• Author: Unknown
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 6
• Page Number:
• Date: 11 28 1917
• Tags:
• advice
• education
• reading

IF I WERE TWENTY-ONE

If I were twenty-one again, I would take much counsel of men who had made failures of their lives.

The outside world is lying in wait (with a club) for college men who let it be known that they believe they learned something at college.

If I were twenty-one again, I would try to train myself to be a common-sense business executive. There seems to be at present less competition in that field than any other.

Whether I went through college or whether I didn’t, I would surely study law. The man who has effectively studied law, even though he does not become a good lawyer, has in many instances a decided advantage over the man who has no legal knowledge.

During the next ten years I believe that technical training will be greatly overdcne so far as concerns the opportunities in life of the man so trained. There will be a demand for all-around business men, which I think will be far in excess of the supply.

Read! I cannot too strongly recommend reading. Six hours each week of serious reading is not too much, but it may mean the difference between a $20,000 a year executive and a $25 a week clerk. Read! Learn to think with—and against—the deep thinkers of the world.

If I were twenty-one again, I would not seek a salaried position until I was twenty- five. Instead, I would become a salesman or a canvasser cn a commission basis, and I would do so before T left college. I can conceive of no better way to develop business backbone and stamina in a young man than to give him something to sell on commission.

— William Maxwell.