hair the wrong way. We don't like negative orders. There are, however, a few rules and generalities, that are a necessary part of a course in desk routine. These rules are the axioms of desk sys- tem, and every office man should get them firmly fixed in his mind before he attempts to put in practice the broader, more complex principles of desk management. These rules have been printed a great many times, in part and in whole, but they are presented here as they were given to all the employees of a great middle west corporation, with orders to read them and memorize them, as they would a catechism of business success. A Series of "Don'ts" Which Save Time and Fill the Money Drawer Bule 1. — Don't let go of a single paper, a letter or a duty of any kind entmsted to your care for execution, until you have made a "tickler" memo of it, so you can follow it up to the end and know what becomes of it. "Rule 5.— Interview your tickler every morning. Make it the first "office assistant" you see and consult at GUIDE POSTS TO RESULTS 13 every day's beginning. Then plan your day 'a work, in accordance with what the tickler teUs you to do on that day. Rule 3. — ^Af ter the tickler has been consulted, and you have clearly fixed in your mind the important things that must be done to-day, the new papers coming over your desk next deserve attention. Eule 4. — Whatever unfinished work you have left over at night, should always be left in the upper right hand drawer of your desk. This does not mean part of your unfinished work — and the rest of it scattered through fifty-seven different pigeon-holes and compartments. It means all of it; the first rule of system is to have one definite, unvarying place for each kind of work. If by any chance you can't get it all in that drawer, see that a memo is placed in the drawer, showing where the over- flow can be found. Rule 5. — Men who make and break promises are not always men who are intentionally dishonest. Sometimes they are simply good natured, and dislike to say "No" when asked to accomplish a given task. Yet there is no worker who causes more trouble for others, and more unhappiness for himself, than the man who continually makes loose agreements, without first carefully calculat- ing their feasibility. To break this habit should be the foremost purpose of the system man. Let him resolve to make no agreement, either spoken or vrritten, as to the delivery or shipment of goods, the completion of a task, the accomplishment of any business contract, until he has fully investigated all the conditions and knows to a certainty that his prom- ise can be easily and promptly fulfilled — that it will be BO fulfilled. 14 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM Rule 6. — ^Wien you make a promise, make a note of it. Put it down in good big black and white on your tickler, and then use every energy within your power to see that it is fulfilled. The tickler memoranda should keep coming around, like a troublesome book agent, to remind you of your promise, keeping you in touch with every stage of the work that has been done on it, and then should come up finally about two days ahead of the maturity of your promise, so that it can be investigated carefully and final action put through. Bute 7. — It is human to err, and when you find you have been extravagant in your agreement, notify the "promisee," explain the situation, and give him a re- vised promise. Don't wait for him to notify you; fore- stall his criticism by a frank admission of a mistake, explain the circumstances, and get him to admit the justification of the delay. All men are reasonable; a letter of explanation "in time saves nine" of complaints later on. Uule 8. — A manager is the first man entitled to know what is going on. If a crisis arises, he should be the first man to know of it, because he must be the first man to weigh, consider, decide and act. All new work or new correspondence coming into a department should pass first into its manager's hands. After that, further details can be taken up by those outside of the depart- ment with the superintendents, the correspondents or clerks. Developing an Office Spirit — A Dyna/mo of Business Energy It should be, lastly, the endeavor of every ofiSce man to carry into his work an office spirit. Let him remember: GUIDE POSTS TO RESULTS 15 To see that everyone receives equal consideration. To keep every promise. To forget nothing turned over to him. To keep always abreast of all work. To look ahead in his work — plan for the future as well as take care of the work of today. Aud finally, to study his own individual position, and the work in his charge so as to impress, broaden and economize. Off Coats and Dig SUCCESS NUGGETS do not lie scattered about the surface-soil of the business gold-mine. Work — hard, relentless, pick-and-shovel work — alone unearths life's greatest prizes. Quit scraping over the surface of your business chances — quit remaining content with the pay-dirt on the outer edges of your commercial prospects. There is a nugget in every opportunity —if you only delve deep enough to get it. And don't merely dig, without aim or method. Just as the miner assays his claim before he sinks his shaft, so should you probe each business possibility be- fore you begin to work it. First locate your claim — your main chance. Then prove it. Then plan your system to work it. Then take off your coat and Dig. CHAPTER III System in the Desk A DESK is not meant to be a junk heap or a rem- nant counter for accumulating every imaginable kind of commercial material. It is a business work bench, and every inch, comer and crevice of its space should be devoted to holding just those things needed in the day's routine — ^to these solely and wholly — and to nothing more. ^ A carpenter would have a pretty time getting at his working utensils speedily and conveniently if he buried them every day under the chips and shavings of his work. Clear away the debris of the day's campaign after it is finished. Don't allow the waste products — the chips and shavings of your labor — to pile up in desk drawers and pigeon-holes. Don't let the matters that are "dead and gone" cover up and blot out the live active material you have to refer to constantly. Make your desk an orderly workshop, with every tool in its own proper place— and nothing else within its com- partments that has no everyday working purpose. This may seem very simple and commonplace advice to the hardened desk-pioneer. Condensed, it says simply "Be Neat," Yet it is the one great heart-secret of sys- SYSTEM IN THE DESK 17 tern, and we must begin to observe it right here and now, if we are ever to possess and master a complete and perfect desk system. Sweeping Out the Rubbish, and Beginning Anew with a Clean Desk Let us begin this system-installation then, with a first- class house cleaning. Let us sweep out the old order before we put in the new one. We will begin with the lower deep drawer, for that is the drawer foremost in "dusty uncertainties." Have you had any use for those dog-eared paper bundles piled knee high in its "bot- tomless depths?" Suppose you had to locate instantly, the contract you placed in this drawer a week ago, could you put your hand down into the unclassified junk heap and immediately extract the desired document? And take the drawer on the opposite side, — how many times have you had occasion to consult a single one of the countless catalogs and price-lists you have tossed into it carelessly and thoughtlessly day after day during the past year? Once? Twice? Then clear them out and put them somewhere else. Get a special file for them if necessary, but don't let matters which you will refer to, at best, but once a month, interfere with data you must consult perhaps once a day. Now then, with a clean desk at the start, the prob- lem is to keep it clean — to make it as orderly as a puri- tanical copy book, with a place and a system for taking care of every kind of material that comes within the desk domain. For we want no back-sliding desks, no relapses to the old disordered order. No signing the system pledge only to break it when the test of rush work comes. 18 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM The first great law of system is classification — a right place for the right thing. Classification is almost a synonym of systematization. It is bringing order out of chaos, having one definite everlasting location for each definite kind of material — and keeping that material always there. A bookkeeper with a million accounts can always turn to each one, because there is only one place to look for it, and it is always in that place. Classification, and an index, do the trick. It is these that enable you to put a thousand subjects in an encyclopedia, or a thousand kinds of merchandise in a stock room, and yet find in a flash any particular subject or article you may demand. Indexing the Workshop, and Establishing a Desk Sys- tem—Four Kinds of Materials A business man should divide up his desk, its com- partments and its contents as a bookkeeper does hia accounts, — one place for this kind of material, another place for that kind, and so on through all the classifica- tions of his work and papers, — each place arranged ju- diciously and conveniently, to best facilitate the day's routine. There are four kinds of material that should remain in the office man's desk, after it has been stripped of the dead wood. 1. The unfinished matters — letters and papers he is now working on. 2. The matters pending or papers held up for atten- tion at a future date. 3. The completed matters — letters and data — ^that have had attention and are ready to file or to go to some one else. SYSTEM IN THE DESK 19 4. The business working tools ; stationery, letterheads, pen and ink, ruler, shears, etc. There are two divisions to the first classification. Some of our unfinished work will brook no delay, we must do it to-day, if ever. The rest of the unfinished work, while it demands early attention, does not necessarily require immediate completion. The work to be completed today should not be placed in the desk drawers at all ; it should be kept on top, DAY'S WORCC rOLOE ■ H S N G S '5 'O CO ■ l"0 -DA \ i \ L>- Form I: By tying four stout folders together, a portfolio such as this can be made. Stationary stores selJ leather bound folders 20 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM staring us in the face, right beneath our hands and our eyes, silently urging attention. For work of this im- mediate classification, we need a "Day's Work" portfolio (Form I), which may consist of four or five folders tied together with a string, each folder holding a special classification of to-day's work. These classifications may be labeled to suit the character and needs of your own work, but generally a compartment should be devoted to "Letters Eeady to Dictate," another one to "Matters to Do To-day," another to "Things to Take up With A," etc. The balance of our unfinished work, though it should not be kept on the working surface of the desk, should be kept as near to it as possible. For as soon as we clean up the duties in the Day's Work portfolio, we want to attack the remainder of our uncompleted labor. So we will secure another portfolio (one of the same kind will do), label it the "Unfinished Work" portfolio, and place it in the upper right hand drawer of the desk, get- at-able with but a single movement of the right hand. A Correspondence File that Eliminates the Memory — Specific Information With this much of the unfinished work disposed of, we find we still have another class of matters to handle, and it is this class that causes most all desk troubles and confusion. These are the papers we wish to hold over for some purpose or other. The time is not yet ripe to give them attention; we wish to get more information or data before answering Brown's letter; or we wish to wait twenty days before we write to Stuart. For this we want a special indexed file (Form II), one that will enable us to file Stuart's letter twenty days ahead, and SYSTEM IN THE DESK 21 Form 11: The expansive Hold Over file, indexed by days, by months, and alphabet- ically, for bedding papers pendinc information or foUow-up 22 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM then forget about it, with the absolute assurance that our file will automatically bring it to our attention, when the twenty days are up. We will put this file in the Becond right hand drawer, and file in it, not only the letters and correspondence that we want brought to our attention for some purpose at a future date, but all matters we are holding for further data and information. Note that this file not only classifies matter by day and month, but alphabetically as well. It is a general cor- respondence file for matters or letters pending. Establishing a Postoffice on the Front of the Desk — Getting Bid of Details Now then, outside of our tools and working material, we have left but a single class of papers, the completed matters ready for the file or for the attention of some- one else. To take care of these we will secure either a three-decker wire basket or a messenger rack with compartments marked for the special men or depart- ments we wish to pass on our work to, after it has had our attention. For Mr. A, for Mr. B, or for the file, you drop each completed paper into the compartment marked for the man or desk you wish it to go to next. The office boy then delivers it to the intended person. A good messenger service between one department and the others will save an untold number of steps in a large business, and will even prove valuable in a small one, where perhaps there are but two workers who com- municate with each other. Just this simple rack and a few minutes of the office boy's time is all that is neces- sary. With a messenger system in force a desk man need never leave his desk during working hours, unless he chooses to do so for some special purpose. SYSTEM IN THE DESK 23 So then, in these three simple portfolios we have con- centrated for instant reference practically all of our working material, both the things to do today and the things to do in the future. But how shall we know what is in each folder with- out going through them all, each time we want this in- formation? How shall we keep in mind all the letters and tasks in the Unfinished Work portfolio and attend to each on the day or hour it demands attention? For this we need an auxiliary brain to remember for us— the last of the devices to complete our desk equip- ment — a desk tickler. An Auxiliary Brain That Never Forgets — The "Tickler" Memorandum A desk tickler (Form VI) is practically a second memory for the desk man — a brain that remembers all he has to do — ^reminds him of each task on the right day, and jogs him up until he performs it. As each paper or group of papers is filed in the Un- finished Work portfolio, we make a tickler memoran- dum of the work these papers cover, together with the day or hour this work should be attended to. The tickler need be but an ordinary 3x5 card index fitted into the upper left hand drawer of the desk, indexed by the thirty-one days of the month and the twelve months of the year. No matter how insignificant any task is that we have to do, we should make a tickler note of it. If we make a promise, if we contract an obligation, if we agree to a certain delivery or shipment within a certain time — use the tickler. Tickle the date we want the promise brought to our attention again, and leave the rest to the tickler. 24 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM All the memos thus made in the tickler come up auto- matically for attention on the proper date, and will act as infallible reminders that will eliminate all chances of overlooking any detail, cut out all anxiety and con- fusion as to the unfinished work ahead of you, and make it possible to fulfil every promise and business engage- ment on time. The tickler and the Unfinished "Work file thus hand in hand, take care of nearly all the papers that come to your desk and bring each to your notice in proper season. The file in the second drawer — ^the "Hold Over" file- will be found especially valuable to take care of papers and letters you are holding for frequent reference, such as rough plans for the future, memoranda of schemes, MESSENGER Form III: Sketch of desk showing working area and all the executive's conven- iences arranged according to the system described SYSTEM IN THE DESK 25 instructiona from department heads, stockholders' re- ports and other information you may not wish to put into the general files and too personal to be filed with the regular unfinished work. Needles and Pins, a Man's Troubles and Eow to Bury Them Once for All There is now left but a single classification of our desk material — the tools with which we work. Ruler, scissors, a few extra pens, clips, pins, etc. These should be arranged in the drawer nearest the hand that uses them — ^the wide, shallow, middle drawer. A convenient arrangement is shown in the diagram (Form III) and it will pay any business man to fit up his desk drawer with compartments similar to those shown in the illus- tration. Without these compartments, every opening and shutting of this drawer will throw its contents into confusion. It is especially important to keep tickler slips handy, for you use them again and again every working hour. Keep them in a tray or a box on the surface of your desk, and near the ink stand where you can get at them quickly. Every desk man finds that out of the vast accumula- tions of circulars which arrive daily at his desk, there are some which he desires to save. Today he receives a catalog of goods for which he is soon to be in the market. Tomorrow he may find on his desk a handsome booklet, describing an office appliance which he wishes to examine, some time in the future. Again, he is constantly receiving clever advertising mat- ter which, if properly selected and saved, might give him valuable suggestions upon making up his own copy. 26 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM The desk man is aware of the usefulness of a large amount of this literature, but upon receiving it, he is usually too busy to examine it or select the good from the bad. Now in the desk system which has just been described there are three empty drawers beneath the tickler drawer, not provided for in this classification. The first of these, as noted in the diagram, can well be used to care for stationery, envelopes, scratch pads and the like. But what is to be put in the other two? These are just the receptacles for the catalogs and literature mentioned above. The first of these drawers may be used for the catalogs in which are listed goods the desk man expects to buy in the near future. The bottom drawer may be used for those pieces of advertis- ing literature from which he expects to get suggestions for the preparation of his own publicity matter. These shallow drawers will require a few minutes of attention and classification work once a month. This should keep them up to date. With the new desk system in force we are now ready for action. In the next chapter we wiU go through a day's work together and see for ourselves how our new system will work. Desk Apprenticeship THE desk man's tools are all about him: letters, files, phone, clerks. Not until he is dexterous with these is he ready for the real tasks of business. CHAPTER IV Putting the System into Practice IT'S a poor manager who gets in a fast motor and hitches it to slow machines; you must get the other folks in the office in accord with your fast system before you can get the best results from it. Have them thor- oughly understand that all letters and work coming to your desk must be placed in one place and nowhere else — on the right hand edge. No matter what it is— mail, letters, notes from other desks, instructions from a su- perior, every paper that can be called "work" wants to go in one pile, and on the right hand edge of your desk. Thia is to enable you to observe the first law of system — ^to keep the surface of your desk clean and orderly, and to have just one place and no other for new, unfinished work. This gives a complete understanding all around, and no messages can be overlooked. Here we are at your desk this morning, and there ia a pile of unfinished work on the right hand edge. Before you lay a hand on this new matter, however, consult your infallible advisor, the tickler, and see if he has not something slated for today that should take precedence over all new work. By this precaution, you are often able to set into motion at 8:30 or 9 o'cloek, some task 28 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM that might be seriously hampered or delayed if held over an hour or so later. Striking the Speed Limit on ihe New "Unfinished Work " And now that we are fully ready to tackle the new unfinished work waiting on the right hand edge of the desk, see how speedily we can go through the pile. No old papers mixed in with the new ones, for there are no old papers in sight. If you did have some work under way on the surface of your desk before you started work on new matter, you gathered it all up and put it aside temporarily in the Day's Work portfolio. For that is one of the rigid rules of our new system — ^never to have any tag ends or loose papers scattered about the desk top excepting those to which we are giving im- mediate attention. We go through our pile methodically and steadily, taking each paper or letter in the order in which it lies. We don't pull out the pink colored letters because the hue appeals to the eye; we don't extract the agreeable missives beginning: "enclosed find check" because it is easier to handle the pleasant things first, — ^this would be upsetting the regular order of things, and if we are going to be systematic at all, we are resolved to be sys- tematic in the little things as well as the big ones. We just plod right through the pile, taking things as they come. Those letters that need immediate answer — and need it today— go into the Day's Work portfolio to our left, under the compartment "Ready to Dictate." Matters needing attention but not immediate attention, go into the regular Unfinished Work portfolio, which is always in one perpetual place, as unchanging as the THE SYSTEM IN PRACTICE 29 Rock of Gibraltar — the upper right hand desk drawer. And as we file away such matters in the Unfinished Work portfolio, we make memoranda of them in the tickler, with the date we want them brought to our at- tention again. Matters to be taken up with "A", "B", and so on— and today — ^we file in the Day's Work port- folio to our left in the compartments reserved for these men. System Eliminates a Clerk and Finds a Private Secre- tary That Prods Vs On. Papers to be sent through to other desks or to the file go in the proper divisions of the messenger rack. And so our desk has been magically changed from a mere senseless storehouse of tommy-rot matter, to an actual, working, thinking private secretary that plans and lays out all our work for us, pushes us, prods us, spurs us until we do it, and then files it away again, all with the precision and certainty of a well oiled machine. The secret is in one word: We have applied to our desk the one great basic principle of system, the self- same one that the bookkeeper applies to his books and the stockkeeper to his stock— classification. And simple classification, infinitely simple, — so simple indeed that we have now but three classes of papers, located in but three convenient portfolios, where before our material was distributed through a dozen and one different com- partments, and verily, was of as many sorts and kinds as the hues of Joseph's coat. And to top it all, we have an Index to our classifica^ tion — an index to every paper and task and duty we have on hand. Our faithful tickler tells us at all times exactly what we have in our desk to do, and where the 30 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM papers and letters pertaining to it can be immediately located. It is a watch-dog against negligence — and more than that, it is an alarm clock against forgetfulnesg and sloth. It wakes us up when we dawdle, and calla us to action when we forget, at precisely the right mo- ment when we should give a certain task our attention. In the morning our desk contains its orderly pile of work; in the evening it is clear and clean, and yet we are hardly conscious of having made any special effort to make it so. We have pushed the button and system has done the rest. System, the force that makes molehills of business mountains; grasps, sifts, dissects overwhelming masses of detail and reduces them to problems of A B C sim- plicity ! Strive for Patience THERE is a microbe called Unrest. It breeds in many busy brains. It blurs many a clear vision. It un- balances many sound judgments. It sours a healthy ambition. It ferments into a passion for quick riches. It urges us on to undertake things over- night, that need years of mature effort to accomplish. It makes us unfit to do our daily work. Acquire patience — a willingness to wait! Seek content — content that smothers unrest and enables us to do our present task with a true eye, a clear mind, a keen judgment ! CHAPTER V The Executive's Desk Partner A NEGLECTED convenience may become an active burden — a source of genuine harm. Like an unused machine, it gathers rust and dust, and soon passes them on to the other machines in the workshop. When man created the first desk, he put into it a deep, spacious, roomy compartment, intended as the crowning stroke of a signal accomplishment. "Here," he said to himself, "is a space big enough for a big, healthy system to turn around in and have plenty of breathing and working space. Office men cannot say that I have not given them at least one unshallow re- ceptacle — this should be the most useful and convenient repository in the office for the desk man's bulky records and working material." Yet "from time immemorial" this compartment in the desk has been totally misused and imappreciated. Instead of taking advantage of its generous breadth and depth as an appropriate housing place for a good-sized system, its ample proportions have been shamelessly used as a convenient annex to the waste basket, or a sort of second scrap heap, rather easier of access than the one in the back yard. 32 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM When the office man has had anything dead and ob- solete to bury or obliterate, down it has gone into his deep desk drawer. When he has left the office at night in a hurry, and hastily gathered up the litter on his desk, down it has gone into his deep desk drawer. Whenever he has had any conceivable sort of papers or literature of uncertain classification, the big, yawning chasm to his right has looked up invitingly and encouragingly, and down have gone the masses of nondescript material ! Booklets, catalogs, circulars, manuscripts, spring poems and what not — relics of the business past — ^have all found a peaceful cemetery in the unprotesting, all- embracing, deep desk drawer. In all the category of earthly subjects there is no bet- ter example of a really good thing gone wrong than the much-misused and much-abused deep desk drawer ! Restoring the Deep Desk Drawer to its Birthright, and Exploiting its Virtues The solution offered in this chapter for bringing the deep drawer into its own, and restoring to it its birth- right as the most convenient and useful portion of the desk, is the inevitable solution — so inevitable that like all great inventions, it causes us to wonder why we did not think of it before. The deep drawer is about the size of an average ver- tical file drawer, the greatest time-saver and filing con- venience the office has ever known. What reason is there then, that the deep drawer should not be utilized as a vertical filing drawer— that "the greatest time- saver" should not be taken from its place in an oak cabinet, 'way at the other end of the office, and concen- trated into our own business work bench— right within THE EXECUTIVE'S PAETNER 33 arm's reach. Think of the saving of steps to and from the old vertical file this would effect; think of the con- venience and satisfaction of having our important cor- respondence in a file of our own, under our own lock and key ; the economy and ease of being able to put down our right arm, pull out a drawer, and in three motions ex- tract any desired paper or letter we may wish to refer to, all without leaving our office chair. Securing an Outfit for the Deep Drawer FUe end Arranging It to Suit Tour Needs The "Deep Drawer File" outfit(Form IV)consists of a number of regulation size folders, from thirty to sixty, or as many as your drawer will accommodate. These folders are each attached to a rod or stick and are sus- pended upright in the drawer by two notched panels, one on each side of the drawer. Each folder is fitted with a moveable label or index, and with sixty of these in your drawer you have the basis of one of the most exhaustless and versatile of office systems. This file can do any specific thing, provide any con- venience, serve any filing purpose of the regular vertical filing drawer. As a follow-up, thirty-one of its folders can be numbered by the days of the month, and twelve more by the months of the year, and you have in your own desk drawer a complete follow-up system in which you can file ahead sales correspondence, credit corres- pondence, matters or plans to take up at a future date, and all the regulation follow-up material, with the eer- tainty that your file will bring each to your attention on the proper date. Or as a special alphabetical file for classifying and keeping accessible, personal or special kinds of corres« 84 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM -^ - ■ ( a ■ , Form IV: An ezami^ of how three motions o( the hands brinf the comspondeoce to the top of the deak THE EXECUTIVE'S PARTNER 35 pondenee of such a nature that you do not want to put it into the regular file, it is exactly as useful. You can label with pen and ink twenty-six of the folders with the alphabet letters, and there you have your complete ver- tical file, its entire contents within a few seconds' reach. Purchasing agents find it a gold mine of convenience for classifying and filing ahead the promises of "smooth- tongued" salesmen. When the wily business-getter hands in his prices, with a delivery specification of ten days, the buyer files this promise eight days ahead along with a copy of the order. Then it comes to his attention two days ahead of time, and he has an opportunity to "punch up" his salesman in time to make sure of a delivery two days later. Using the Deep Drawer File for a Follow-up — How a Credit Man Can Use It The credit man of a large installment house uses it almost entirely to follow up large collections that he prefers to handle himself. All installment accounts due each month on the 21st are filed in folder "21." On the morning of the 21st he takes out the contents of this folder and pushes all of his debtors for payment. Those accoimtB that are paid before nightfall are put back into folder twenty-one for attention when the next payment comes due on the 21st of next month. Those that are not paid are "dunned" and then filed ahead five days in folder 26. If they are not paid that day they are "dunned" again and filed ahead another five days, and so it goes until the delinquent customer cashes up his payment, when he is again restored to the good graces of folder 21 for attention on the 21st of next month, when his next payment becomes due. 36 BASIS OP PERSONAL SYSTEM "Wlio can conceive of a more supremely simple system, yet besides its simplicity it provides unlimited con- venience for the credit man in keeping all his big ac- counts almost under his very nose. "But," you ask, "how does the credit man know in what folder, or under what date he can find a given ac- count, should he care to locate it?" The easiest thing in the world — for he supplements his deep drawer file with our old friend the tickler. In the back of the tickler is a complete alphabetical index, and when Mr. Credit Man files Brown's account in compartment 21, it is quite "the easiest thing in the world" to make a note of it on Brown's card in the tickler. And so the contents of the vertical file is always indexed, and always findable without the help of an uncertain and often hard-to-locate filing clerk. Make the Deep Drawer File a Private Secretary — Forget Petty Details Executives and sales managers have used the same sys- tem as an "automatic private secretary" for following up the instructions they give to branch offices, men on the road, department heads and lieutenants. "When the general manager writes the advertising man, "I want that booklet written by Thursday," who is there to re- mind him of it, if the Ad. man doesn't make good? Hia unfailing deep drawer file. He places a carbon of his instructions to the Ad. man in folder 25, which happens to be Thursday, and at the dawn of Thursday he takes out his folder 25, goes over the things due to- day, and if the Ad. man hasn't made good — look out! In small concerns, or even in larger ones where the correspondence is carried on with a limited number of THE EXECUTIVE'S PARTNER 37 correspondents, the deep drawer file may prove entirely adequate for keeping the entire active corres- pondence of the desk man "at his fingers' ends," and thus may forever eliminate round trips to the files. The common method for using the deep drawer file in such cases is to label the different folders with the names of the different correspondents — "Brown, Smith, Jones," etc. If you have a good deal of correspondence with Johnson, give him a special folder with his name writ- ten on the label, and file in it all letters, "to and from" him in the exact order in which they were written or received, the last letter always on top. Carbon copies of all letters you write to Johnson should be attached to the letters Johnson writes you, to which yours are re- plies. Thus, in one folder you have the whole history of your transactions with this customer, and in strict chronological order. Working the Follow-up Without Burying Correspon- dence — Systematizing the File A follow-up can be operated in connection with this simple system by having a second set of folders back of the alphabetical set labeled by the thirty-one days and twelve months. "When you wish to follow up Johnson for any purpose, take his correspondence, or the par- ticular letter you wish to follow up out of his regular folder and file it in one of the nimibered folders under the particular date you wish to send out your follow-up. At the same time, make a note of just what paper or papers you are filing ahead and put the memo in John- son's folder stating under what date papers are filed. There is just one danger in using the deep drawer file, and the desk man should be on the alert to guard 38 ASIS OP PERSONAL SYSTEM against that. It is the danger of using this file to excess, of permitting it to interfere with the regular correspondence system and the desk system described in the previous chapter. No correspondence, for instance, should be filed away in your desk, that is liable to be needed by someone else in the office. The prime law of system, remember, is "one place for one thing," and in large businesses it is sometimes better to have all correspondence in but one system of files than scattered through various desks. The ideal case for the use of the personal desk file is that of a manager whose department is clearly separated from all the other branches of the concern. The ad- vertising department is a fair illustration of this situa- tion. In such an instance, the general files would only be encumbered by the addition of these letters and records. Not once a month will any person except the desk man and his secretary care to examine them. Here, therefore, is a well-defined distinction on which to base the division. Certain documents are needed here, daily, hourly; elsewhere they are practically dead wood. The secretary must in each case understand the ar- rangement, limits and uses of his superior's file; the different departments must understand where to look for such papers in any emergency. Beyond this the matter may be strictly personal. Thus the absence of the desk man, or the failure to find a departmental let- ter in the general files will not turn the whole office up- side down on some unlucky hunt. The economy of the system will be had, and the confusion of false system avoided. The extent to which the deep drawer file can be utilized is a matter that the desk man can best determine THE EXECUTIVE'S PARTNER 39 for himself. Uses will suggest themselves as needs arise. The system which waits upon the caU of business but does not keep business waiting, is nearly ideal. It avoids the dangers just described. It fits the case. It does not incumber the future with a waiting list of misfit schemes which wiU eveatually have to be cleared away at a "sacrifice." The writer has used the deep drawer file for nearly two years for classifying "plans for the future," keep- ing "ammunition for future campaigns," gathering "ideas and data of possible future value," "clippings," and so on. An editorial worker has his desk arranged for filing the various classes of type proofs, page proofs, color proofs, revises and the like which flood in upon him in bewildering confusion week by week. He could not trust to chance and memory for a single day. At best there must be frequent "house cleaning," but his method makes it easy to discard matter which has gone to the press, and to classify whatever revises he cares to pre- serve. The advertiser, merchant and shop foreman have like systems adapted to the work they handle. Here details rest until they have served their uses and are ready for the waste basket. From them are assembled the results which are passed on to other departments. Inaugurating Method in the Desk with Fireworks and Illumination There is a story of a corporation president who a^ed a clerk for a certain paper and stood by while the clerk rummaged in the musty depths of his desk. The paper refused to appear. The clerk grew red. The president did some rapid thinkiHg. 40 BASIS OF PERSONAL SYSTEM Going from desk to desk, he demanded, "Do you knew what is in that drawer?" "Yes, sir." "What?" ' ' Why — ^why — . ' ' The desk man hesitated. "Dump it out in the alley and bum it." The inauguration of system in that office was marked by a costly illumination on the vacant lot back of the building. Valuable records were burned; the expense ran into five figures. But it paid in the end. Do you know what is in your desk ? When a phone call comes for some forgotten paper, do you conscientiously say, "Hold the wire," and make a one-hand "stab" that means business. Or do you beat about.f or delay and finally agree to "call you up ;" then take ofE your coat, get down on one knee, and with wrinkled brow, set about to hunt ? Watch the Main Chance A HUNDRED hindering trifles hang to the coat-tails of every great undertaking. A hundred thwarting details threaten the fixity of every great purpose. A hundred interloping interests assail the stability of every great determination. A hundred wilting doubts and dis- couragements menace every great en- thusiasm. Determine; then spurn the irrelevant — keep your eyes on the main chance. Part II TAKING CARE OF DETAILS Forget It \/'OUR brain has a capacity limit. •*• Don't overload it. Don't fill it with details. Don't burden it with worry. Get a system. Make your system your storehouse. File therein the little cares that wear and tear — the important details that annoy. Make your system the guardian of the necessary, the grave of the needless. Leave your work at night, free and un- shackled. Your system will bring your duties before you the next morning — the next week — the next month. Train your system to remember all that it should not forget — to forget all that it should not remember. Carry with you the success of today. File with your system the duty of to- morrow. Profit from your failure of yes- terday and then — Forget It. CHAPTER VI First Aids to the Memory CARRY the big things in your head — ^the details in your pocket is an axiom from the science of busi- ness. And the student of big business knows that a mind burdened with details is not efficient. The business man whose attention is concentrated on the big things ac- quires a perspective which overlooks routine and per- sonal detail. While determining the big change in sell- ing policy, he forgets a lunch engagement with a friendly prospect; intent on a hundred thousand dollar building expansion, he neglects to pay his life insurance. This, however, is not a weakness on the part of the executive. Details are lost in focusing his mind on the large affairs. He needs a mechanical help. This mechanical help may consist of a pocket mem- orandum, a desk file, a calendar pad, the collapsible pocketbook, or a variety of contrivances, but the user of each should adopt a comprehensive plan and follow it. The Advantages of Keeping Daily Memoranda Loosely — Cutting Away the Details Loose leaf books of all kinds have so largely displaced the permanently bound style in office use that loose leaf FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY 43 memorandum books have come in the natural order of things. The difficulty with the ordinary bound note book is that it is always overloaded with a mass of ma- terial no longer needed. In the loose leaf binder each leaf as it serves its purpose, from day to day, may be removed and destroyed. A variety of specific uses may be made of the loose leaf memorandum to suit personal needs. One method is to date a dozen or more leaves ahead, and make notes of things to be done on those dates. Each morning the old sheets are taken out and the current date is always kept as the first page in the book. If some little thing remains undone it may be noted down on the next page or for some future day. This keeps the matter in the book always fresh. General notes not properly coming on the dated sheets may be made on the leaves in the back and torn out when they have served their purpose. Loose leaves can now be obtained in a wide variety of ruled and printed forms. Miniature day books, cash books, journals, ledgers — all these may be made from the single pocket binder. Thus temporary entries of per- sonal or business transactions may be made wherever the user chances to be and a concise and accurate record is kept until time of final entry in the permanent ac- count boobs. For the keeping of personal expense accounts the pocket memorandum may in some cases be found entirely adequate in itself, the different forms affordiag oppor- tunity for proper posting and the striking of a period- ical balance. Leaves contaiming closed accounts may be removed and filed for reference. One pocket memorandum scheme which goes even far- ther than the ordinary loose leaf book is a binder hav- 44 TAKING CAEE OF DETAILS ing on the inside of the cover a metal rim for holding half a dozen or more cards tabbed and indexed at the upper edge. These cards inside one cover are indexed with the days of the week and month, and inside the other with letters of the alphabet. A supply of cards, tabbed for all the days of the year, can be obtained and placed in a drawer in the office file. Memorandum notes for future dates may then be made on any of the cards as far as a year ahead. Each Monday morning the cards for the week just starting are taken from the file and placed in the pocket binders. Each morning the card of the previous day is removed from its top position in the binder and slipped behind the others. This memorandum scheme is in re- ality a combination office and pocket card system, and has a distinct advantage in that reminder notes may be made for almost any time in the future. Every office and road man has constant need of a readily accessible list of addresses and phone numbers of business men and personal friends. For this purpose a note book with alphabetically tabbed sections is al- ways the most satisfactory. Ordinarily it is found de- sirable to keep a small pocket memorandum exclusively for addresses and in such cases a permanently bound book is quite as suitable as a loose leaf. It is possible, however, to procure a few loose leaves tabbed with let- ters and insert them in a back or middle section in a loose leaf binder. Points to ie Considered in Choosing Convenient Mem- oranda — Eliminating Bulky Books The only objection to this method is that the large niunber of addresses usually carried makes a loose leaf FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY 45 book with addresses and its other contents too bulky for convenient use. Probably for the majority of business men leaves for the notes of each day 's transactions would be found suf- ficient. These filed in the memorandum book for ten or fifteen days ahead would no doubt be adequate to E< hi ;-; 'vZ' I i L-J riXr^'Srj^F \ - ■ ';. Form V: Two sheets from loose leaf pocket memo. Personal accounts £xe kept hefc to be posted at the end of Che day 46 TAKING CARE OF DETAILS relieve the average person of the vexing details which otherwise would tax his memory needlessly. In arrange, ment these leaves could be suited to the business or per- sonal needs of the individual. For the private convenience of the executive a sheet arranged somewhat after the pattern of the accom- panying illustration (Form V), might be found con- venient. A number of sheets could be printed at a time and could be used as needed. A different arrange- ment could be adopted as found expedient and the form varied indefinitely. No strict rules could be either given or followed for the use of pocket memoranda. Each man for himself chooses the form best suited to his needs. Calendar Pads, Desk Memos and the "Brain Box" — How they Aid the Busy Man Every office man should have some kind of a dated desk reminder which, with the current date always up- permost, will keep constantly before him a list of things still undone. The simplest form of desk reminder is the calendar pad with a sheet for each day of the year. The day of the month is printed ia large figures and in smaller type appears the day of the week, the number of days of the year passed, and number yet to come. These conven- iences for correspondence and interest figuring occupy about a third of each sheet, leaving the remainder blank for notes. By simply lifting the leaves, entries may be made ahead for any date during the year. Each evening upon leaving the office the user should tear off the sheet for that day, transfer to the morrow's 'ist any items postponed and write down all other fore- FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY 47 seen duties. Thus upon reaching his desk next morning he finds staring him in the face, a clearly defined list of things to do. A slight variation of this form of memo pad which has an additional advantage is that which holds the leaves together by rings instead of a glued or perforated edge. On this pad the leaves, instead of being torn oS and destroyed each day, are simply turned back, leav- ing the blank reverse side as additional space for mak- ing notes over the next day's date. The Use- of the Office Man's "Brain Box"—TJie Card Tickler A radical departure from the desk pad form of re- minder is the "brain box" or card tickler (Form VI). It is an adaptation of the card index idea and over- comes the mast serious objection to the desk pad — the necessity of rewriting items postponed from time to time. The equipment consists of a box fitted with tabbed par- tition cards numbered from one to thirty-one and a set of twelve additional cards for the months of the year. fJr w Form VI: Showing the guide'cards for the thirty-one days of the month and the twelve months of the year, by means of which every task attracts notice at the proper time 48 TAKING CAEE OF DETAILS When any matter arises which is to receive attention at some future time a slip containing a record of it is dropped behind the card of proper date. Anything can be inserted — ^visiting or business cards, slips of paper — anything that will caU up the thing to be done. Each morning, by taking out the slips in the compartment of even date, the user has brought to his attention aU par- ticulars of his day's work as far as it has been possible to schedule it ahead. Furthermore, if any matter is not finished on the day it comes up, the original slip is simply filed ahead to the next day without the necessity of any rewriting. This acts as an effective foUow-up. Many men who are away from their desks more or less each day use a pocket auxiliary to the desk tickler. This saves the minutes and the chances of forgetfulness or copying errors involved in the transfer of items from the note book to the cards. The extent to which the oflBce man must rely upon mechanical means of calling things to his attention de- pends upon the nature of his work. For the one-man business a simple desk pad is often sufficient; the office executive must have a complete desk system. But what- ever the need, a "brain box" of some description proves a mighty assistant in cleai-iag away the day's work as promptly as possible. Ee Ready OPPORTUNITY can't be clapped into jail while we learn to handle it. Be ready. Mastery finds a short cut to opportunity. CHAPTER VII The Tickler as a Business Getter THERE is one subject that has undying, unceasing interest to every living person. It matters not how familiar and worn-out it may be; it matters not that it is as close to us perpetually as our own skin and bones ; that we think it, talk it, get up with it, and go to bed with it a lifetime, it is still as youthful, as refreshing and fascinating as it was the first day we heard of it; and so it will continue to be to the end of time — as long as men are men of clay and dust, of weaknesses and vanities. And that subject of subjects is Ourselves. You, to you ; me to me ; the other fellow, to the other fellow: this is, to each of us respectively, the most fascinating subject in the world. It matters not how crusty, frigid or unapproachable the individual, you can reach him and win him, lirough the open sesame of his self-interest. "When you talk to the buyer, talk not our goods, but his needs," talk "him not lis," is the way a great concern puts the secret to its sales force. You may talk to a goods- buyer until doomsday about your own product, you may talk with the eloquence of Webster, lie wit of 50 TAKING CAEE OP DETAILS Twain, the diplomacy of Hay, without getting even BO much as a blink of encouragement. But once you talk to him about himself, talk knowingly, understand- ingly, pointedly, and— ah, that's different. The key to his attention and interest are immediately yours to use as you will. Once his interest ia fully yours — then you can talk your goods to your heart's interest Knowing the Prospect, His Oddities, His Temperament • — Getting Close to the Trade But you must know this subject of "Himself" if you expect to argue successfully. Because you say "You" to the buyer does not always mean that you are really "getting next." You must back the "You" with an understanding of it, you must know the buyer, his desires , his prejudices, his temperament and his peculiarities, before you can successfully talk to him about himself. Most salesmen do not really know their customers; they cannot get close to them ; "inside" of them; "next" to them. They rub this or that man the wrong way, because they do not understand his individuality or habits of thought. The reason for this is that they have no definite method of securing, classifying and preserving "inside" data about their clients. The mind alone cannot do it. The salesman meets so many men of so many different temperaments, that even if he were keen and observing enough to read the inside facts about each customer, it would be hard for him to carry them all in his head to use in preparing his plan of attack. Most salesmen blunder into the presence of each buyer ignorant or uncertain of just what manner of man they THE TICKLER IN BUSINESS 51 are going to meet, or if they have met him before, just what sort of a hmnor he will be in, and what will be the character of their reception. The Aggravation of Losing Sales by Lapses of Memory — How to Avoid It "Confound it, I might have known that Jones would go off on that tantrum. He's just the same sort of a man as Brown, who turned me down the same way last month. I ought to have known better." How often has the average salesman said that sort of a thing to himself, after leaving the office of a customer? He ought to have remembered, but he didn't remem- ber. Business men, to whom remembering spells success, have long ago learned that the human memory is an extremely deceitful institution. Nor is this surprising. Every minute you live the various senses are taking a hundred different impressions to the brain. The wonder is, not that ninety-nine out of every hundred of these impressions last no longer than the ripple made by a stone in the water, but even that one out of a hundred leaves a permanent impression. There are a very few men whose memories, naturally strong, have been trained to retain a great mass of facts bearing on some particular subject. But no mem- ory in the world will do the work so well, unaided, as will that of the average and ordinary man, if it is properly backed up by our old friend "The Tickler." To use the tickler as an aid iu getting business, whether by correspondence or personal calls, we should provide our desk with an additional tickler outfit, so that we can keep our original outfit free to use in the manner 52 TAKING CARE OF DETAILS ^t,-^-j<^<-^ ys/. -^J~^-^^j^^^y- |' '$--(£^il--.Vt-«£.<»T^ .yT».-Cc>-l£-y } CZ^.^-, 17 Sl^-^ HEtaaRKS (^^JJjLj'VG/oy^ Jl-J:u.^J^y J^ C^^ t-^-fj. Form VII: How an alphabetical index enables the salesman to list accessible fact about the personality of each prospect indicated in the previous chapters. Unless, of course, our whole work consists in selling goods and making calls, so that we have no desk work to do and therefore need no desk sj^stem. In such an event, only one tickler will be needed, to be used as will be described in this chapter. This tickler (Form VII) , placed in the upper left hand drawer, next to the original tickler, should be fitted up with the regular 3x5 blank cards, one set of alph- abetical indexes, and one set of blank indexes to be in- dexed by subjects, or by customers' names, as we later on find that our system will require. B.ow the Mechanical Blemory Meets Incredulity with Sound Proof In calling on customera you have found that a great many of them decline to buy, because, they say, they THE TICKLER IN BUSINESS 53 object to the price. On the first index card (Form VIII) in your filing case, you write the word "Price," and in that compartment of the case you file away everything you hear or read which applies to that particular ob- jection. Jones, for instance, has written you a strong testimonial, in which he says that he has found that the use of your specialty has stopped the leaks in his business and that, consequently, he "can't afford to be without it." You file Jones' testimonial, then, so that when Brown makes the same objection, you can have it ready to show him. If you are a wide-awake salesman — and they are the only ones who can use a tickler outfit of any kind — you subscribe for a nujnber of business publications. In almost every issue of each of these papers you will find one or more arguments which may be successfully used in meeting the objection of the man who says he "can't afford to buy. " Form VIII: The tickler as a business getter, showing how the salesman prepares the stock objections of his prospects 54 TAKING CAEE OF DETAILS Every such argument you find, you clip out, paste on a card and file away, under the proper index, in your tickler business getter. Before you know it, you have, with no tax at aU on your overworked memory, a collection of all the answers which the best salesmen in the world use in meeting that particular objection. Another class of customers refuse to buy your goods because they say that they can buy second-hand goods to better advantage. You label another index card, "Second-hand," and coUect arguments which apply to that objection in the same way and at the same time. Anticipating Bridges Makes Them Easier to Cross — Making Friends of Your Customers There are stiU other possible customers who prefer your competitors' goods or who "don't see the need" of your goods; who declare that "times are too hard" at present; who dislike to buy of a house in the "trust." You make a separate index card for each one, and store away the best arguments to meet that objection. And your silent partner, the tickler, will do much more than that. There are two or three buyers in each town you visit whom you have not been able to interest at aU, though you are sure that once you get their ears and their attention, you could sell them a big bill. Make out an index card or folder in your filing case for each of these buyers. The first one. Smith, let us say, is much interested ia duck hunting. You read in your Sunday paper a full-page article on duck hunting, signed by President Roosevelt, in which the president describes aU the joys of the hunter's life. Clip that article out and file it away under the name of Smith. Next time you go to Smith's town, take it along and THE TICKLER IN BUSINESS 55 hand him the clipping, with the remark that you re- membered his fondness for hunting mallards and thought this might interest him. Smith can't help feeliag flattered at the attention, and, besides, he is likely to gain a new respect for you as a man with a marvelous memory— no use in telling him about the tickler system. A Working Tickler More Efficient than the Politician's Caressing Handclasp Every buyer has a human side to him. Most of them have some fad or fancy. If you can't get directly in touch with him on the business proposition, suppose you try to approach him on his "blind side," which, in the case of Smith, aforesaid, was duck hunting. For the purpose of making this description of the "Tickler Business Getter" as simple and as convinc- ing as possible, it has been assumed that a salesman is the man at the desk. But by changing the titles on the indexes, a credit man, a buyer, an advertising manager, or almost any other business man, may pre- pare a tickler outfit for his own work, which will be quite as useful to him. And it should be especially noted that, whereas the human brain gi'ows more feeble and less acute with advancing age, the "auxiliary brain" grows stronger and more valuable with every week it is kept up. More than that, when the man who has created it is through with his work, he may turn the tickler business getter over to his successor, who will find it equally valuable. In no other way may a man leave his brains to his descendants. Once you get your tickler business getter under way and find out how well it works, you will be simply 56 TAKING CAEE OF DETAILS astonished to find how much you hear and see and read that you want to file away. Daily you will find, without at all looking for them, items which will apply to one or another of the different headings in your filing case. And the longer you work with it, the more you will ap- preciate its value. When a brother salesman asks, in "deepest awe of admiration," how in the world you always seem to know just what to say to each customer, you will wink and smile and point to the upper drawer of your desk. And if you are a kindly person, who be- lieves in helping other people along, you will take him out into a dark comer of the hallway and tell him the secret which is here told you. There are more men than you might suppose who owe their reputations for gigantic intellects to the presence in the upper right hand drawers of their desks of a small filing case, with carefully selected subjects in- scribed on index cards. Concentrate Focus your ability upon one point until you burn a hole in it. Genius is intensity and Digression is as danger- ous as stagnation. "He who follows two hares catches neither." It is the single aim that wins. Only by concentration can you work out a satisfactory system. Getyourmind on it and keep it there. Watch every point — every detail. Hang to it with a bulldog grip till you get the thing done. CHAPTER VIII An Emergency Stock of Facts THERE is an old saying that, "It is not so much to know, as to know where to find." It means, "Ee- spect the limits of your mind— don't compete with the encyclopedia." Anyone who has hunted for that opinion or article which was read or heard a while ago will appreciate a system which takes care in a simple manner of all the material which may have been pre- served. The business and professional journals and the many magazines are giving forth, as never before, a con- stant flow of literature on every topic of interest, the most evanescent elements of which contain matter of practical information to the business and professional man or contain articles of genuine merit that are worthy of preservation. There may be only five per cent of your month's read- ing that you would care to preserve, but these choice bita which you separate from the mass you want for future reference and you do not want to wade through ninety- five per cent of dead matter to obtain the article which you consider of special moment. Charles H. Spurgeon grew to be a power in the Christian ministry because of his inexhaustible supply 51 68 TAKING CAEE OF DETAILS of valuable information. He kept a man constantly em- ployed, who did nothing else but search the British Museum for illustrations which he might use in his sermons. These illustrations were properly classified and cross-indexed so that he was able to bring forth an apt illustration when occasion demanded. Like a busy physician, the desk man in. these days of "the strenuous life" must realize the importance of putting away his instruments where he can lay his hands on them instantly when needed in an emergency. A Public Speaker's Secret, and How to Apply It to Your Business One of our noted public men gives a striking illus- tration of the value of keeping and properly classifying clippings and memoranda. Through the sudden illness of the speaker of the evening he was called upon to de- liver an address, with only an hour's time ia which to prepare it. He went home and within half an hour he had glanced over all the clippings that he had gathered and thoughts which he had made note of on this par- ticular subject. "With merely a card in his hand con- tainiug an outline, he delivered an address which showed deep thought and careful preparation. Those who un- derstood the situation were profuse ia their congratu- lations, stating that they did not see how it was possible for anyone in such a short time to deliver such an im- passioned address. He replied, ' ' Gentlemen, I have been ten years preparing this address. It has been my habit for many years to make note of an anecdote and record on the instant thoughts that come to me." A great deal has been written about the value of keeping and preserving memoranda and clippings, but TACTS FOR EMERGENCIES 59 only crude means have been suggested as to the manner of taking care of them. The scrap-book has served its day, inasmuch as it cannot be properly indexed. The envelope system is also of the old stage-coach days. Many have been started and afterwards discarded be- cause of the time and labor required to work them. What one needs is " putatability " and "getatability. " The system used in the office of a prominent manufac- turing company consists of a cabinet within which are eight rows of what may be termed "portfolios." This cabinet contains about 300 of these portfolios, which are made of pulp board open at the top. The round exposed end is bound in leatherette. Each portfolio is six inches high, one-half inch wide and eleven inches deep. An index is arranged by taking the vowel with each con- sonant, as, AB, AC, AD, etc., and by taking each initial consonant and combination of consonants with each Form IX: These cards form a publication file spacious enough to allow a conaete synopsis of the subject concerned 60 TAKING CARE OP DETAILS vowel, as BA, BI, BLA, BLI, BRA, BRE, ete. This makes a definite, accurate and complete index, taking in every subject and word in the English language, the ar- rangement being the same as in an encyclopedia. Clippings, memoranda and manuscripts are filed in these portfolios under the title of the subject. F, for example, an article on the patent "Fiasen Light" would be filed in the portfolio labeled LI. For library classification, a card index (Form IX) is used for cards printed as shown in the illustration. This card index is placed in the cabinet and contains alphabetical guide cards. "With these cards you read your book for a definite purpose, and any illustration or subject which you desire to refer to later is noted on one of the cards shown. Do It Right IT may be five minutes of closing time and a long way home; it may seem that more important things com- mand you to hurry; it may be easier — more shame — to do it wrong. But take the time to do it right. A thing done right is done for-ever. It is economical to do it right. More time today, perhaps, but less trouble tomorrow. System demands it of every one under you — of everyone over you — of you ; do it RIGHT. Part III HANDLING THE DAY'S WORK Keep Going^ WHEN one task is finished, jump into another. Don't hesitate. Don't falter. Don't waver. Don't wait. Keep going. Keep going. Doing something is always better than doing nothing. For activity breeds ambition, energy, pro- gress, power. And hesitation breeds idle- ness, laziness, shiftlesjness, sloth. Don't dawdle in the hope that inspira- tion will strike you. Inspiration is more likely to strike the busy man than the idle one. Save the half hours that are wasted in waiting. Take time once for all — the best hour of the twenty-four — to plan ahead. Then keep to schedule. That is the secret of system. Keep going. CHAPTER IX Planning the Work Ahead CROSSING bridges before we come to tbem may in- deed be foolish, but there is no question about the wisdom of knowing we are to cross them and preparing for it, even when they are miles ahead. It is said that when war broke out between Germany and France the aides of the great German commander- in-chief rushed to his bedside in the dead of night and awoke him from a sound slumber to announce the im pending calamity. "Well, what of it?" said the great man calmly, after he had heard through the breathless messengers. "What of it? What of it?" chorused the excited group. "Why, what shall we do ? We want your ad' vice, your course of procedure, your commands." "Look in the upper right hand pigeon-hole of my desk," he responded drowsily, "and you will find the complete line of attack and advance for the next six months." And then the great man went peacefully back to slumber, as though he had heard no more than the dis- turbing ring of an ordinary alarm clock, discharged two hours before its proper schedule. PLANNING WORK AHEAD 63 You may question that part of the story in which it is related that the German commander resumed his nap, while the legions of France were supposedly in full career against his country. The man who puts his whole trust in paper plans and is over-confident of his prescience, is well on the way to the proverbial fall which follows upon pride. Genius in the Business Commander Consists in Fore- sight and Preparation Yet there is the making of great generals, whethei for business or war, in that foresight and forehandedness which anticipates events as far as possible, and then stands ready with eye and hand to meet the unforeseen. The faculty of never being taken by surprise, of having a course of action already mapped out to meet every pos- sible business contingency, means much. It means that while other men are coping with the imexpeeted piled on top of the neglected, the real general is concentrating his full attention upon the little tricks of fortune, knowing that the usual and probable are in the grasp of his desk partner, System. The secret of one-man superiority ia in the other selves of forethought who guard every possible avenue of flank attack and leave the contestant free to face the direct onslaught of events. Genius in general- ship consists simply in being prepared. The office man whose perpetual plea is "I forgot" is not necessarily a human being bereft of a memory. He may be simply the office man who has no foresight— who does not look ahead. He lives from hand to mouth, do- ing the things that turn up and taking problems as they come, without forethought or preparation. His office life is one long unbroken series of surprises, unexpected 64 HAKDLING THE DAY'S WORK complications, unforeseen difficulties, anxiety and worry- about the ill-considered things ahead. He has his hours of careless ease, to be sure ; but they grow rarer day by day. Matters which seemed unf orget- able, he finds gradually fading. He wishes he had made a note of this or that. He worries about the iaevitable time when he shall be called upon for the things which he should know about and does not. The routine of a busy life mounts about him like quicksands. The farther in he gets, the more difficult it is for him to extricate him- self. Everything put off, done wrong, left unclassified, stands waiting, visibly, inexorably, for further attention. Confusion increases by geometrical progression. A jack screw will soon be the only way to get that man out of the rut and on the smooth highway of Order. Eliminating the Bogey Man from Business— A Cure for Bad Nerves It is only the "unknown" and the "uncertain" that inspire terror, fear and nervousness. The office man who does not look ahead is always afraid of the things that exist there, and labors under a constant stage fright that he may not be able to handle these things when they step from the dark future into the limelight of the present. The only man in business who enjoys perfect peace of mind and serene mental poise, is the man who is fully prepared, who has sized up the difficulties in front of him, decided that they are not "such a much" after all, and then straightway prepares a Waterloo for each tough proposition. "If such and such a thing should happen, I'll do so and so," and then he can enjoy the peaceful repose of the historic German general, with the confidence that he has a club ready for the fray. PLANNING WORK AHEAD 65 We cannot foretell and f oreann for every emergency, of course. Thus your letterhead reads, "We cannot be responsible for contingencies beyond our control." But the point is, to prepare for as many of them as pos- sible, to change the future from a line of dark, gloomy uncertainties into a procession of perfectly plain and defi- nitely Tmderstood tasks. Studying Out Future Battles and Planning the Strategy of Business Every man can lay out some kind of a business pro- gram for the month or the year ahead. He can pre- pare not only for tomorrow, but for the day and the year after. The method is to simply take a quiet hour or two, divide the year ahead into seasons and figure out the things that should be done in those seasons. Every business man has certain tasks he would like to accom- plish within stated periods. There is the "inventory time," "the advertising time," the time for auditing the books, for making the periodical "road trip," for taking the annual vacation. Let him canvass his mind for the things he should have done but did not do during each of these periods last year, and then let him make a note of the number of days ahead he wiU have to begin work on them this year, in order to successfully ac- complish them. Our silent partner, the tickler, is the only counselor we need to help us plan out the work ahead, and we should depend upon it to the fullest extent. Jot down on separate cards (Form X) plans that are to be put through at a future date, then file them in the tickler a few days ahead of the time we want them to reach the maturity of accomplishment. 66 HANDT,TNG THE DAY'S WORK There are vital things we want to put through next January — an increase in salary or in profits may depend upon them. Make an itemized list of them, putting each problem or task on a separate card, and then stating under the main task, just what specific operations are necessary to push them through to a successful end. After each operation of this sort, put the date this separate task should be performed, make a special tickler for it (Form XI), and file it under the desired date. ,1 ^t/- ^rgyf:: 3^- i/a .4^' €.cLtkJ^^^-^- ^ I . ' '{tt^d-j/i/ iiA4x/jtc<^^'- -{tv t % '^P^'f^_ 'j>Mi^ruiiy-^ 7i^^^'''^^ ■■^ %Cr-^ r^ J^-^J-^iC^^ //-y '^ i:^-^^'''^ ' //> '^ -— — ^ ''-^(^^4 ::f^'i JnZ^'^- yfc^^ "ZJ^vJU^W^g^'-^ a ff-l/f Lit d-cJU f-i^ ^.,_^ ^cuJ:i^^ ^^-ocf /y^-lf ^o--^^" ^/^ Form X: Two cordf; from the tickler, outlimng the beginning of a business project and the tasks required to set it in [notion PLANNING WORK AHEAD 67 The main problem card we will file imder January, and as we accomplish each separate operation, we will tear up the separate tickler cards we have made for them, and check them off on the main card. Active Brain Cells in a Wooden Box — How the Tickler Discounts the Future I am firmly convinced that the man who has the fore- sight habit, and who is a master of the tickler system, has really a double brain. And I very much doubt if even two brains, without the tickler's aid, could success- fully handle the same volume of detail. It is not enough, however, for the tickler to remem- ber the big things to be done in the distant future; it should remember the little things to be done in the im- mediate present. That is its first and biggest duty. No man can afford to rely upon his mind to keep tab on his obligations, even though his mind is big and strong enough to carry off the responsibility with blue ribbon honors and retain all he puts into it. The brain is not an index or a calendar pad; it should be left free from de- tail, from anxiety, from the burden of remembering little things. It should have a clean sweep, to think and to plan and to do the greater creative work, not the minor memorizing. The man who has a reputation for a good memory usually has no exceptional memory at all. He has a good tickler and uses it. The tickler habit means two things; using the tickler constantiy when you are in the ofiSce, and having a note book in your pocket to use when you are elsewhere. If you are outside and happen to make a pronuse «r an engagement, jot it down and post it to the tickler 68 HANDLING THE DAY'S WORK _^'V-gt^«-,^ y^-'jCM^.dj l^'-J^ ^■w-t.W>->-.> U^C^ 0' U> '^-' ''r 7^''^i-<^{Z&^^J -^ ' — S:-^«,-\^ ,gi£ ^_«! L-^L«i>ryt,^ 'Jt>L<'MXZ--i.^ ' S..^-zt<.^ ^^i.-t i^ »->o ^aJ:sM~v '/^ Ajg-y-iA^clU. ^ ^ i^-'-^- ^^J^^ i f-^.A^f^t^iOtL.^f-^. &~^.^' ^^y^. '■^, ff < oS •-(L o U in > (C s? 2SS 1- n. s u S ■S " u < w " '. u Z 0"^ O h- s a c 1- < c II S,5 r-3 1 5.1 'it -13 o^ J? 5:1 - y "J', J 'hnil g ^ g „ y a a. ^'13 33 * i £S !,fi Eel: J»3 E " r - s 6,5 1 ri- t'.i a •& < s Q. hi IT H f)C ID <^ tiS m T* m (- LI ii: t« ■D ca THE AUTOMATIC CORRESPONDENT 99 to Know Price," "Asks About Terms," "Do We Pre- pay Shipment," "Do We Take Back Unsatisfactory Goods," etc. Now cut up your letters into paragraphs, and put all paragraphs of one kind into one pile. By looking through these piles of paragraphs, it will be easy to see what paragraphs are dictated often enough to deserve a regular form paragraph. When you have gotten together a complete list of the form paragraphs needed, you can then pick out from the paragraphs in the piles, the best one to answer each given question, polish it up and bring it up to the "masterpiece" standard. Gridiron Signals That Win Points in the Oame of Business Perhaps you have gone into an ofSce during dictation hours and have heard a correspondent reading off num- bers to his stenographer as though he were a football quarter-back giving his signals. He picks up a letter and says, "twenty-eight, thirty-two, forty," and then passes on to the next letter. This correspondent is simply using the paragraph system. For when our paragraphs are completed, they are put into a book and numbered, so that in specify- ing the paragraphs needed to answer a letter, we simply give our stenographer the numbers of them. Secure a large scrap book with heavy manUa pages, and wide, blank indexes. Or better still, get a boob with no indexes a'nd cut the indexes for yourself, with a pen-knife, so that they will look like the indexes shown in Form XIII. Place on the first page — page one — the word "starts" and write this plainly on the index, as shown in the cut 100 BUSINESS-GETTING LETTERS This page should contain all the good "beginnings" we have ever composed for starting off a letter, from the commonest "replying to yours of the tenth" to the most elaborate and original introductions. Paste these paragraphs down on the first page num- bering them 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, the first figure denoting the page and the second the number of the paragraph. Take the second page and label it with the name of another class of paragraphs such as "generalities"' past- ing in all paragraphs on general facts about your goods. Now go through the balance of the book, labeliag each page with the name of a class of paragraphs, such as "terms," "prices," "don't like quality," "kicks on conditions," "wants special concessions," "is buying of competitor" "buys cheaper elsewhere," and all the other classifications suggested by your work. As you paste a paragraph on a given page, be sure to number it both according to its location on the page, and the number of the page itself. The third paragraph on page eight, for example, should be numbered 8-3. Thus when you name this paragraph to your stenograph- er, she can turn to the paragraph at once. In dictating, keep the paragraph book open before yon on your desk. When you want to find a paragraph on the subject of say, "wants longer credit," just run your eye down the index and you can spot in a second or two the proper page. Turn to this page and select the desired paragraph. Growing Familiar With the Form Book — System Gives Quantity and Qtiality As you continue to use the paragraph book, both you and your stenographer wiU become thoroughly familiar THE AUTOMATIC CORRESPONDENT 101 with all the paragraphs, and you can name off the num- bers of the paragraphs needed to answer a given letter instantly, without referring to the book at alL The results, both in quantity and quality of work, that a good paragraph system will accomplish in a cor- respondence department are almost beyond belief. With its use even the dullest correspondent can be made to produce letters that rank in brilliance and tone with those of the star advertising writer. Moreover, there is no varying of your correspondence with your moods. You can growl out the numbers of the paragraphs or laugh them out, but the customers will still get the same paragraphs. Tou may feel dull or bright, slug- gish or alert, it matters not to your correspondence, for you answer it with paragraphs that are always the same, always your best, always the strongest argument, or the smoothest diplomacy that could be composed through hours of previous thought and study to handle the case in point. From the standpoint of time and labor-saving features it does not need much explanation to show that the paragraph system will provide innumerable advantages for both correspondent and stenographer. One man with the paragraph system and three stenographers, has been known to handle more work than three men and four stenographers working on the same class of correspondence without "the automatic correspondent" to aid them. It means cheaper salaries, for ordinary typists in- stead of stenographers can just as easily handle the para- graph system. It means better and neater typewritten work, for the copy is made from clear typewritten copy instead of from uncertain notes. And it means more 102 BUSINESS-GETTING LETTERS leisure for the correspondent himself— often total free- dom from the monotonous drudgery of dictation. Bepetition, the Locust Swarm That Kills Budding Ideas, That Blights Intellects Repetition — repetition— repetition ! It dulls minda and it blights intellects — it is monotony incarnate. The only thing that interests the human mind is the thing that moves and change's. The paragraph system will eliminate the most tiresome kind of repetition work in business — the incessant repeating of the same facts and paragraphs over and over, ad infinitum. The Mind's Eye IMAGINATION is the eye of the * mind, the power that calls up pic- tures of things not yet present, ideas not yet realized, perfection not yet at- tained. Imagination precedes and is the cause of all achievement. The sculptor sees his finished statue in the block of marble before he sets a chisel to the stone. The painter's completed picture glows in his mind before he lifts a brush. So with all human achievement. First the picture in the mind — then the realization. Get clearly before your mental eye the business organization you want to build. Then rear it by that plan. Part V SHORT CUTS THAT WILL SAVE TIME Use the Minutes WE all have the same sixty minutes, the same twenty-four hours, to work with; and the man who achieves the greatest success is the man who knows how to work with this period best — how to get the most out of it. Time-economizing is more important than money-economiz- ing, for the right use of time is the price of every earthly accomplishment and reward. To the scientist, time is literally the meas- ure of achievement. His treasury of years has a limit; his work, unfinished, will pass on to another, who will receive the reward. To the business man, time is capital. He can borrow a million in money — he can- not borrow, beg, steal or create a minute. Money, art, comfort, inventions that save hours for thousands, discoveries that lengthen lives by decades — all depend upon time. Use the Minutes. CHAPTER XVI Making the Most of Minutes TALK about the extravagance of the inebriated sailor ! If the newly landed, u.ewly paid middy tossed about his earnings, as the average office man does his time, his wages wouldn't last him through the first half- block after getting into port. The commonest spendthrift in business is the spend- thrift of time ; the man to whom each day is 1 Jd ^^1" .//■■:- 1 T _i ' -4- i ^ ' 1- - ^-1 r U J a. ~^ 1 -L 1 ^ 1 \ 1 ^ 1 1 1 IZi ' U , 1 - b 1 Ill ' ' -! _ I 1 1 L ' 1 1 1 c L "' .1, J " \ 1 1^ 1 1 ' 1. 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 u 1.3 ':;;-■;';:;;; SCHEMES FOR SAVING TIME 123 he picks out the wrong "Last." Then comes a column showing the usual quantity purchased, whichi saves look- ing up previous orders or old invoices and prevents or- dering too much or too little. Then come the discount terms and a notation to show whether delivered or not, Y standing for delivered and N. for F. 0. B. works. Then follows the price. These cards are made the proper depth to fit in the top drawer of a desk. In keeping them in a drawer they are locked up at night and if they are to be re- ferred to in the presence of a salesman it can be done without the salesman seeing other quotations. A Time Saver for Foreign Correspondence — Re- ceiving Your Own Letter Even with the present time-saviog correspondence methods, a reply to a letter received several days or weeks subsequent to the dispatch of the original neces- sitates some amount of time in reading the copy of the original on file or in the copy book. Especially is this true of letters sent on long joumeya to foreign countries where considerable time is involved in the transmission of the mails. The following system for refreshing the memory of any person who may have to wait some time before he receives a reply to his com- munication, is in use in the offices of a Toronto Com- pany. It is found to meet the needs of foreign corres- pondence in every way. "Wlien a letter is written to some distant foreign ad- dress, a tissue carbon copy bearing printed instruction for its return (Form XVI) is made along with the original letter. The copy is not for filing, but is mailed attached to the original letter. If the recipient of the 124 SHORT CUTS THAT SAVE TIME ■tsL„r SIMPSON 'frrs',' \T0ROt