P.T. Barnum’s The Art of Money Getting is an interesting read. Some of the principles of money getting are just as true today as they were in the 1800s. And, heck, Barnum was pretty successful as a business person. Here’s what Barnum has to say about the importance of having a calling or vocation:
The safest plan, and the one most sure of success for the young manstarting in life, is to select the vocation which is most congenial tohis tastes. Parents and guardians are often quite too negligent inregard to this. It very common for a father to say, for example: "I havefive boys. I will make Billy a clergyman; John a lawyer; Tom a doctor,and Dick a farmer." He then goes into town and looks about to see whathe will do with Sammy. He returns home and says "Sammy, I see watch-making is a nice genteel business; I think I will make you a goldsmith."He does this, regardless of Sam's natural inclinations, or genius. We are all, no doubt, born for a wise purpose. There is as muchdiversity in our brains as in our countenances. Some are born naturalmechanics, while some have great aversion to machinery. Let a dozen boysof ten years get together, and you will soon observe two or three are"whittling" out some ingenious device; working with locks or complicatedmachinery. When they were but five years old, their father could find notoy to please them like a puzzle. They are natural mechanics; but theother eight or nine boys have different aptitudes. I belong to thelatter class; I never had the slightest love for mechanism; on thecontrary, I have a sort of abhorrence for complicated machinery. I neverhad ingenuity enough to whittle a cider tap so it would not leak. Inever could make a pen that I could write with, or understand theprinciple of a steam engine. If a man was to take such a boy as I was,and attempt to make a watchmaker of him, the boy might, after anapprenticeship of five or seven years, be able to take apart and puttogether a watch; but all through life he would be working up hill andseizing every excuse for leaving his work and idling away his time.Watchmaking is repulsive to him. Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, andbest suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed. I am glad tobelieve that the majority of persons do find their right vocation. Yetwe see many who have mistaken their calling, from the blacksmith up (ordown) to the clergyman. You will see, for instance, that extraordinarylinguist the "learned blacksmith," who ought to have been a teacher oflanguages; and you may have seen lawyers, doctors and clergymen who werebetter fitted by nature for the anvil or the lapstone.
I’m no PT Barnum, but I agree that it makes sense to do something that hearkens your passions. Of course, I also think it’s important to try to do what you love for profit.
Related Books
- The Art of Money Getting by PT Barnum.
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