CONCENTRATION
AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY
THE owner of one of the largest and most
complex businesses in America handles
his day's work on a schedule as exacting
as a railway time-table. In no other way
could he keep in touch with and administer
the manifold activities of his industry and a
score of allied interests--buying of the day's
raw materials for a dozen plants in half as
many markets, direction of an organization
exceeding 20,000 men, selling and delivering
a multitude of products in a field as wide as
three continents, financing the whole tremendous
fabric.
Every department of his business, therefore,
has its hour or quarter hour in the daily program
when its big problems are considered
<p 104>
<p 105>
and settled on the tick of the clock. This
schedule is flexible, since no two days bring
from any division of production, distribution,
or financing the same demands upon the owner's
attention. Yet each keeps its place and
comes invariably under his eye--through
reports and his own mastery of conditions
affecting the department.
_To secure the high personal efficiency required
for this oversight and methodical dispatch of
affairs, the owner-executive is not only protected
from outside interruptions and distractions, but is
also guarded against intrusion of the vital
elements of his business--both men and matters
--except at the moment most advantageous for
dealing with them_.
Analysis and organization have determined
these moments--just as they have eliminated
every non-essential in the things presented
for consideration and decision. Except when
emergencies arise there is no departure from
the rule: ``One thing at a time--the big
thing--at the right time.'' The task in hand
is never cheated, or allowed to cheat the next
<p 106>
in line. Management is as much a continuous
process, organized and wasteproof, as the
journey of raw materials through his plants.
This is an illustration of remarkable individual
efficiency attained by concentration
--the power of the human mind which seems
inseparable from any great achievement in
business, in politics, in the arts, in education.
Through it men of moderate capacities have
secured results apparently beyond the reach
of genius. And in no field has this power of
concentration been displayed more vividly by
leaders or been more generally lacking in the
rank and file than in business. Analysis of
the conditions may suggest the reason and the
remedy.
_The modern business man is exhausted no
more by his actual achievements than by the
things which he is compelled to resist doing_.
Appeals for his attention are ceaseless.
The roar of the street, the ring of telephone
bells, the din of typewriting machines, the
sight of a row of men waiting for an interview,
the muffled voices from neighboring offices or
<p 107>
workers, the plan for the day's work which is
being delayed, the anxiety for the results for
certain endeavors, suspicion as to the loyalty
of employees--these and a score of other distractions
are constantly bombarding him.
Every appeal for attention demands expenditure
of energy--to ignore it and hold
the mind down to the business in hand. The
simple life with its single appeal is not for the
business man. For him life is complex and
strenuous. To overcome distractions and focus
his mind on one thing is a large part of his
task. If this single thing alone appealed to
his attention, the effort would be pleasing and
effective. It is not the work that is hard; the
strain comes in keeping other things at bay
while completing the pressing duty.
_He is exhausted, not because of his achievements,
but because of the expenditure of energy
in resisting distractions_.
He is inefficient, not through lack of industry,
but from lack of opportunity or of ability
to concentrate his energy upon the single task
at hand.
<p 108>
All sources of illumination--from the candle
to the sun--send out rays of light equally
in all directions. If illumination of only _*one_
point is desired, the loss is appalling. The rays
may be assembled, however, by reflectors and
lenses and so brought to bear in great force
at a single point.
This brilliancy is not secured by greater
expenditure of energy, but by utilizing the
rays which, except for the reflectors and lenses,
would be dissipated in other directions.
_As any source gives off equally in all directions,
so the human intellect seems designed to respond
to all forms and sorts of appeal for attention_.
To keep light from going off in useless directions
we use reflectors; to keep human energy
from being expended in useless directions we
must remove distractions. To focus the light
at any point we use lenses; to focus our minds
at any point we use concentration.
Concentration is a state secured by the mental
activity called attention. To understand
concentration we must first consider the more
fundamental facts of attention.
<p 109>
In the evolution of the human race certain
things have been so important for the individual
and the race that responses towards
them have become instinctive. They appeal
to every individual and attract his attention
without fail. Thus moving objects, loud
sounds, sudden contrasts, and the like, were
ordinarily portents of evil to primitive man,
and his attention was drawn to them irresistibly.
Even for us to pay attention to such
objects requires no intention and no effort.
Hence it is spoken of as _*passive_ or _*involuntary
attention_.
The attention of animals and of children
is practically confined to this passive form,
while adults are by no means free from it.
For instance, ideas and things to which I
have no intention of turning my mind attract
me. Ripe fruit, gesticulating men, beautiful
women, approaching holidays, and scores of
other things simply pop up in my mind and
enthrall my attention. My mind may be so
concentrated upon these things that I become
oblivious to pressing responsibilities. In some
<p 110>
instances the concentration may be but momentary;
in others there may result a day
dream, a building of air castles, which lasts
for a long time and recurs with distressing
frequency.
_Such attention is action in the line of least
resistance. Though it may suffice for the acts
of animals and children it is sadly deficient for
our complex business life_.
Even here, however, it is easy to relapse
to the lower plane of activity and to respond
to the appeal of the crier in the street, the
inconvenience of the heat, the news of the ball
game, or a pleasing reverie, or even to fall
into a state of mental apathy. The warfare
against these distractions is never wholly
won. Banishing these allurements results in
the concentration so essential for successfully
handling business problems. The strain is
not so much in solving the problems as in retaining
the concentration of the mind.
When an effort of will enables us to overcome
these distractions and apply our minds to the
subject in hand, the strain soon repeats itself.
<p 111>
It frequently happens that this struggle is
continuous--particularly when the distractions
are unusual or our physical condition is
below the normal. No effort of the will is
able to hold our minds down to work for any
length of time unless the task develops interest
in itself.
This attention with effort is known as _*voluntary
attention_. It is the most exhausting act
which any individual can perform. Strength
of will consists in the power to resist distractions
and to hold the mind down to even
the most uninteresting occupations.
_Fortunately for human achievement, acts
which in the beginning require voluntary effort
may later result without effort_.
The schoolboy must struggle to keep his
mind on such uninteresting things as the alphabet.
Later he may become a literary
man and find that nothing attracts his attention
so quickly as printed symbols. In commercial
arithmetic the boy labors to fix his
attention on dollar signs and problems involving
profit and loss. Launched in business,
<p 112>
however, these things may attract him more
than a football game.
It is the outcome of previous application
that we now attend without effort to many
things in our civilization which differ from
those of more primitive life. Such attention
without effort is known as _*secondary passive
attention_. Examples are furnished by the
geologist's attention to the strata of the
earth, the historian's to original manuscripts,
the manufacturer's to by-products, the merchant's
to distant customers, and the attention
which we all give to printed symbols and scores
of other things unnoticed by our distant ancestors.
Here our attention is similar to passive
attention, though the latter was the result
of inheritance, while our secondary passive
attention results from our individual efforts
and is the product of our training.
Through passive attention my concentration
upon a ``castle in Spain'' may be perfect
until destroyed by a fly on my nose. Voluntary
attention may make my concentration
upon the duty at hand entirely satisfactory
<p 113>
till dissipated by some one entering my office.
Secondary passive attention fixes my mind
upon the adding of a column of figures, and it
may be distracted by a commotion in my vicinity.
Thus concentration produced by any
form of attention is easily destroyed by a
legion of possible disturbances. If I desire
to increase my concentration to the maximum,
I must remove every possible cause of
distraction.
_Organized society has recognized the hindering
effect of some distractions and has made
halting attempts to abolish them_.
Thus locomotives are prohibited from sounding
whistles within city limits, but power
plants are permitted by noise and smoke to
annoy every citizen in the vicinity. Street
cars are forbidden to use flat wheels, but are
still allowed to run on the surface or on a
resounding structure and thus become a public
nuisance. Steam calliopes, newsboys, street
venders, and other unnecessary sources of
noise are still tolerated.
In the design and construction of office
<p 114>
buildings, stores, and factories in noisy neighborhoods,
too little consideration is given to
existing means of excluding or deadening
outside sounds, though the newer office buildings
are examples of initiative in this direction;
not only are they of sound-proof construction,
but in many instances they have replaced the
noisy pavements of the streets with blocks
which reduce the clatter to a minimum. In
both improvements they have been emulated
by some of the great retail stores which have
shut out external noises and reduced those
within to a point where they no longer distract
the attention of clerks or customers
from the business of selling and buying. In
many, however, clerks are still forced to call
aloud for cash girls or department managers,
and the handling of customers at elevators is
attended by wholly unnecessary shouting and
clash of equipment.
Of all distractions, sound is certainly the
most common and the most insistent in its appeal.
The individual efforts towards reducing
it quoted above were stimulated by the hope
<p 115>
of immediate and tangible profit--sound-
proof offices commanding higher rents and
quiet stores attracting more customers. In
not a few cases, manufacturers have gone
deeper, however, recognizing that anything
which claims the attention of an employee
from his work reduces his efficiency and cuts
profits, even though he be a piece worker. In
part this explains the migration of many industries
to the smaller towns and the development
of a new type of city factory with sound-
proof walls and floors, windows sealed against
noise, and a system of mechanical ventilation.
The individual manufacturer or merchant,
therefore, need not wait for a general crusade
to abate the noise, the smoke, and the other
distractions which reduce his employee's
effectiveness. In no small measure he can shut
out external noises and eliminate many of
those within. Loud dictation, conversations,
clicking typewriters, loud-ringing telephones,
can all be cut to a key which makes them virtually
indistinguishable in an office of any
size. More and more the big open office as
<p 116>
an absorbent of sound seems to be gaining in
favor. In one of the newest and largest of
these I know, nearly all the typewriting machines
are segregated in a glass-walled room,
and long-distance telephone messages can be
taken at any instrument in the great office.
_Like sound in its imperative appeal for attention
is the consciousness of strangers passing
one's desk or windows_.
Movement of fellow employees about the
department, unless excessive or unusual, is
hardly noticed; let an individual or a group
with whom we are not acquainted come within
the field of our vision, and they claim attention
immediately. For this reason shops or factories
whose windows command a busy street
find it profitable to use opaque glass to shut
out the shifting scene.
This scheme of retreat and protection has
been carried well-nigh to perfection by many
executives. Private offices guarded by secretaries
fortify them against distractions and
unauthorized claims on their attention, both
from within and without their organizations.
<p 117>
Routine problems, in administration, production,
distribution, are never referred to them;
these are settled by department heads, and
only new or vital questions are submitted to
the executive. In many large companies,
besides the department heads and secretaries
who assume this load of routine, there are
assistants to the president and the general
manager who further reduce the demands
upon their chiefs. The value of time, the
effect of interruptions and distractions upon
their own efficiency, are understood by countless
executives who neglect to guard their
employees against similar distractions.
_Individual business men, unsupported by
organizations, have worked out individual methods
of self-protection_.
One man postpones consideration of questions
of policy, selling conditions, and soon until
the business of the day has been finished, and
interruptions from customers or employees are
improbable. Another, with his stenographer,
reaches his office half an hour earlier than his
organization, and, picking out the day's big
<p 118>
task, has it well towards accomplishment
before the usual distractions begin. The foremost
electrical and mechanical engineer in the
country solves his most difficult and abstruse
problems at home, at night. His organization
provides a perfect defense against interruptions;
but only in the silence, the isolation of
his home at night, does he find the complete
absence of distraction permitting the absolute
concentration which produces great results.
This chapter was prefaced by an instance
where protection from distractions through
organization was joined with methodical
attack on the elements of the day's work. This
combination approaches the ideal; it is the
system followed by nearly all the great
executives of America. Time and attention are
equably allotted to the various interests,
the various departments of effort which must
have the big man's consideration during the
day. Analysis has determined how much of
each is required; appointments are made with
the men who must co<o:>perate; all other matters
are pushed aside until a decision is reached;
<p 119>
and upon the completion of each attention is
concentrated on the next task.
A striking instance of this organization of
work and concentration upon a single problem
is afforded by the ``cabinet meetings'' of some
large corporations and the luncheons of groups
of powerful financiers in New York. There
are certain questions to be settled, a definite
length of time in which to settle them. In the
order of their importance they are allotted so
many minutes. At the expiration of that time
a vote is taken, the president or chairman
announces his decision, and the next matter is
attacked.
_There is no royal method of training in
concentration. It is in the main developed by
repeated acts of attention upon the subject in
hand_.
If I am anxious or need to develop the power
of concentration upon what people say, either
in conversation or in public discourse, I may
be helped by persistently and continuously
forcing myself to attend. The habit of
concentration may to a degree be thus acquired;
<p 120>
pursuing it, I should never allow myself to
listen indifferently, but I must force myself to
strict attention.
Such practice would result ultimately in a
habit of concentration upon what I hear,
but would not necessarily increase my power
of concentration upon writing, adding, or other
activities. Specific training in each is essential,
and even then the results will be far short
of what might be desired. Persistent effort
in any direction is not without result, however,
and any increase in concentration is so valuable
that it is worth the effort it costs. If a man
lacks power of concentration in any particular
direction, he should force concentration in that
line and continue till a habit results.
Our control over our muscles and movements
far exceeds our direct control over our
attention. An attitude of concentration is
possible, even when the desired mental process
is not present. Thus by fixing my eyes on a
page and keeping them adjusted for reading,
even when my mind is on a subject far removed,
I can help my will to secure concentration. I
<p 121>
can likewise restrain myself from picking up a
newspaper or from chatting with a friend when
it is the time for concentrated action on my
work. By continuously resisting movements
which tend to distract and by holding myself
in the position of attention, the strain upon
my will in forcing concentration becomes less.
_Concentration is practically impossible when
the brain is fagged or the bodily condition is far
below the normal in any respect_.
The connection between the body and the
mind is most intimate, and the perfect working
of the body is necessary to the highest efficiency
of the mind. The power of concentration is
accordingly affected by surroundings in the
hours of labor, by sleep and recreation, by the
quality and quantity of food, and by every
condition which affects the bodily processes
favorably.
Recognition of this truth is behind the very
general movement, both here and abroad, to
provide the best possible conditions both in the
factories and the home environment of workers.
Employers are coming more and more to un-
<p 122>
derstand that conservation of physical forces
means maximum output. The foundation,
of course, is a clean, spacious, well-lighted, and
perfectly ventilated factory in a situation which
affords pure air and accessibility to the homes
of employees. In England and Germany the
advance towards this ideal has taken form in
the ``garden cities'' of which the plant is the
nucleus and the support. In America there is
no lack of industrial towns planned and built
as carefully as the works to which they are
tributary.
Some have added various ``welfare'' features,
ranging from hot luncheons served at
cost, free baths, and medical attendance to
night schools for employees to teach them how
to live and work to better advantage. The
profit comes back in the increased efficiency
of the employees.
_Even though the health be perfect and the
attitude of attention be sustained the will is
unable to retain concentration by an effort for
more than a few seconds at a time_.
When the mind is concentrated upon an
<p 123>
object, this object must develop and prove
interesting, otherwise there will be required
every few seconds the same tug of the will.
This concentration by voluntary attention is
essential, but cannot be permanent. To secure
enduring concentration we may have to
``pull ourselves together'' occasionally, but the
necessity for such efforts should be reduced.
This is accomplished by developing interest
in the task before us, through application of
the fundamental motives such as self-preservation,
imitation, competition, loyalty, and
the love of the game.
If the task before me is essential for my
self-preservation, I shall find my mind riveted
upon it. If I hope to secure more from speculation
than from the completion of my present
tasks, then my self-preservation is not
dependent upon my work and my mind will
irresistibly be drawn to the stock market and
the race track. If I wish my work to be
interesting and to compel my undivided attention,
I should then try to make it appeal
to me as of more importance than anything
<p 124>
else in the world. I must be dependent upon
it for my income; I must see that others are
working and so imitate their action; I must
compete with others in the accomplishment
of the task; I must regard the work as a service
to the house; and I must in every possible
way try to ``get into the game.''
_This conversion of a difficult task into an
interesting activity is the most fruitful method of
securing concentration_.
Efforts of will can never be dispensed with,
but the necessity for such efforts should be
reduced to the minimum. The assumption
of the attitude of attention should gradually
become habitual during the hours of work, and
so take care of itself.
The methods which a business man must
use to cultivate concentration in himself are
also applicable to his employees. The manner
of applying the methods is, of course, different.
The employer may see to it that as far as
possible all distractions are removed. He cannot
directly cause his men to put forth voluntary
effort, but he can see to it that they re-
<p 125>
tain the attitude of concentration. This may
require the prohibition of acts which are distracting
but which would otherwise seem indifferent.
The employer has a duty in regard
to the health of his men. Certain employers
have assumed to regulate the lives of their men
even after the day's work is over. Bad habits
have been prohibited; sanitary conditions of
living have been provided; hours of labor
have been reduced; vacations have been
granted; and sanitary conditions in shop and
factory have been provided for.
_Employers are finding it to their interest to
make concentration easy for their men by rendering
their work interesting_.
This they have done by making the work
seem worth while. The men are given living
wages, the hope of promotion is not too long
deferred, attractive and efficient models for
imitation are provided, friendly competition is
encouraged, loyalty to the house is engendered,
and love of the work inculcated. In addition,
everything which hinders the development of
interest in the work has been resisted.
<p 126>
How will a salesman, for instance, develop
interest in his work if he makes more from his
``side lines'' than from the service he renders
to the house which pays his expenses? How
can the laborer be interested in his work if he
believes that by gambling he can make more
in an hour than he could by a month's steady
work? The successful shoemaker sticks to his
last, the successful professional man keeps out
of business, and the wise business man resists
the temptation to speculate. Occasionally a
man may be capable of carrying on diverse
lines of business for himself, but the man is
certainly a very great exception who can hold
his attention to the interests of his employer
when he expects to receive greater rewards
from other sources.
_The power of concentration depends in part
upon inheritance and in part upon training_.
Some individuals, like an Edison or a Roosevelt,
seem to be constructed after the manner of
a searchlight. All their energy may be turned
in one direction and all the rest of the world
disregarded. Others are what we call scatter-
<p 127>
brained. They are unable to attend completely
to any one thing. They respond constantly
to stimulation in the environment and to
ideas which seem to ``pop up'' in their minds.
Some people can read a book or paper with
perfect satisfaction, even though companions
around them are talking and laughing. For
others, such attempts are farcical.
Many great men are reputed to have had
marvelous powers of concentration. When
engaged in their work, they became so absorbed
in it that distracting thoughts had no access
to their minds, and even hunger, sleep, and
salutations of friends have frequently been
unable to divert the attention from the absorbing
topic.
_There are persons who cannot really work except
in the midst of excitement_.
When surrounded by numerous appeals to
attention, they get wakened up by resisting
these attractions and find superfluous energy
adequate to attend to the subject in hand.
This is on the same principle that governs
the effects of poisonous stimulants. Taken
<p 128>
into the system, the whole bodily activity is
aroused in an attempt to expel the poison.
Some of this abnormally awakened energy
may be applied to uses other than those intended
by nature. Hence some individuals
are actually helped in their work at least
temporarily by the use of stimulants. Most
of the energy is of course required to expel the
poison, and hence the method of generating
the energy is uneconomical.
The men who find that they can accomplish
the most work and concentrate themselves
upon it the most perfectly when in the midst
of noise and confusion are paying a great price
for the increase of energy, available for profitable
work. To be dependent on confusion for
the necessary stimulation is abnormal and expensive.
Rapid exhaustion and a shortened
life result. It is a bad habit and nothing more.
_Many persons seem able to disregard the common
and necessary distractions of office, store, or
factory_.
Other persons are so constituted that these
distractions can never be overcome. Such
<p 129>
persons cannot hear a message through a telephone
when others in the room are talking;
they cannot dictate a letter if a third person is
within hearing; they cannot add a column of
figures when others are talking. Habit and
effort may reduce such disability, but in some
instances it will never even approximately
eliminate it. Such persons may be very
efficient employees, and their inability to concentrate
in the presence of distractions should
be respected. Every business man is careful
to locate every piece of machinery where it
will work best, but equal care has not been
given to locating men where they may work to
the greatest advantage.
By inheritance the power of concentration
differs greatly among intelligent persons. By
training, those with defective power may improve,
but will never perfect the power to concentrate
amidst distractions. To subject such
persons to distractions is an unwise expenditure
of energy
_Concentration by voluntary attention should be
avoided, but concentration by secondary passive_
<p 130>
_attention cultivated. Organized business interests
should eliminate such public nuisances as
surface street cars, elevated trains, venders of
wares, screeching newsboys, smoking chimneys,
and the like_.
In individual establishments walls may be
deadened to sounds, telephones may be muffled,
call bells may be replaced by buzzers with indicators,
clerks may have other methods than
that of calling aloud for ``cash'' or for floor
walkers, typewriters may be massed with a
view to reducing the general commotion, the
illumination at the desks may be increased,
discomforts should be reduced to a minimum,
work may be so systematized that only one
task at a time demands attention.
At least the attitude of concentration should
be habitual. The bodily condition favorable
to the best concentration may make profitable
such devices as firm lunch rooms, the
building of industrial villages, and so on.
Concentration is secured positively by bringing
into activity the various motives which
affect most powerfully the different individu-
<p 131>
als. There should be a universal taboo on
horse racing and all forms of gambling. Even
``side lines'' should be completely discouraged.
Some individuals are so hindered by the ordinary
and necessary distractions of business
that special protection should be granted to
them.