How to Analyze People on Sight. Elsie Lincoln Benedict

_way_ he

      prefers to do it _most_ of the time. If you doubt it try this test:

      bring to mind any intimate friends, or even that husband or wife, and

      note how few changes they have made in their way of doing things in

      twenty years!

      Preferences Inborn

       Every human being is born with preferences and predilections which

      manifest themselves from earliest childhood to death. These inborn

      tendencies are never obliterated and seldom controlled to any great

      extent, and then only by individuals who have learned the power of the

      mind over the body. Inasmuch as this knowledge is possessed by only a

      few, most of the people of the earth are blindly following the dictates

      of their inborn leanings.

      Follow Our Bents

       In other words, more than ninety-nine per cent of all the people you

      know are following their natural bents in reacting to all their

      experiences--from the most trivial incidents to the most far-reaching

      emergencies.

      "Took It" From Grandmother

       The individual is seldom conscious of these habitual acts of his, much

      less of where he got them. The nearest he comes is to say he "got it

      from his father" or "she takes it from grandmother." But where did

      grandmother get it?

      Man No Mystery

       Science has taken the trouble to investigate and today we know not only

      where grandmother got it but what she did with it. She got it along with

      her size, shape and structure--in other words, from her type--and she did

      just what you and everybody else does with his type-characteristics. She

      acted in accordance with her type just as a canary sings like a canary

      instead of talking like a parrot, and just as a rose gives off rose

      perfume instead of violet.

      This law holds throughout every species and explains man--who likes to

      think himself a deep mystery--as it explains every other creature.

      The Hold of Habit

       Look around you in shop, office, field or home and you will find that

      the quick, alert, impulsive man is acting quickly, alertly and

      impulsively most of the time. Nothing less than a calamity slows him

      down and then only temporarily; while the slow, patient, mild and

      passive individual is acting slowly, patiently, mildly and passively in

      spite of all goads. Some overwhelming passion or crisis may speed him up

      momentarily but as soon as it fades he reverts to his old slow habits.

      Significance of Fat, Bone and Muscle

       Human Analysis is the new science which shows you how to recognize the

      slow man, the quick man, the stubborn man, the yielding man, the leader,

      the learner, and all other basic kinds of men on sight from the shape,

      size and structure of their bodies.

      Certain bodily shapes indicate predispositions to fatness, leanness,

      boniness, muscularity and nervousness, and this predisposition is so

      much a part of the warp and woof of the individual that he can not

      disguise it. The urge given him by this inborn mechanism is so strong as

      to be practically irresistible. Every experience of his life calls

      forth some kind of reaction and invariably the reaction will be

      similar, in every vital respect, to the reactions of other people who

      have bodies of the same general size, shape and structure as his own.

      Succeed at What We Like

       No person achieves success or happiness when compelled to do what he

      naturally dislikes to do. Since these likes and dislikes stay with him

      to the grave, one of the biggest modern problems is that of helping men

      and women to discover and to capitalize their inborn traits.

      Enthusiasm and Self-Expression

       Every individual does best those things which permit him to act in

      accordance with his natural bents. This explains why we like best those

      things we do best. It takes real enthusiasm to make a success of any

      undertaking for nothing less than enthusiasm can turn on a full current.

      We struggle from the cradle to the grave for self-expression and

      everything that pushes us in a direction opposed to our natural

      tendencies is done half-heartedly, inefficiently and disgruntledly.

      These are the steps that lead straight to failure. Yet failure can be

      avoided and success approximated by every normal person if he will take

      the same precaution with his own machinery that he takes with his

      automobile.

      Learn to Drive Your Car

       If you were presented with a car by your ancestors--which is

      precisely what happened to you at birth--you would not let an hour go by

      without finding out what make or type of car it was. Before a week

      elapsed you would have taken the time, labor and interest to learn how

      to run it,--not merely any old way, but the _best_ way for that

      particular make of car.

      Five Makes of Human Cars

       There are five makes or types of human cars, differing as definitely

      in size, shape and structure as Fords differ from Pierce-Arrows. Each

      human type differs as widely in its capacities, possibilities and

      aptitudes as a Ford differs from a Pierce-Arrow. Like the Ford or Pierce

      the externals indicate these functional differences with unfailing

      accuracy. Furthermore just as a Ford never changes into a Pierce nor a

      Pierce into a Ford, a human being never changes his type. He may modify

      it, train it, polish it or control it somewhat, but he will never change

      it.

      Can Not be Deceived

       The student of Human Analysis cannot be deceived as to the type of any

      individual any more than you can be deceived about the make of a car.

      One may "doll up" a Ford to his heart's content--remove the hood and top

      and put on custom-made substitutes--it is still a Ford, always will be a

      Ford and you can always detect that it is a Ford. It will do valuable,

      necessary things but only those things it was designed to do and in its

      own particular manner; nor could a Pierce act like a Ford.

      Are You a Ford or a Pierce?

       So it is with human cars. Maybe you have been awed by the jewels and

      clothes