3. Stay out of activities where the chances are only one outof ten of your being able to make a living. As an example， takeselling life insurance. Each year countless thousands of men—frequently unemployed men—start out trying to sell life insurancewithout bothering to find out in advance what is likely to happento them！ Here is approximately what does happen， according toFranklin L. Bettger， Real Estate Trust Building， Philadelphia. Fortwenty years Mr. Bettger was one of the outstandingly successfulinsurance salesmen in America. He declares that ninety per centof the men who start selling life insurance get so heartsick anddiscouraged that they give it up within a year. Out of the ten whoremain， one man will sell ninety per cent of the insurance sold bythe group of ten； and the other nine will sell only ten per cent. Toput it another way： if you start selling life insurance， the chancesare nine to one that you will fail and quit within twelve months，and the chances are only one in a hundred that you will make tenthousand a year out of it. Even if you remain at it， the chances areonly one out of ten that you will be able to do anything more thanbarely scratch out a living.
4. Spend weeks—even months， if necessary—finding out allyou can about an occupation before deciding to devote your lifeto it！ How？ By interviewing men and women who have alreadyspent ten， twenty， or forty years in that occupation.
These interviews may have a profound effect on your future.
I know that from my own experience. When I was in my early twenties， I sought the vocational advice of two older men. As Ilook back now， I can see that those two interviews were turningpoints in my career. In fact， it would be difficult for me even toimagine what my life would have been like had I not had thosetwo interviews.
How can you get these vocational-guidance interviews？ Toillustrate， let’s suppose that you are thinking about studying to bean architect. Before you make your decision， you ought to spendweeks interviewing the architects in your city and in adjoiningcities. You can get their names and addresses out of a classifiedtelephone directory. You can call at their offices either with orwithout an appointment. If you wish to make an appointment，write them something like this：
Won’t you please do me a little favour？ I want your advice. Iam eighteen years old， and I am thinking about studying to be anarchitect. Before I make up my mind， I would like to ask your advice.
If you are too busy to see me at your office， I would be mostgrateful if you would grant me the privilege of seeing you for halfan hour at your home.
Here is a list of questions I would like to ask you：
a. If you had your life to live over， would you become an architectagain？
b. After you have sized me up， I want to ask you whether youthink I have what it takes to succeed as an architect.
c. Is the profession of architecture overcrowded？
d. If I studied architecture for four years， would it be difficultfor me to get a job？ What kind of job would I have to take at first？
e. If I had average ability， how much could I hope to earnduring the first five years？
f. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being anarchitect？
g. If I were your son， would you advise me to become anarchitect？
If you are timid， and hesitate to face a “big shot” alone， hereare two suggestions that will help.
First， get a lad of your own age to go with you. The two of youwill bolster up one another’s confidence. If you haven’t someoneof your own age to go with you， ask your father to go with you.
Second， remember that by asking his advice you are payingthis man a compliment. He may feel flattered by your request.
Remember that adults like to give advice to young men andwomen. The architect will probably enjoy the interview.
If you hesitate to write letters asking for an appointment，then go to a man’s office without an appointment and tell himyou would be most grateful if he would give you a bit of advice.
Suppose you call on five architects and they are all too busy to seeyou （which isn’t likely）， call on five more. Some of them will seeyou and give you priceless advice-advice that may save you yearsof lost time and heartbreak.
Remember that you are making one of the two most vitaland far-reaching decisions of your life. So， take time to get thefacts before you act. If you don’t， you may spend half a lifetimeregretting it.
If you can afford to do so， offer to pay a man for a half-hour ofhis time and advice.
5. Get over the mistaken belief that you are fitted for only asingle occupation！ Every normal person can succeed at a numberof occupations， and every normal person would probably fail inmany occupations. Take myself， for example： if I had studied andprepared myself for the following occupations， I believe I wouldhave had a good chance of achieving some small measure of successand also of enjoying my work. I refer to such occupationsas farming， fruit growing， scientific agriculture， medicine， selling，advertising， editing a country newspaper， teaching， and forestry.
On the other hand， I am sure I would have been unhappy， anda failure， at bookkeeping， accounting， engineering， operatinga hotel or a factory， architecture， all mechanical trades， andhundreds of other activities.
How to Lessen Your
Financial Worries
