Anonymous
心灵寄语
许多人终其一生也未寻找到自己的目标，有的甚至连通向成功的第一步也不曾迈出。渴望成功的人啊，你准备好了吗？
The first requirement of effective living is that we should have some sort of aim. Generally speaking， the difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful one is that the former knows what he wants， and bends every effort towards securing that end， while the latter has only a vague idea of what it is he is trying to do with his life.
Such a person may have daydreams in plenty， may wish vaguely to be and do this， that， and the other， but that is a vastly different thing from having a definite objective in living an all—constraining aim towards which all interest and effort are directed.
Ask half of a dozen people what their aim in life is. You will be amazed to discover how greatly most of them will be taken by surprise at the question， and how they will have considerable difficulty in answering it with any certainty. More important—ask yourself the question. What is your own dominant aim？What do you want to do and be， more than anything else in the world？Unless you can answer this question， at once in a few crisp1 sentences， you have not really started on the path of successful living.
The aim need not be anything very startling like making a fortune， or establishing a nation-wide chain of business， or writing a best-seller. It may be to widen your general culture by ordered and regular reading. It may be to become as efficient as you possibly can be in your own job， even though that job is a limited one. It may be to engage in some sort of voluntary social service. It may be to lay in your own home the basis of a truly happy family.
Any one of these aims could become an engrossing2 and satisfying pursuit， greatly enriching your own life， and that of the community in which you live. The human spirit is capable of almost inconceivable3 triumphs. We shall save ourselves some unnecessary frustration and heart-break， if we choose an aim which is reasonably within the scope of the powers with which we have been endowed. Once the aim is fixed， we must be willing to undergo the necessary discipline， and to attain the necessary knowledge and competency to fulfill it.
Somebody once said，“Genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.”Many people fail to achieve their object because， while enamored4 of the aim， they are less enamored of the effort required in its fulfillment. They think how lovely it would be to play like Paderewski， but they are not willing to practice long hours daily as he did. They dream of writing a bestseller or of having their name in lights， but imagine that such things can be achieved simply by thinking about them！