Time is the stuff life is made of, says Benjamin Franklin.
Every man has exactly the same amount of
it in a year. One improves it and reaps great results.
Another wastes it and reaps failure. The first class, they
call lucky; the second, unfortunate. 5
To use time aright, have a system. Shape everything
to it. Divide the twenty-four hours between work, recreation,
sleep, and mental culture according to a scheme
that suits your judgment and circumstances. Then make
things go that way. The scheme will quickly go to pieces 10
unless backed by persistent purpose.
When you work, work. Put the whole mind and heart
in it. Know nothing else. Do everything the very best.
Distance everybody about you. This will not be hard, for
the other fellows are not trying much. Master details and 15
difficulties. Be always ready for the next step up. If a
bookkeeper, be an expert. If a machinist, know more than
the boss. If an office boy, surprise the employer by model
work. If in school, go to the head and stay there. All this
is easy when the habit of conquering takes possession. 20
It is wholesome in this connection to read what men
have accomplished who have once learned the art of redeeming
time. Study the causes of the success of Benjamin
Franklin, of Lincoln, of McKinley, of Sir Michael
Faraday, of Agassiz, of Edison. Learn the might of minutes. 25
"Every day is a little life, and our whole life is a
day repeated. Those that dare lose a day are dangerously
prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate." Emerson
says, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."
Sound and wholesome recreation is important in our
scheme; but in this age of athletic frenzy the danger of 5
neglect on that line is not excessive. The real fact is that
athletic sports are educating the muscles too often at the
expense of the brain.
It is the mind work that differentiates you from the herd.
Mental culture calls for study--carefully planned, regular, 10
persistent. One or two hours a day, aiming at some distinct
object, mastering what you learn, adding little by
little, like a miser to his store, will in a few years make of
you a broad, educated man, no matter what your schooling.
To abuse time, have no system. Chance everything. 15
Do your work indifferently. Growl if too much is asked.
Hunt for an easy job. Change often. Dodge obstacles.
Always come a little short of the standard. Fritter away
in silly things the few golden moments left for self-culture.
Then you will not crowd anybody very hard in the contest 20
for leadership.
Time abused is bad luck.
1. What great men do you know of who divided up
their day in the way suggested here? Make out a
timetable for yourself and see how you can improve
it and how long you can stick to its use.
2. In what did the "success" of each of the men
mentioned in the fourth paragraph consist? Make one
of the studies suggested and report your findings
to the class.
3. What out-of-door exercises educate both brain
and muscles? What is the special value of games
played by a team? What great people of ancient
times trained the body as well as the mind?