CHAPTER IX
RELAXATION
AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY Increasing Human Efficiency in Business: A Contribution to the Psychology of Business | ||
Be not therefore anxious for the Morrow
A STUDY of the lives of great men is both interesting and profitable. In such a study we are amazed at the records of the deeds of the men whom the world calls great. The results of the labors of Hercules seem to be approximated according to many of these truthful accounts.
In studying the lives of contemporary business men two facts stand out prominently. The first is that their labors have brought about results that to most of us would have seemed impossible. Such men appear as giants, in comparison with whom ordinary men sink to the size of pygmies.
The second fact which a study of successful
Men noted for efficiency almost never appear to be hurried. They have plenty of time to accomplish their tasks, and therefore can afford to take their work leisurely.
Such men have time to devote to objects in no way connected with their business. It cannot be regarded as accidental that this characteristic of mind is found so commonly among successful men during the years of their most fruitful labor.
According to the American Ideal, the man who is sure to succeed is one who is continuously "keyed up to concert pitch," who is ever alert and is always giving attention to his business or profession. As far as the captains of industry are concerned, such is not the case. They devote relatively few hours a day to their strenuous toil, but they keep a cool head and a steady hand. They are always composed, never confused, but ever ready to attack a new problem with their maximum ability. They
Of all the nations of the world, Americans are supposed to be the hardest working. We have attributed our industrial success to the fact that there is a bustle and snap to our work which are not equaled in any other country. But recent students of the industrial world are now telling us that even in the case of day and piece labor this characteristic is frequently a weakness rather than an advantage. They say that the American product "suffers from hurry, want of finish, and want of solidity."—"Industrial Efficiency," Arthur Shadwell, Vol. 1, p. 26.
In the great middle class of American society, there is a lack of repose and an absence of relaxation which astonishes foreign observers.
They tell us that we are wild-eyed and too intense. Dr. Clauston of Scotland is quoted as saying:—
"You Americans wear too much expression in your faces. You are living like an army
The late Professor William James of Harvard makes the following pertinent remark concerning the overtension of Americans:—
"Your intense, convulsive worker breaks down and has bad moods so often that you never know where he may be when you most need his help,—he may be having one of his `bad days.' We say that so many of our fellow-countrymen collapse, and have to be sent abroad to rest their nerves, because they work so hard. I suspect that this is an immense
Mr. Joseph Lyons, who is recognized as one of the particularly active and efficient men of England, has taken great interest in the way things are done in America. And after observing
"I do not believe in what Americans call hustling. The American hustler in my opinion does not represent the highest type of human efficiency. He wastes a lot of nervous power and energy instead of accomplishing the greatest possible amount of work for the force expended. Judging the American hustler from my observation of him in his own country, I should say that the American hustler shows a lack of adaptation of means to ends because he puts more mental, physical, and nervous energy into his work at all times than it demands. Regarded as a machine he is not an economical one. He breaks down too often and has to be laid off for repairs too often. He tries to do everything too fast."
When Mr. Lyons was asked to explain how he had been able to accomplish so much without hustling, he replied: "By organizing myself to run smoothly as well as my business; by schooling myself to keep cool, and to do
CHAPTER IX
RELAXATION
AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY Increasing Human Efficiency in Business: A Contribution to the Psychology of Business | ||