The youth feels as rich in his fifty years to come as he does with a legacy of $50,000 in the bank. The years, however, can yield only small variations from the established rate of interest. The human machine can manufacture only a limited amount of energy. It remains to utilize that quantity to the best advantage. This can be done only by having a purpose in life strong enough to resist alluring temptations to fritter away both time and strength.
One of the world’s busy workers found that the distractions of urban life were breaking in upon his working time and making inroads upon his physical vitality. He recognized that work for the body and work for the mind must be balanced, and he evolved an acrostic to be followed as a rule of life, the fulfillment of which has meant prolonged years of efficient work and has kept the freshness of middle life with the advancing years. Taking the six days of the week as a unit, the acrostic is as follows:
| The Feast of Life | ||
|---|---|---|
| F | Food | One-tenth the time |
| E | Exercise | One-tenth the time |
| A | Amusement | One-tenth the time |
| S | Sleep | Three-tenths the time |
| T | Task | Four-tenths the time |
The first and last are nearly fixed quantities, the other three may vary within certain limits as to amount of time given and intensity of effort. Amusement and exercise may be taken together; exercise and sleep may be somewhat interchangeable.
The task, or daily work, is a necessity for mental and physical health. It should be accepted as a part of human life and the will and energy should be directed to doing it well. It may be a pure delight, the most entertaining thing that happens; it should be interesting. It is astonishing how interesting a dull piece of work may become if one sets one’s self to doing it well. That which one subconsciously knows one is doing badly is drudgery. The real pleasure in life comes not from so-called amusements—things done by other people to make one laugh; to “take one’s mind off”—but from seeing the work of one’s own hand and brain prosper. The work of creation, of transformation to desirable result, is the purest joy the human mind can experience. Fourteen hours a day is not too much for this kind of task. The difficulty is to gain skill of hand and eye, or training of mind, to this end. A fallacy, a canker at the heart of our social fabric today, is that the daily task is something to be rid of.
The psychology of doing is clearly illustrated in the character of Fool Billy, as drawn by the author of “Priscilla of the Good Intent.”
“Is there nought ye like better than idleness?” asked the blacksmith. “Think now, Billy—just ponder over it.”
“Well, now,” answered the other, after a silence, “there’s playing—what ye might call playing at a right good game. Could ye think of some likely pastime, David?”
“Ay, could I; blowing bellows is the grandest frolic ever I came across.” ...
“I doubt ’tis work, David.... I shouldn’t like to be trapped into work. ’Twould scare me when I woke o’ nights and thought of it.”