When I saw him again， two years later， he said： “A miraclehas happened. That is what my own physicians call it. I used tosit up in my chair， tense and taut， while discussing ideas for ourshort features. Now I stretch out on the office couch during theseconferences. I feel better than I have felt in twenty years. Worktwo hours a day longer， yet I rarely get tired.”
How does all this apply to you? If you are a stenographer， youcan’t take naps in the office as Edison did， and as Sam Goldwyndoes; and if you are an accountant， you can’t stretch out on thecouch while discussing a financial statement with the boss. But ifyou live in a small city and go home for lunch， you may be able totake a ten-minute nap after lunch. That is what General GeorgeC. Marshall used to do. He felt he was so busy directing the U.S.
Army in wartime that he had to rest at noon. If you are over fiftyand feel you are too rushed to do it， then buy immediately all thelife insurance you can get. Funerals come high—and suddenly—
these days; and the little woman may want to take your insurancemoney and marry a younger man！
If you can’t take a nap at noon， you can at least try to lie downfor an hour before the evening meal. It is cheaper than a highball;and， over a long stretch， it is 5，467 times more effective. If youcan sleep for an hour around five， six， or seven o’clock， you canadd one hour a day to your waking life. Why? How? Because Six Ways to Prevent Fatigue and Worry &Keep Your Energy and Spirits High an hour’s nap before the evening meal plus six hours’ sleep atnight—a total of seven hours—will do you more good than eighthours of unbroken sleep.
A physical worker can do more work if he takes more time outfor rest. Frederick Taylor demonstrated that while working as ascientific management engineer with the Bethlehem Steel company.
He observed that labouring men were loading approximately 12?
tons of pig-iron per man each day on freight cars and that theywere exhausted at noon. He made a scientific study of all the fatiguefactors involved， and declared that these men should be loading not12? tons of pig-iron per day， but fortyseven tons per day！ He figuredthat they ought to do almost four times as much as they were doing，and not be exhausted. But prove it！
Taylor selected a Mr. Schmidt who was required to work bythe stop-watch. Schmidt was told by the man who stood over himwith a watch： “Now pick up a ‘pig’ and walk… Now sit down andrest… Now walk… Now rest.”
What happened? Schmidt carried forty-seven tons of pig-ironeach day while the other men carried only 12? tons per man.
And he practically never failed to work at this pace during thethree years that Frederick Taylor was at Bethlehem. Schmidt wasable to do this because he rested before he got tired. He workedapproximately 26 minutes out of the hour and rested 34 minutes.
He rested more than he worked-yet he did almost four times asmuch work as the others！
Let me repeat： do what the Army does-take frequent rests. Dowhat your heart does—rest before you get tired， and you will addone hour a day to your waking life.
Chapter 53
What Makes You Tired—and WhatYou Can Do About It
Here is an astounding and significant fact： Mental workalone can’t make you tired. Sounds absurd. But a few years ago，scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labourwithout reaching “a diminished capacity for work”， the scientificdefinition of fatigue. To the amazement of these scientists， theydiscovered that blood passing through the brain， when it is active，shows no fatigue at all！ If you took blood from the veins of a daylabourer while he was working， you would find it full of “fatiguetoxins” and fatigue products. But if you took a drop of blood fromthe brain of an Albert Einstein， it would show no fatigue toxinswhatever at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned， it can work “as well and asswiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at thebeginning”。 The brain is utterly tireless… So what makes you tired?
Psychiatrists declare that most of our fatigue derives fromour mental and emotional attitudes. One of England’s mostdistinguished psychiatrists， J. A. Hadfield， says in his book ThePsychology of Power： “the greater part of the fatigue from whichwe suffer is of mental origin; in fact exhaustion of purely physicalorigin is rare.”
One of America’s most distinguished psychiatrists， Dr. A.
A. Brill， goes even further. He declares： “One hundred per centof the fatigue of the sedentary worker in good health is due topsychological factors， by which we mean emotional factors.”
Six Ways to Prevent Fatigue and Worry &Keep Your Energy and Spirits High What kinds of emotional factors tire the sedentary （or sitting）
worker? Joy? Contentment? No！ Never！ Boredom， resentment，a feeling of not being appreciated， a feeling of futility， hurry，anxiety， worrythose are the emotional factors that exhaust thesitting worker， make him susceptible to colds， reduce his output，and send him home with a nervous headache. Yes， we get tiredbecause our emotions produce nervous tensions in the body.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance company pointed that outin a leaflet on fatigue： “Hard work by itself，” says this great lifeinsurance company， “seldom causes fatigue which cannot becured by a good sleep or rest… Worry， tenseness， and emotionalupsets are three of the biggest causes of fatigue. Often they areto blame when physical or mental work seems to be the cause…
Remember that a tense muscle is a working muscle. Ease up！
Save energy for important duties.”
Stop now， right where you are， and give yourself a check-up.
As you read these lines， are you scowling at the book? Do you feela strain between the eyes? Are you sitting relaxed in your chair?
Or are you hunching up your shoulders? Are the muscles of yourface tense? Unless your entire body is as limp and relaxed asan old rag doll， you are at this very moment producing nervoustensions and muscular tensions. You are producing nervoustensions and nervous fatigue！