In one case a great step has been taken.  In the other, we have an example of men of undoubted ability laboring hard for entire lifetimes with relatively small gain.

This example applies to more than the inventors’ world.  It has many parallels in the cold business management of a manufactory and in any one of its departments.  Business management requires the same kind of reasoning and getting away from the spell of environment.  But this phase we shall consider later under another head.

The point to be brought out here is the effect of the spell of environment in magnifying the importance of existing views and methods, and the deceptive part this trusty brain plays in binding us to unnecessarily hard work.

Cure for Mind Wandering.

The mind should not be allowed to wander, for wander it will if it is not rationally directed.  It should be furnished with some interest, either in the form of study that is taken up out of working hours, and which can be permitted to occupy the mind while work of the habit kind is being done, or, if it is not a study, there should be some wholesome interest or pleasure.

Music to some furnishes this need.  Music heard in the home or elsewhere will sometimes occupy the mind during working hours when the work is of a monotonous character.  In some instances music has been provided during a certain part of the day, just for this need of workers who are employed in an occupation that in itself furnishes no mental nourishment.

But these extreme cases do not represent the vast majority.  They apply only to the needs of the mind of those engaged in a work in which they can awaken no interest.  Nearly all kinds of work offer a chance for the average man to get interested directly in the work itself.  Such an interest soon bears fruit in the results as well as in the comfort of the worker, and it is this phase on which we must depend for making specialization comfortable and profitable to the worker.  It is this phase that is wholly overlooked by those mentioned above who have seen or felt the joy of work that comes to one who rambles into a new field.  We fail to see that the same kind of mental pleasure may be obtained while working along the natural and efficient lines of habit, and that in one case we have had pleasure at great expense of wasted energy, and in the other case we may have made a true progress for ourselves and others by moving along the rational way.

The Manager’s View.

The important duty of weighing up these various views devolves on the management, and its action should be in accordance with the complete and corrected view.  It must consider the subject from a top viewpoint, and must then act.

The manager keeps in mind that the machines must be built, purchased, and used by human beings, so he carefully studies their peculiarities.  He knows that change of thought or habit requires time.