magination is must
Page 77
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Arthur Beckenham
HE VARIOUS studies in which au have enrolled will, if you poly yourself, yield benefits to ou in the long term. The wards will come in enhanced nowledge, greater abilities 43‘;1ing to promotion, greater )b mobility and the beginnings f a worthwhile transport career. Keep your eye on the longistant horizons of opportunity ad challenge. More important, erhaps, in the long run than a ligh standard of living is a high tandard of thinking.
.imbering up: Studies need ' ertain skills and practices to be Dllowed if success is to be chieved. You must limber up, ke athletes, to a state of ierformance allowing you to ucceed.
For those of you combining tudies with work, probably nvolving shifts and irregular lours, this will not be easy. legular reading of textbooks, eeping up-to-date with levelopments and stories in the It-lass, and practice in writing are ome of the prerequisites for his success. Get yourself into a egular pattern of work once you lave limbered up.
Ise your imagination: Your rnagination is your mental acuity which allows you to form nnages, concepts and scenarios rf external objects not present to he senses. It is the creative acuity of your mind. So you will ippreciate that imaginative hinking is necessary if you are lot to be merely a plodder. Imagination is not a sedative o deaden life, but a force toward more abundant life. It is the nind's ability to recall past Ixperiences and relate them to new situations in combinations pf infinite variety. Imagination r;annot be ignored for long periods and then called upon in some crises; it needs to be kept in a constant state of use on a regular basis. Emulate T. E. Lawrence who found "the morning freshness of the worldto-be intoxicating".
The difference between ongoing and routine people is simply this: the successful people have kept their imaginations at work. During your studies this winter you should therefore exercise imagination fully. Don't sit back too soon. Develop a capacity for study based on curiosity and imagination.
Think for yourself: Remind yourselves that you are educating and training yourselves to be the leaders and managers of road transport of the future. Who will be "running" the various parts of the industry in 20 or so years' time? A lot of you, it is hoped. So begin to develop your own ideas on the kind of issues you may have to face.
Perseverance: You need an inclination to persevere in studies. Keep going toward your objective. Successful people do not reach their goal by weaving from side to side seeking novelty and pleasure, but by persistent effort along their planned route. Your imagination can turn diligence into enjoyable perserverance.
Always have something in reserve, a store of power not used. You never know when a little extra pull will see you through a difficult patch.
Develop a capacity to accept adversity in your career and studies. Analyse and learn from any that happen to you. It is impossible to make progress in road transport or physical distribution without incurring risk. One must sometimes leave off taking precautions in order to reach a clear cut result and progress.
Extra pull: Those of you who really get down to it with a will can hope to gain that extra pull later in life which comes from consistently developing your imagination. Using your mind and thinking through various scenarios of the future is good intellectual training. Expect the unexpected.
Many problems are not clear cut and do not yield to routine procedures, but most big problems can be disposed of by solving the smaller ones of which they are composed. Constant practice, early training and much effort will give you that extra pull to clear up problems and initiate new developments in your road transport management career.
No favours expected: Belief in yourself today is necessary to your success and happiness in the long run. Studying today, working today, planning today, exercising your imagination today: all of these things have real consequences for tomorrow and what you will eventually achieve and become.
The qualifications which you seek and will gain will enhance your chances of making the positive progress you seek by your own efforts. All that has made man great has sprung from the hope of securing what was good, and not from the struggle to avoid what was thought to be bad. This is a most inspiring thought: that you will win your place in transport by no man's favour, but by your own intelligently directed effort.