The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII. Anon
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Experience proves, however, that if we take to our daily duties as we take to our tennis, our golf, our baseball, our football, or our cricket—i.e., with zest, we shall soon find our proper sphere of labour.
8. A word now to those who are round pegs in square holes. Don’t change your work until you can see your way clearly to do so. Never let go with one hand until you have gripped with the other. But move steadily in the desired direction; leave no stone unturned, no opportunity unappropriated. Even though you never succeed fully, you will respect yourself the more for having made the attempt.
Let us now see how far we have gone. We began with the fact that human energy is a combination of physical health and mental vigour; and we discovered that this mental vigour was, partly, a thing born in us, by reason of our liking for a special kind of work, and partly a matter of the right environment.
Is there a third factor?
Yes: the physical and mental factors should work together.
This may seem too obvious at first to need statement, but a little reflection will show that a man may have interest in his work and yet suffer from some defect in his physical or mental machinery.
V. ILLUSTRATIONS OF DEFECTIVE ENERGY.
9. Let us examine two instances:—
CASE No. 1. J. M.—an engineer. Has been abroad where he had a bad attack of fever. Suffers from weak concentration and poor memory. Is anxious to prosper but feels a want of enthusiasm, and his mental failings go against him.
Here the physical element is at fault—and the cause is a serious illness that depleted the nervous system. His mind is all right, in that he likes his profession, and he is ambitious; but mind depends upon body to a large extent, and until he can, by physical culture, attain a higher standard of health he will suffer a serious handicap. It is the same with every man who knowingly runs health risks and suffers accordingly. Weak or ailing bodies are seldom found in conjunction with minds characterised by great energy; and the only safe rule is this: to obtain mental efficiency begin with physical efficiency.
CASE No. 2. L. B. G.—a solicitor’s managing clerk. Healthy. Master of his work—even likes it to the extent of always doing his best for the firm. Keeps this ideal before him. Sometimes desires to become a Solicitor. Has once or twice begun to prepare for the Preliminary Exam. but gate up after a month’s work.
Here the mental element is defective. L.B.G. lacks will-power, and he lacks that because his ability to feel deeply—his emotive force—is faulty. He has interest in his work, the discharge of his duties being marked by a conscientiousness that appeals to all employers; but he is spasmodic in forming and acting on his desires; his mental energy is intermittent. Here the human power-house is quite adequate physically—not quite adequate mentally. The probable cause is two-fold: partly an inherited weakness, but more an induced habit of putting off—a failure to concentrate. Thus interest-power needs to be intensely strong to overcome a physical or mental hindrance or a combination of the two.
VI. HOW HUMAN ENERGY IS ORIGINATED.
10. We will now turn our attention to the manner in which interest is evolved. Ask a business man why he wants to own the largest shop in his town or district and he will probably say “Simply because I want to,” which means that he has a strong desire to make money in that particular way, and to enjoy commercial distinction. Ask a professional man—an accountant—why he wishes to be the leading accountant in the city and to corral all the big audits: he will give a reply similar to that of the business man. So will the politician, albeit his aim will perhaps be flavoured with a spice of altruism in the form of public service—the desire to ameliorate the conditions of life. But all men who are working energetically and intelligently have two outstanding qualities: (1) they know what they want, and (2) they work hard to attain it. The first is by far the more important, and to put the matter to the test, we would ask you to take a sheet of paper and write down your aim or aims in life, giving yourself five minutes in which to complete the task.
Aim v. Wish.
Can you do it?
“Yes,” you reply, “I want success.”
No doubt, but that is not an aim; it is a wish. An aim is a definite thing, a clear cut idea with hard outlines—not a general notion. You want success. But what kind of success? Money? Fame? Learning? Unless you know exactly what you want, you are hardly likely to have the energy to work for it: you can only work in a general way if your impelling idea is merely general. What you need is a particular aim: a concrete purpose like this: “I want to succeed in obtaining the post of Managing Director of the firm where I am at present an ordinary member of the staff.” We know it is a modern fashion to smile at a youth who takes himself and his career so seriously; but the smile changes faces eventually. “The ordinary member of the staff” may or may not reach the Managing Directorship, but his ambition is not different, psychologically, from that of the poet who seeks after “the light that never was on sea or land”; or of the litterateur who wills to embody his ideas in phrases that shew his mastery of words and style. The office man, the poet, and the prose writer are all ambitious; only the end is different. Of course, some critics would avow that poetry and high prose are nobler pursuits than mere worldly position; but to discuss the comparative values of occupations is no part of our work in these lessons. So long as an ambition is worthy, it does not matter much what other people think about it.
VII. ENERGY DEVELOPS MENTAL ABILITY.
11. You must then avoid nebulous notions as to your future. Get a clear and distinct idea of what you want: then work for its attainment in the best way possible. Such a life is conducted on scientific lines. Note what happens: your mental faculties begin to develop and your character changes accordingly. This is one reason why we have had so much to say about the need of interest-power. Once obtain it, and your memory, for instance, begins to improve because concentration is easier, and it is easier because you are interested in your work; you have an end in view towards which you strive daily, and the striving brings into play the whole of the mental powers necessary to the desired achievement, thus acting as a splendid gymnastic system of training. We have found that large numbers of students with poor concentration and recollection begin to benefit at once: so soon as life for them has a destiny and an aim, their faculties are awakened into an activity that is surprising to themselves and to others. Here, indeed, you have the key to the development of your intellectual gifts—those of which you are conscious, and those of which you may be ignorant. As you make an effort to reach your goal, you bring into action your imagination and your power of judgment; responsibility creates self-confidence and step by step you realise the best that is in you.
There is a vast difference between the quality of mind which says: “There’s my work—and I simply love to do it”; and that which says: “There’s my work—I’ve got to do it—no shirking—I simply must—that’s all.”
The latter is almost pure will—a “teeth set” kind of resolution that is certainly commendable; but the former is an energy of higher grade altogether; it is will reinforced by strong desire; it carries its own fuel and oils its own wheels.
VIII. ENERGY FORMULATES CHARACTER.
12. Further: if a definite aim assists in the unfolding of mental ability, it also renders a real service in the formation of character. For instance, it promotes those feelings and ideas that are the best antidote to excessive and injurious shyness or reserve; it tends to destroy self-consciousness, as seen in hesitating speech, blushing and inertia. As many people are afflicted in this way, we propose to indicate the mental conditions that give rise to the trouble, and to offer an effective remedy. The shy man, the man of deep reserve, of slow speech, hesitating manner, and inactive habits, is frequently possessed of excellent qualities. He