Edison was an ordinary telegraph operator. But he was not content with merely working as others worked. He worked very hard, devised means to make more valuable the instruments of his employers. Soon he was an employer himself, and what is far better than being an employer, he was a creator of new ideas and a benefactor of the world. ——
Intelligent readers will not misinterpret this advice to mean that they should OVERWORK themselves, or work regardless of their own physical welfare.
The right course is this:
Do as much as you can in the present, without drawing on your future reserves.
Don't work all night and then go on the next day. Such effort impairs permanently your store of vitality, and that vitality is your capital.
But never form the habit of neglecting work, of shamming and lying instead of achieving honestly.
You may deceive one employer, or ten. But 36> you can't deceive nature, and you can't deceive yourself.
You can form good habits only through regular work. You can develop your faculties only through exercising them honestly and systematically. ——
MERELY WORKING "FAIRLY WELL" IS NOT ENOUGH.
If you want to run a mile fast, you do not merely jog. You try every day to run the mile faster than you did the day before. If you want to learn to jump high, you strain your muscles and try over and over to do what you can't do. Ultimately you achieve it.