--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 7 published: 1901-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "The Good Opportunity in Yourself," *Improvement Era* 4, no. 7 (May 1901): 527.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0407unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0407unse start_page: 527 end_page: 527 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0407unse publication_year: 1901 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1901, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Good Opportunity in Yourself THE GOOD OPPORTUNITY IN YOURSELF. Thousands of young people in this country are hunting for good chances, and seem to think they have very little to do with the good opportunity themselves except to discover it. But, no matter where you go, young man or young woman, no matter who your ancestors were, what school or college you have attended, or who helps you, your best opportunity is in yourself. The help you get from others is something outside of you, while it is what you are, what you do yourself, that counts. A habit of depending on self, a determination to find one's re- sources within oneself, and not without, develops strength. Crutches were intended for cripples, not for able-bodied young people; and whoever attempts to go through life on mental crutches will not go very far, and will never be very successful. Success.