IV.  HOW TO AVOID WASTES THAT DRAIN THE ENERGY OF SUCCESS

   Speeding the bullet without aiming
   why most men fail
   the successful promoter
   the human dynamo
   cool brains and hot boxes
   marvelous increased efficiency handling “Pig”
   “Overloaded” Human engines
   scientific management of self
   physiological causes of waste
   tests for sensory defects
   mental friction and inner Whirlwinds
   prominent traits of great achievers
   why A man breaks down
   how to economize effort
   how your mental capital is dissipated
   conquering indecision
   why “Christian science” Works
   how to release pent-up power
   proper Ratio between work and rest
   determining your norm of efficiency

V. THE SECRET OF MENTAL EFFICIENCY

   Where energy is stored
   bodily effects of ideas
   impulses and inhibitions
   training for mental “Team-work”
   Rust and the “Daily grind”
   Ideas that harmonize
   five rules for conserving energy
   business Luck and “Blue-sky” Theories
   devices for commercial efficiency

CHAPTER I

MENTAL SECOND WIND

[Sidenote:  Sticking to the Job]

Are you an unusually persevering and persistent person?  Or, like most of us, do you sometimes find it difficult to stick to the job until it is done?  What is your usual experience in this respect?

Is it not this, that you work steadily along until of a sudden you become conscious of a feeling of weariness, crying “Enough!” for the time being, and that you then yield to the impulse to stop?

[Sidenote:  The Lagging Brain]

Assuming that this is what generally happens, does this feeling of fatigue, this impulse to rest, mean that your mental energy is exhausted?

Suppose that by a determined effort of the will you force your lagging brain to take up the thread of work. There will invariably come a new supply of energy, a “second wind,” enabling you to forge ahead with a freshness and vigor that is surprising after the previous lassitude.

Nor is this all.  The same process may be repeated a second time and a third time, each new effort of the will being followed by a renewal of energy.

[Sidenote:  Reserve Supplies of Power]

Many a man will tell you that he does his best work in the wee watches of the morning, after tedious hours of persevering but fruitless effort.  Instead of being exhausted by its long hours of persistent endeavor, the mind seems now to rise to the acme of its power, to achieve its supreme accomplishments.  Difficulties melt into thin air, profound problems find easy solution.  Flights of genius manifest themselves.  Yet long before midnight such a one had perhaps felt himself yield to fatigue and had tied a wet towel around his head or had taken stimulants to keep himself awake.