Part 6 (1/2)

Always on ”Dress Parade”

- With intent to keep the spotlight on himself the Thoracic is always on dress parade. He is vividly aware of himself; he knows what kind of picture he is making. He is seldom ”self-conscious,” in the sense of being timid. When he does happen to be timid he suffers, by reason of his greater desire for approval, more acutely than any other type.

Affectability His Keynote.

- Instantaneous reaction to stimuli--with all the reflex actions resulting therefrom--const.i.tutes the keynote of this type. This makes an individual who is physiologically and psychologically affectable.

Because life is full of all kinds of stimuli, acting during every waking moment upon every sense in the organism, any person who is high strung finds himself in the midst of what might be called ”nerve-bedlam.”

Gets the Most Out of Everything.

- Because of this same highly sensitized makeup the Thoracic gets more sensations out of every incident than the rest of us do. He experiences more joy in the s.p.a.ce of a lifetime but also more disappointment.

The Human Violin.

- For the same reason that the violin vibrates to a greater number of sounds than the organ, the Thoracic is a more vibrant individual than others. He is impelled to an expressiveness of voice, manner and action that often looks like pretence to less impulsive people. In other types it would be, but to the Thoracic it is so natural and normal that he is often much surprised to hear that he has the reputation of being ”affected.”

A Reputation for Flightiness.

- This lightning-like liveliness of face, body and voice, his quick replies and instantaneous reactions to everything also cause him to be called ”flighty.”

The Quick Thinker.

- We are p.r.o.ne to judge every one by ourselves. People whose mental or physical senses are less ”keyed-up,” less sensitive, call the Thoracic ”rattle-brained.”

Usually such a man's brain is not rattled at all; it is working, as all brains do in response to the messages reaching it, via the telegraph wires of the five senses.

In the Thoracic these wires happen to be more taut than in the other types. He gets sensations from sights, sounds, tastes, touches and smells much more quickly than the rest of us do. These messages are sent to the brain more rapidly and, since sensation is responsible for much of our thinking, this man's brain thinks a little more speedily than that of other types.

It does not necessarily think any better. Often it does need slowing down. But compared to the thought-power of some of the other types the Thoracic's speed makes up for much of his carelessness. He makes more mistakes in judgment than other types but can ”right-about-face” so quickly he usually remedies them while other types are still trying to decide when to start.

To hold himself back is the hardest lesson for this type to learn.

His Changeability.

- This tendency to let himself go brings the Thoracic a great deal of unhappiness and failure. He plunges so quickly that he often fails to take into consideration the various elements of the situation.

His physical senses tell him a thing should be done and rush him headlong into actions that he knows are ill-advised the moment he has time to think them over. In turning around and righting his mistakes he often hears himself called ”changeable” and ”vacillating.”

His ”Batting Average”

- In this, as in other things, we have a tendency toward smugness, shortsightedness and egotism. The man who makes but one mistake a year because he makes but two decisions is wrong fifty per cent of the time. Yet he self-satisfiedly considers himself superior to the Thoracic because he has caught the latter in six ”poor deals within six months.” At the rate the average Thoracic acts this would be about one mistake in a thousand--a much ”better batting average” than the other man's.

But because the confidence of others in our stability is of prime importance to us all, this type or any one inclined to definite thoracic tendencies should take pains to prevent this impression from settling into the minds of his friends.

Should Get Onto the Highway.

- The greatest reason for striving toward stability in action and more slowness in decision, however, is for his own future's sake. The man who is constantly making decisions and being compelled to alter them gets nowhere. He may have the best engine and the finest car in the world but if he runs first down this by-path, and then that, he will make little progress on the main highway.

Should Have an Aim.

- An aim, a definite goal is essential to the progress of any individual. It should be made with care and in keeping with one's personality, talents, training, education, environment and experience, and having been made should be adhered to with the determination which does not permit little things to interfere with it.

Eliminating Non-Essentials.

- The big problem of individual success is the problem of eliminating non-essentials--of ”hewing to the line, letting the chips fall where they may.” Most of the things that steal your time, strength, money and energy are nothing but chips. If you pay too much attention to them you will never hew out anything worth while.

No Vain Regrets.

- If you are a Thoracic don't regret the fact that you are not a one-decision-a-year man, but try to make fewer and better decisions.

Your quickness, if called into counsel, will enable you to see from what instincts your mistakes habitually arise and the direction in which most of them have pointed. And you will see this with so much greater dispatch than the average person that you will lose little time.

You should begin today to a.n.a.lyze your most common errors in judgment that you may guard against their recurrence.

Always Slightly Thrilled.

- Even when apparently composed the Thoracic is always a wee bit thrilled. Everything he sees, hears, touches, tastes or smells gives him such keen sensations that he lives momentarily in some kind of adventure.

He languishes in an unchanging environment and finds monotony almost unbearable.

Lights and Shadows.

- ”Never two minutes the same” fitly describes this type. He pa.s.ses rapidly from one vivid sensation to another and expresses each one so completely that he is soon ready for the next. He has fewer complexes than any other type because he does not inhibit as much.

The Uncorked Bottle.

- The ”lid” is always off of the Thoracic. This being the case he suffers little from ”mental congestion” though he sometimes pays a high price for his self-expression.

Everybody is Interesting.

- Most of us are much more interesting than the world suspects. But the world is not made up of mind readers. We keep our most interesting thoughts and the most interesting side of ourselves hidden away. Even your dearest friends are seldom given a peep into the actual You. And this despite the fact that we all recognize this as a deficiency in others.

We bottle up ourselves and defy the world's cork-screws--all save the Thoracic. He allows his a.s.sociates to see much of what is pa.s.sing in his mind all the time. Because we are all interested in the real individual and not in masks this type usually is much sought after.

Not Secretive.

- The Thoracic does not by preference cover up; he does not by preference secrete; he does not, except when necessary, keep his plans and ways dark. He is likely to tell not only his family but his newest acquaintances just what he is planning to do and how he expects to do it.

The naturally secretive person who vaguely refers to ”a certain party” when he has occasion to speak of another is the exact opposite of this type.

His ”Human Interest”

- We are all interested in the little comings and goings of our friends. Upon this fact every magazine and newspaper builds its ”human interest” stories. We may be indifferent to what the President of the United States is doing about international relations but what he had for breakfast is mighty interesting. Few people read inaugural addresses, significant though they often are to the world and to the reader himself. But if the President would write ten volumes on ”Just How I Spend My Sundays,” it would be a ”best seller.”

Naturally Confidential.

- Personal experiences, personal secrets and personal preferences are subjects we are all interested in. These are the very things with which the Thoracic regales his friends and about which he is more frank and outspoken than any other type. He makes many friends by his obvious openness and his capacity for seeing the interesting details which others overlook.

Charming Conversationalist.