PART I. POISE: ITS NEED, ITS ENEMIES, ITS EFFECT CHAPTER I. THE NEED OF POISE IN LIFE CHAPTER II. THE ENEMIES OF POISE CHAPTER III. WAR ON TIMIDITY PART II. HOW TO ACQUIRE POISE CHAPTER I. MODESTY AND EFFRONTERY CONTRASTED CHAPTER II. PHYSICAL EXERCISES TO ACQUIRE POISE CHAPTER III. FOUR SERIES OF PHYSICAL EXERCISES CHAPTER IV. PRACTICAL EXERCISES FOR OBTAINING POISE CHAPTER V. THE SUPREME ACHIEVEMENT PART I. POISE: ITS NEED, ITS ENEMIES, ITSEFFECTCHAPTER I. THE NEED OF POISE IN LIFELack of poise has always been an obstacle to those who are imbued with the desire tosucceed.In every age the awkwardness born of timidity has served to keep back those whosuffered from it, but this defect has never been so great a drawback as in the life of today.The celebrated phrase of the ancient Roman writer who said, Fortune smiles on thebrave, could very well serve as our motto nowadays, with this slight alteration: Fortunesmiles on those who are possest of poise.At this point let us attempt an exact definition of poise.It is a quality which enables us to judge of our own value, and which, in revealing to usthe knowledge of the things of which we are really capable, gives us at the same time thedesire to accomplish them.It is not a quality wholly simple. On the contrary, it is a composite of many others all ofwhich take part in the molding of that totality which bears the name of poise.It may be well to pass in review the principal qualities of which it is composed, that onemay characterize as follows:Will.Reason.Knowledge of one's own value.Correctness of judgment.Sincerity toward oneself.The power of resisting the appeals of self-love.Contempt of adverse criticism.Pride that is free from vanity.A definite and clearly conceived ambition.Will, as is well known, is the pivot of all our resolutions, whether the question for themoment be how to form them or how to keep them when formed.A man without will-power is a straw, blown about by every wind and carried, whether hewill or no, into situations in which he has no valid reason for finding himself.Without the will-power which enables us to take a firm hold of ourselves and to get a gripupon our impressions, they will remain vague and nebulous without presenting to uscharacters of sufficient definiteness to enable us to direct them readily into the properchannels.It is will-power which gives us the force to maintain a resolution which will lead us to thehoped-for goal of success.It is will-power also which enables us to correct the faults which stand in the way of theacquiring of poise.We are not now speaking of those idle fancies which are no more than manifestations ofnervousness. We have in mind rather that controlled and enduring purpose which armsthe heart against the assaults of the emotions by giving it the strength to overcome them.There are many cases even in which will-power has led to their entire suppression.This happens more particularly in the case of those artificial emotions that the man ofresolution ignores completely, but which cause agony to the timid who do not know howto escape them, and exaggerate them to excess.This abnormal development of their personalities is the peculiarity of the timid, whichtheir fitful efforts of will only heighten, alienating from them the sympathy which mightbe of assistance to them.They take refuge in a species of mischievous and fruitless activity, leaving the field opento the development of all sorts of imaginary ills that argument does not serve to combat.Their ego, whose importance is in no way counterbalanced by their appreciation of thefriends they keep at a distance, fills their entire existence to such an extent that they haveno doubt whatever that, when they are in public, every eye is, of necessity, fixt uponthem.Their negative will leaves them at the mercy of every sort of emotion, which, in arousingin them the necessity of a reaction they feel themselves powerless to realize, reducesthem to a state of inferiority that, when it becomes known, is the source of graveembarrassment to them.The power of will which sustains those who wish to acquire the habit of poise is, then,the capacity to accomplish acts solely because one has the ardent desire to achieve them........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................