It is oftentimes the case that the man who desires to make a change feels that the only work which would appeal to him is in a profession or trade already overcrowded.  This may be true in the locality where he lives, but there is always room for every competent man in any truly useful kind of work.  For the man who is well qualified, by natural aptitudes and training, no profession is overcrowded.

LACK OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Many men of intelligence, who, perhaps, know what their calling should be, are compelled to continue in work which is uncongenial and for which they are poorly fitted because of their lack of education and training.  Hundreds of men and women come to us, only to find that they have started in the wrong work and have remained in it so long that a change to their true vocation is practically impossible.  They have assumed responsibilities which they cannot shirk.  The education and training needed would take too long and would cost too much.  Yet many have toiled away at night and in odd moments on correspondence courses or in night schools, and have thus, finally, won their way to their rightful places in the work of the world.  But at what a cost!

It is of the highest importance that every individual should learn as early as possible in life what career he is best fitted to undertake.  Every year spent in mistaken preparation or uncongenial employment makes proper training more expensive and more difficult.  There are many arts which, perhaps, cannot be learned properly after one has reached maturity.  It is said that no one has ever become a great violinist who did not begin his study of the instrument before the age of twelve.  However that may be, psychologists and anatomists agree in informing us that the brain of a human being is exceedingly plastic in childhood, and that it gradually grows more and more impervious to impressions and changes as the individual matures.  Sad, indeed, is the case, therefore, of the individual who waits to learn what his vocational fitness is until he is fully mature and is, perhaps, loaded up with the cares and responsibilities of a family, and cannot take either the time or the money to secure an education which his natural aptitude and his opportunities demand.

DEFICIENT SELF-CONFIDENCE

Many men remain in uncongenial occupations because they lack confidence in themselves.  This is distressingly common.  Everywhere we find men and women occupying humble positions, doing some obscure work, perhaps actually frittering away their time upon trifles and mere details, doing something which does not require accuracy, care, responsibility, or talent, merely for fear they may not be able to succeed in a career for which they are eminently fitted.