ENVIRONMENT AND HABIT
T his lesson brings us to the next general principle of psychology, which we will state as follows. Environment: The human mind has a decided tendency to absorb the environment with which we are surrounded, and to cause bodily
activity which harmonizes with and is appropriate to that environment.
The mind feeds on and grows to resemble the sense impressions
which it absorbs from the environment in which we live. The
mind resembles a chameleon in that it changes its color to correspond to its environment. None but the strongest minds will resist the tendency to absorb the surrounding environment.
Habit: Habit grows out of environment—out of doing the same
thing in the same way repeatedly—out of thinking the same thoughts over and over—and when once formed, it resembles cement which has set in the molds and is hard to break.
The force of education is so great that we may mold the minds and manners of
the young into what shape we please and give the impressions of such habits as
shall ever afterward remain.
—BISHOP FRANCIS ATTERBURY, 1663–1732
The human mind draws the material out of which thought and action are built from the surrounding environment, and habit crystallizes these into permanent fixtures of our personality and stores them away in our subconscious minds. Habit may be likened to the grooves on a phonograph record, while
the human mind may be likened to the needle point that fits into that groove. When any habit has been well formed (by repetition of thought or action), the mind has a tendency to attach itself to and follow that habit as closely as the phonograph needle follows the groove in the wax record.
We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest possible care, because it is the mental feeding grounds out of which the stuff that goes into our minds is to
be extracted. Environment supplies the food and the materials out of which we create thought, and habit crystallizes these materials into permanency!
For this very reason, under our present system of handling criminals, we make more of them than we cure! When the subjects of environment and habit are better understood, our entire penal system will receive a well-deserved overhauling and transformation. We will stop penning men together, like so many cattle, all branded with the stripe of disgrace that ever reminds them that they are ‘‘criminals’’! We will place offenders in a clean atmosphere where every part of the environment will suggest to them that they are being transformed into useful human beings instead of placing them where
they are constantly reminded that they are offenders of society. In this age of advancement and human intelligence, the prison ought to be considered a hospital in which perverted and deranged mentalities are nursed back to normal.
The old idea of punishment for crime ought to be replaced by the new and more advanced idea of cure for crime. The law of retaliation, suggestion, auto-suggestion, and the other principles covered by this course will each play its part in doing away with punishment and adopting cure as a means of transforming criminals back to normal. The honor system, as adopted in a limited way in many of our
penal institutions, is a step in the right direction. The parole system is another step forward. The time is rapidly approaching when every offender of the laws of society will be sent, not to dark, repellant,
dirty, and filthy prison cells, but directly to the laboratory of the mental hospital where the mind as well as the body of the unfortunate one will receive attention and proper treatment.
This reform in prison methods is going to be one of the great reforms of the present age! And, psychology is going to be the medium through which this reform will operate. In fact, after
psychology becomes one of the regularly taught subjects in our public schools, the criminal tendencies which the growing child absorbs from its environment will be effectively counterbalanced,
through the principles of psychology. But we must not digress too far from the subjects of our lesson,
habit and environment. Let us learn more about the characteristics of habit from the following words of Edward E. Beals, one of the world’s leading psychologists.
Habit ‘‘Habit is a force which is generally recognized by the average thinking person, but which is commonly viewed in its adverse aspect to the exclusion of its favorable phase. It has been well
said that all men are ‘the creatures of habit,’ and that ‘habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each
day, and it becomes so strong that we cannot break it.’ But the above quotations only serve to
emphasize that side of the question in which men are shown as the slaves of habit, suffering from its
confining bonds. There is another side to the question, and that side shall be considered in this chapter.
‘‘If it be true that habit becomes a cruel tyrant, ruling and compelling men against their will, desire, and inclination—and this is true in many cases—the question naturally arises in the thinking mind whether this mighty force cannot be harnessed and controlled in the service of man, just as have other forces of nature. If this result can be accomplished, then man may master habit and set it to work, instead of being a slave to it and serving it faithfully, though complaining. And the modern psychologists tell us in no uncertain tones that habit may certainly be thus mastered, harnessed, and set to work, instead of being allowed to dominate one’s actions and character. And thousands of people have applied this new knowledge and have turned the force of habit into new channels, and have compelled it to work their machinery of action, instead of being allowed to run to waste, or else permitted to sweep away the structures that men have erected with care and expense, or to destroy fertile mental fields.
‘‘A habit is a ‘mental patch’ over which our actions have traveled for some time, each passing making the path a little deeper and a little wider. If you have to work over a field or through a forest, you know how natural it is for you to choose the clearest path in preference to the less worn ones, and greatly in preference to stepping out across the field or through the woods and making a new path. And the line of mental action is precisely the same. It is movement along the lines of the least resistance— passage over the well-worn path.
‘‘Habits are created by repetition and are formed in accordance to a natural law, observable in all
animate things, and some would say in inanimate things as well. As an instance of the latter, it is
pointed out that a piece of paper, once folded in a certain manner, will fold along the same lines the
next time. And all users of sewing machines, or other delicate pieces of mechanism, know that as a
machine or instrument is once ‘broken in,’ so will it tend to run thereafter. The same law is also
observable in the case of musical instruments.
Clothing or gloves form into creases according to the person using them, and these creases, once
formed, will always be in effect, notwithstanding repeated pressings. Rivers and streams of water cut
their courses through the land and, thereafter, flow along the habit-course. The law is in operation
everywhere.
‘‘The above illustrations will help you to form the idea of the nature of habit and will aid you in
forming new mental paths—new mental creases. And, remember this always—the best (and one
might say the only) way in which old habits may be removed is to form new habits to counteract and
replace the undesirable ones. Form new mental paths over which to travel, and the old ones will
soon become less distinct and, in time, will practically fill up from disuse. Every time you travel
over the path of the desirable mental habit, you make the path deeper and wider, and make it so
much easier to travel it thereafter. This mental path-making is a very important thing, and I cannot
urge upon you too strongly the injunction to start to work making the desirable mental paths over
which you wish to travel. Practice, practice, practice—be a good path-maker. ‘‘The following rules will help you in your work in forming new habits:
1. At the beginning of the formation of a new habit, put force into your expression of the action, thought, or characteristic. Remember that you are taking the first steps toward making the new mental path, and it is much harder at the first than it will be afterwards. Make the path as clear and deep as you can at the start, so that you can see it readily the next time you wish to travel it.
2. Keep your attention firmly concentrated on the new path building, and keep your eyes and thoughts away from the old paths, lest you incline toward them. Forget all about the old paths, and concern yourself only with the new one that you are building.
3. Travel over your newly made path as often as possible. Make opportunities for doing so, without waiting for them to arise. The oftener you go over the new path, the sooner will it become an old, well-worn, easily traveled one. Think out plans for passing over it and using it at the start.
4. Resist the temptation to travel over the older, easier paths that you have been using in the past. Every time you resist a temptation, the stronger do you become, and the easier will it be for you to do so the next time. But every time you yield to the temptation, the easier does it become to yield again, and the more difficult does it become to resist the next time. You will have a fight on at the start, and this is the critical time. Prove your determination, persistency, and willpower now, right here at the start.
5. Be sure that you have mapped out the proper path—plan it out well, and see where it will lead you to—then go ahead without fear and without allowing yourself to doubt. ‘Place your hand upon the plow, and look not backward.’ Select your goal—then make a good, deep, wide mental path leading straight to it.’’
There is a close resemblance between habit and auto-suggestion. Through habit, an act repeatedly performed in the same manner has a tendency to become permanent, and eventually we perform the act automatically and without much thought or concentration. In playing a piano, for example, the player can play a familiar piece while his or her conscious mind is on some other subject. Through auto-suggestion, as we have already learned from previous lessons, a thought, idea, ambition, or desire held constantly in the mind eventually claims the greater portion of the conscious mind and, accordingly, causes appropriate muscular action of the body to the end that the idea so held may be transformed into physical reality.
Auto-suggestion, therefore, is the first principle we use in forming habits. We form habits through the principle of auto-suggestion, and we can destroy habits through the same principle. All that you need to do in forming or eliminating any habit is to make use of the principle of auto-suggestion with persistence. A mere fleeting wish is not auto-suggestion at all. An idea or desire, to be transformed into reality, must be held in the conscious mind faithfully and persistently until it begins to take permanent form. What is needed is a steady, determined, persistent application to the one object upon which you have set your mind. Having found the object of your desire and knowing how to concentrate upon it, you should then learn how to be persistent in your concentration, aim, and purpose.
There is nothing like sticking to a thing. Many men are brilliant, resourceful, and industrious, but they fail to reach the goal by reason of their lack of ‘‘stick-to-it-iveness.’’ One should acquire the tenacity of the bull dog, and refuse to be shaken off a thing once he has fixed his attention and desire upon it. You remember the old Western hunter who, when once he had gazed upon an animal and said, ‘‘You’re my meat,’’ would never leave the trail or pursuit of that animal if he had to track it for weeks, losing his meat in the meantime. Such a man would, in time, acquire such a faculty of persistence that the animals feel like Davy Crockett’s coon who cried out, ‘‘Don’t shoot, mister, I’ll come down without it.’’
You know the dogged persistence inherent in some men that strikes us as an irresistible force when we meet them and come into conflict with their persistent determination. We are apt to call this the
‘‘will,’’ but it is our old friend persistence—that faculty of holding the will firmly up against objects, just as the workman holds the chisel against the object on the wheel, never taking off the pressure of the tool until the desired result is obtained.
No matter how strong a will a man may have, if he has not learned the art of persistent application of it, he fails to obtain the best results. One must learn to acquire that constant, unvarying, unrelenting application to the object of his desire that will enable him to hold his will firmly against the object until it is shaped according to his wishes. Not only today and tomorrow, but every day until the end.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton has said, ‘‘The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy— invincible determination—a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world— and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two legged creature a man without it.’’
Donald G. Mitchell said, ‘‘Resolve is what makes a man manifest, not puny resolve, not crude determinations, not errant purposes—but that strong and indefatigable will which treads down difficulties and danger, as a boy treads down the heaving frost-lands of winter, which kindles his eye and brain with proud pulse-beat toward the unattainable. Will makes men giants.’’ Disraeli said, ‘‘I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.’’
Sir John Simpson said, ‘‘A passionate desire and an unwearied will can perform impossibilities, or what may seem to be such to the cold and feeble.’’ And John Foster adds his testimony when he says, ‘‘It is wonderful how even the casualties of life seem to bow to a spirit that will not bow to them, and yield to observe a design which they may, in their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate, when a firm, decisive spirit is recognized; it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.’’ Abraham Lincoln said of General Grant, ‘‘The great thing about him is cool persistency of purpose. He is not easily excited, and he has got the grip of a bull dog. When he once gets his teeth in, nothing can shake him off.’’
Now, you may object that the above quotations relate to the will, rather than to persistence. But if you stop to consider a moment, you will see that they relate to the persistent will, and that the will without
persistence could accomplish none of these things claimed for it. The will is the hard chisel, but persistence is the mechanism that holds the chisel in its place, firmly pressing it up against the object to be shaped, and keeping it from slipping or relaxing its pressure. You cannot closely read the above quotations from these great authorities without feeling a tightness of your lips and setting of your jaw, the outward marks of the persistent, dogged will. If you lack persistence, you should begin to train yourself in the direction of acquiring the habit of sticking to things.
This practice will establish a new habit of the mind, and will also tend to cause the appropriate brain cells to develop and, thus, give to you as a permanent characteristic the desired quality that you are seeking to develop. Fix your mind upon your daily tasks, studies, occupation, or hobbies, and hold your attention firmly upon them by concentration, until you find yourself getting into the habit of resisting ‘‘sidetracking’’ or distracting influences. It is all a matter of practice and habit. Carry in your mind the idea of the chisel held firmly against the object it is shaping, as given in this lesson—it will help you so much.
And read this over and over again, every day or so, until your mind will take up the idea and make it its own. By so doing, you will tend to arouse the desire for persistence, and the rest will follow naturally, as the fruit follows the budding and flowering of the tree. Persistence may be compared to the ‘‘drop of water which finally wears away the hardest stone.’’ When the final chapter of your lifework is written, you will find that your persistence, or lack of it, has played a mighty part for your success or failure.
In hundreds of thousands of cases, the talents of men could be matched, one against the other, with the result that there would be no noticeable difference in their ability to accomplish a desired end. One has as much education as the other. One has as much latent ability as the other. They go forth into the world with equal chances of winning the goal for which they aim, but one succeeds and the other fails!
Accurate analysis will show that the one succeeded because of persistence, while the other failed because he lacked persistence! Persistence, auto-suggestion, and habit are a trio of words, the
meaning of which no one can afford to overlook. Persistence is the strong cord which binds auto-suggestion and habit together until they merge into one and become a permanent reality. The chief strategic value of the German propaganda lies in the fact that it breaks down the spirit of those against whom it is directed. In other words, it breaks down the persistence! The Prussian who was
sent to destroy the author of these lessons and render his educational work unimportant made extensive use of this principle of destroying his persistence by breaking his spirit.
Silently and subtly, this trained agent of the Kaiser set about turning the author’s friends and business associates against him. Well did he know the necessity of destroying the power of persistence! To crush the spirit and break down the persistence of those who stand in his way is a strong factor
in the German propagandist’s work. To destroy the ‘‘morale’’—in other words, the persistence—of an army is of strategic importance of great value.
Destroy the morale of an army, and you have defeated that army! The same rule applies to a smaller group of individuals, or to one person. We can only develop persistence through absolute self-confidence! This is why we have laid so much stress upon the value of the lesson on self-confidence, and why we have commended that lesson to you as being the most important lesson of applied psychology. There is a central idea around which that lesson is built, which shows you exactly how to use whatever latent ability you have, and how to supplement this with whatever faith you have in the infinite.
Go back to that lesson and ponder over it! Behind those simple lines, you will find the secret of achievement, the key to the mysteries of an indomitable will power! Stripped and shorn of all technicalities, you will find in that lesson ‘‘that subtle something’’ which will vitalize your brain and send that radiant glow through your whole body that will cause you to want to grab your hat, go out, and do something!
The greatest service that any teacher can perform for you is to cause you to arouse that sleeping genius inside of your brain and inspire it with the ambition to accomplish some worthy undertaking!
It is not that which education or schooling puts in your head that will benefit you, but that which is aroused in you and put to work! Persistence on your part will eventually arouse that indescribable
something, whatever it is, and when it is once aroused, you will sweep all obstacles before you and swiftly ride on to the achievement of your desired goal, on the wings of this newly found power which you had within you all the time, but didn’t know it!
And when you once discover this irresistible power which sleeps in your brain this very minute, no one on earth can again dominate you or use you as a piece of putty. You will then have discovered your tremendous mental power, just as a horse discovers his superior physical power when he once runs away, and ever afterward, you will refuse to be haltered and ridden by any human being on earth! If you follow the plan laid down in the theme around which this magazine is built, you are sure to find this great power. You will have then come to yourself. You will have discovered the true principle through which the human race has gradually, throughout ages, risen above the animals of the lower stages of evolution.
And here seems to be an appropriate point at which to recommend another book for you to add to your library—a book which will go far toward enlightening you on the subject of the evolution of the human race. The title of the book is The Ascent of Man by Henry Drummond, published by James J. Pott & Co., 114 Fifth Avenue, New York. Get this book at your local library, or better still, buy a copy from your local book store. To read and assimilate this book is to acquire a liberal education on the subject of psychology. The chapter on ‘‘The Dawn of Mind’’ alone is worth many times the cost of the book. We recommend this and other books which we will mention later on because they have a close relationship to the subject of environment, which we now come back to. Environment
As we have already said, we absorb sense impressions from our surrounding environment. Environment, in the sense that we here use it, covers a very broad field. It embraces the books we read, the people with whom we associate, the community in which we live, the nature of the work in which we are engaged, the country in which we reside, the clothes we wear, the songs we sing, and the thoughts we
think!
The purpose of our discussion of the subject of environment is to show its direct relationship to the personality we are developing in ourselves, and the importance of creating an environment out of
which we can develop the ‘‘chief aim’’ on which we have set our hearts!
The mind feeds upon that which we supply it through our environment; therefore, let us select our environment with the direct object of supplying the mind with suitable material out of which to
carry on its work of realizing our ‘‘chief aim.’’ If your environment is not to your liking, change it! The first step to be taken is to create in your own mind an exact picture of the environment in which you believe you could do your best work, and from which you would probably draw those emotional feelings and qualities that would tend to urge you on toward your desired goal.
The first step you must take in every accomplishment is the creation, in the mind, of an exact outline or picture of that which you intend to build in reality. This is something you cannot afford to forget! This great truth applies to the building of a desirable environment just the same as it does to everything else that you desire to create.
Your daily associates constitute the most important and influential part of your environment for either your progress or your retrogression. It will be of much benefit to you to select, as your associates,
people who are in sympathy with your aims and ideals, and whose mental attitude inspires you with enthusiasm, determination, and ambition. If, perchance, you have on your list of associates a person
who never sees anything except the negative side of life—a person who is always complaining and whining—a person who talks about failure and the shortcomings of humanity—erase such a person from your list, as soon as you possibly can.
Every word uttered within your hearing, every sight that reaches your eyes, and every sense impression that you receive in any other manner influences your thought as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west! This being true, can you not see how important it is to control, as far as possible, the sense impressions which reach your mind? Can you not see the importance also of controlling, as far as possible, the environment in which you live? Can you not see the importance of reading books that deal with subjects which have a direct bearing on your ‘‘chief aim’’? Can you not see the importance of talking with people who are in sympathy with you and your aims— people who will encourage you and urge you on to greater effort?
Through the principle of suggestion, every word uttered within your hearing and every sight within the gaze of your eyes is influencing your action. You are either consciously or unconsciously absorbing, assimilating, and making a part of yourself the ideas, thoughts, and acts of those with whom you associate. Constant association with evil minds will, in time, mold your own mind in
conformity with that of the evil one. This is the chief reason why we should avoid ‘‘bad’’ company. The fact that association with disreputable people will bring you into disrepute in the minds of others
is, within itself, sufficient reason for your avoiding such associates, but the more important reason why you should do this is the fact that you are constantly absorbing the ideas of your associates and making them a part of your own!
We are living in what we call the environment of a twentieth century civilization. The leading scientists of the world are agreed that nature has been millions of years creating, through the process of evolution, our present civilized environment as it is represented by the present state of intellectual and physical development of man. We have only to stop and consider what environment will do, in
less than a score of years, that which it took nature, in her process of evolution, thousands of years to accomplish, to see the powerful influence of environment. A savage baby, reared by its savage parents, remains a savage; but that same baby, if reared by a refined, civilized family, throws off its savage tendencies, and all but a few of its savage instincts, absorbing its civilized environment in one generation.
On the other hand, the race descends as rapidly as it ascends, through the influence of environment. In war, for example, refined men, who, under ordinary circumstances, would shudder at the thought of killing a human being, become enthusiastic slayers, actually taking delight in the act. It requires but a few months of preparation in a ‘‘war environment’’ to take a man backward in evolution to where we found the Indians when we took control of North America, as far as his willingness to kill is concerned.
The clothes you wear influence you; thereby, they form a part of your environment. Soiled or shabby clothes depress you and lower your self-confidence, while clean, modest, and refined clothes give
you a sort of inner feeling of courage that causes you to quicken your step as you walk.We need not tell you what a difference there is in the way you feel in your work clothes and your Sunday clothes, for you have noticed this difference many a time. In the one, you want to shrink away from people who are better dressed than you, and in the other, you meet people on an equal basis, with courage and self confidence.
Therefore, not only do others judge us by our clothes at first meeting, but we judge ourselves to a large extent by our clothes. As evidence of this, witness the feeling of discomfort and depression
that we experience if our under-clothing is soiled, even though our other garments are in perfect trim and of the latest design, and our under-clothes cannot be seen.
Women spend relatively more for under-clothing than they do for outer garments, and even though the under-clothing cannot be seen by anyone except themselves, they will spend days and even weeks of laborious toil on fancy stitching and laces for the under-clothes. This seems to have considerable bearing on our subject when we stop to consider that women have far more pride, if not in fact more mental courage, than men possess. The extra frills and the additional touch of art which women add to their clothes plays its part—and a mighty strong part at that—in accounting for the superior briskness of a woman’s step, her superior agility, and her traditional grace of movement.
While we are on the subject of clothes, I want to relate an experience I once had which brought home to me very forcefully the tremendous part which clothes play in one’s mental courage or lack of it. I was once invited into the laboratory of a well-known teacher of physical culture. While I was there, he persuaded me to take off my clothes and accept, gratis, a simple treatment. After the treatment was over, I was ushered into his presence by an attendant, in a well-appointed office, wearing nothing except the pair of trunks in which I had taken my treatment. On the opposite side of a large mahogany desk sat my friend, the teacher of physical culture, attired in a neat formal business suit. The
contrast between him and me was so great and so unavoidably noticeable that it embarrassed me. I felt a great deal like I imagine the near-sighted man felt who once made the mistake of stepping out
of his dressing room into a crowded ballroom, thinking that he was going into a closet where his clothes were.
It was no mere accident that I was ushered into the presence of this teacher in scanty attire! He was a practical psychologist, and he well knew the effect it would have on a prospective purchaser of his
course in physical culture to be placed at such a disadvantage. The reception had been ‘‘staged,’’ in other words, and the chief actor who was very efficiently directing the play was the man on the other side of the desk who had on proper clothes. With this setting, this teacher canvassed me to purchase his course, which I did. After I got back into my regular clothes and into my usual environment and analyzed the visit, I could plainly see that the sale was an easy matter under the setting which this man had very ingeniously prepared.
Good clothes affect us in two ways. First, they give us greater courage and more self-confidence, which alone would justify us in providing ourselves with proper clothes, even to the exclusion of
some other necessity of less value. Second, they impress others in our favor. The first sensory impression which reaches the mind of those whom we meet reaches them through the sense of sight as they quickly look us over and take mental inventory of our wearing apparel. In this way, a person often forms an opinion of us, good, bad, or indifferent, before we utter a word, based entirely upon the impression which our clothes and the manner in which we wear them make upon his mind.
Money invested in good clothes is not a luxury but a sound business investment that will pay the best of dividends. We simply cannot afford to neglect our personal appearance, both for the effect it will have on us and for the effect it will have upon those with whom we come in contact socially, commercially, or professionally, according to our calling. Good clothes are not an extravagance—they are a necessity! These statements are based upon scientifically sound principles. The most important part of our physical environment is that which we create by the clothes we wear, because this particular part of our environment affects both ourselves and all with whom we come in contact.
Next to our clothes, an important factor in the surroundings which constitute our environment is the office or shop in which we work. Experiments have proved conclusively that a workman is influenced very decidedly by the harmony, or lack of it, which surrounds him during his working hours. A disorganized, chaotic, dirty shop or office tends to depress a workman and lower his enthusiasm and his interest in his work, whereas a well-organized, clean, and systematic work place has just the opposite effect.
Employers who, in recent years, have come to understand how to employ the principles of psychology to increase the efficiency of their employees have learned the advantage, in dollars and cents, of providing clean, comfortable, harmonious shops and offices. Among the devices installed by the more progressive employers, as a means of increasing the enthusiasm and efficiency of their employees, are playgrounds, tennis courts, well-appointed restrooms, libraries and reading rooms equipped with pictures and statuary which tend to produce a condition of serenity in the employees’ minds.
One unusually progressive laundryman of Chicago has plainly outdone his competitors, particularly in times when help is hard to get, by installing in his workroom an electric player piano and a neatly
dressed young woman who keeps it going during the working hours. His ironing room is located on the street floor, and the neat appearance of his women workers, dressed in white uniforms— caps and aprons—together with their bright, cheerful faces, is one of his best advertisements, to say nothing of the increased work which each woman performs under these harmonious surroundings.
Contrast this scene with the appearance of the average laundry, where the women are uncouth in appearance and the workroom disorganized and presenting an appearance of a rag picker’s shop, and
you will readily see the advantage of the more progressive system, an advantage that takes into consideration both increased profits to the employer and greater comfort of the employee. The time is not far ahead when some sort of music will be considered a necessity in every shop where men and women are working with their hands. Music produces harmony and enthusiasm, both of which are essential if the maximum efficiency is obtained by the workman. A man cannot be highly efficient unless he loves his work and his environment—his working surroundings. With the right selection of music, a workman’s production could be increased from ten to fifty percent, without fatiguing him in the least.
During war times, when most of the workers of America are engaged in the manufacture of war materials of one sort and another, think of the inspiration, the increased strokes a man could strike, the greater number of steps he could make if he were keeping time with ‘‘Over There’’ or with some other soul-stirring music, such as ‘‘Dixie’’ or ‘‘Yankee Doodle’’! Under such conditions, a man could
easily double his production in many lines of work and still feel less fatigued at night!
If you doubt that music makes one oblivious to time and effort, just study people who are dancing or roller-skating to a tune of good music. A person will dance or skate until twelve o’clock at night, after
having performed a hard day’s work at the shop or office, and still feel perfectly fresh for the next day’s work, if supplied with good music. We stop to wonder sometimes why it is that more employers do not learn a lesson from the dancer or the skater and make use of the same psychology, to stimulate the workers’ efforts in shop or office, that carries the dancers and skaters through hours of the hardest sort of physical labor without any way of fatiguing them!
The more competent of the ‘‘efficiency engineers’’ have not been slow to grasp the importance of making use of this psychology in laying out plans for working conditions in shops and offices.
Whenever increased human efficiency takes place at all, it begins in the human mind! Men produce greater results because they want to do so! Now, the problem is to find ways and means, devices and
equipment, environment and surroundings, atmosphere and working conditions with which to make men and women want to do more work and better work!
Environment is the first thing the really efficient ‘‘efficiency counselor’’ takes cognizance of. A man cannot be a competent efficiency counselor without being also a psychologist. I am thoroughly convinced, after taking a retrospective view of my experience as a boy on a farm, that if I were engaged in the business of farming and had to depend upon boys to help me do the work, I would provide a baseball ground nearby and such other games as boys like to engage in, and every so often, we would finish a given task or a pre-arranged piece of work, and then sally forth to the ball
ground for a little turn at the ‘‘enthusiasm builder’’!
With this incentive with which to look forward, a boy (and most of us are only boys grown tall) would produce more work and experience less fatigue than he would without it. That old axiom, ‘‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’’ is more than an axiom—it is a scientific truth with teeth in it! Somewhere, sometime, some foreman, superintendent, or manager of men, or perhaps some individual workman, will read this lesson and see the practical value of entertaining men while they work and of providing them with a pleasing, harmonious environment.
Not only will he see the practical value of the idea, but better still, he will put it into use and make it carry him into prominent leadership! Perhaps you are that man or woman! If you have faithfully put into practice the suggestions laid down in the lesson on self-confidence building, you are undoubtedly headed in the direction of leadership. What you now need is some big idea with which to complete the journey. It may be that on these pages you will find that idea!
One big idea is all that any person really needs or can make use of in this life. Too many of us go through life with plenty of little ideas clinging to us, but with no really big idea! When you find your big idea, more likely than not, you will find it in some sort of service that will be of constructive help to your fellowmen! It may be the idea of lowering the cost to the consumer of some necessity of life; or, it may be the idea of helping men and women to discover the wonderful power of the human mind and how to make use of it; or, it may be the idea of helping men and women to be more cheerful and happy in their work by creating some plan for improving their working environment. If it doesn’t promise some of these results, you may be reasonably sure that it is not a big idea.
Throughout the industrial and commercial world, there is a prevailing spirit of unrest among the workmen. Probably the greatest worldwide problem now confronting the human race is this question
of unrest among the workers. Both the leaders of labor and the leaders of finance are cognizant of the widespread and growing dissatisfaction among workmen, and both are equally aware that the
problem must have immediate and wise counsel. What an opportunity this situation offers for someone to create his big idea! Fame and fortune await the man who solves any part of the great problem which the spirit of unrest among workmen presents to the world. When that problem is solved, either in whole or in part, the question of providing a congenial environment in which workmen may labor will surely play an important part.
It may be that in this subject of unrest among workmen, you will find your big idea. What more worthy cause could you devote your life to than that of helping to improve the environment of those who earn their living with their hands? What wonderful satisfaction comes to those whose big idea is found in that great field of endeavor wherein we strive to make others happy as they tarry by the wayside of life!
It may be that this field of effort does not always yield as great a return in dollars and cents, but certain it is that its workers enjoy that serene, harmonious mental environment which is always experienced by those who give their lives for the uplift and the enlightenment of humanity. Incidentally, this brings us to a suitable point at which to discuss the last phase of environment, which is mental environment. Up to this point, we have been discussing the purely physical side of environment, such as the clothes we wear, the equipment with which we work, the room in which we work, the people with whom we associate, and the like. As between the mental and the physical
sides of environment, the mental side is of greater importance. Our mental environment is represented by the condition of our minds. In the last analysis, the physical environment is merely the material out of which we create our mental environment. The exact state of mind existing at any given time is the result of sense impressions which have reached the mind from the physical environment, at one time or another, and constitutes our mental environment.
We can rise above and beyond a negative physical environment by creating in our imagination a positive one, or by shutting out all thought of it altogether, but a negative mental environment cannot be dodged—it must be rebuilt. Out of our mental environment, we create every impulse to bodily action; therefore, if our muscular, bodily activities are wisely directed, they must emanate from a sound mental environment. Hence, we claim that as between the mental and physical environments, the former is of greater importance.
Summary
We have learned from this lesson the part which environment and habit play in one’s success or failure. We have learned that there are two phases of environment, one mental and the other physical, and that the mental side is created out of the physical. We have learned, therefore, the importance of controlling, as far as possible, the physical environment, because it is the raw material out of which
we build the mental environment. We have learned how to make and to unmake habit, through
persistence and auto-suggestion. We have learned that both autosuggestion and concentration play an important part in the creation of any habit.
We have learned that the tendency of the human mind is to absorb its surrounding environment and to pattern after it its impulses to muscular, bodily action. We have learned, therefore, that environment
is the raw material out of which we are shaping our ideas and our characters.We have learned that so forceful is the environment in which we live that a sound mind may absorb criminal tendencies by
improper association with criminal minds, through inadequate penal institutions, etc.
We have learned that the clothes we wear constitute an important part of our physical environment, and that they influence us as well as those with whom we come in contact, either negatively or positively, according to their appropriateness. We have learned the importance of providing workmen with a pleasing, harmonious physical environment and of the increased efficiency that may be produced by so doing.
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