Should it be asked what the difference is between presumption or effrontery and the poise that we have in mind, this simple illustration should be illuminating.
Effrontery, bravado, and exaggeration are qualities that are shown by those who exceed their own capacity without giving the question a thought.
Poise is the virtue which gives us the strength of mind to analyze the possibilities that are dominant within us, to cultivate them, and to strengthen them in every possible way before undertaking an enterprise which is likely to call them into play.
Real poise has no bluster about it. It has a good deal in it of self-possession, the discretion belonging to which is one of its marked characteristics.
Repression of our outward movements enables us to achieve that control over our emotions which makes a perfect cloak for our intentions, and leaves our opponents in perplexity as to how to attack the fortress that they wish to conquer.
It is, therefore, between modesty and effrontery, both equally prejudicial to success, that poise must naturally be placed.
But, it will be objected, all the world does not possess this gift of poise. Are those who do not share it to be forever denied all chance of success?
Not so! It is open to all the world to acquire this gift, and if the chapters following this are read with care it will be seen that it is something that can be cultivated, so that it can be gradually perfected and carried about with one as the germ of every sort of success, the happy issue of which depends upon a thorough realization of one's own merits and the honorable ambition to accomplish a task that has been prudently planned and bravely carried to an end.
Before preparing oneself by the exercise of reasoning and will-power for the acquisition of poise, it is vitally necessary to make oneself physically fit for the effort to be undertaken.
One should begin with this fundamental principle:
Timidity being a disease one must treat it just as one would any other illness.
Like all other physical maladies it is sure to be the cause of loss of social prestige to those who suffer from it.
It must then be combated in the same way as any other infirmity of long standing that threatens to ruin the life of the sufferer.