I know a man who, if he happens to forget something in the morning and is obliged to run back for it and perhaps is late at his office, will fret and stew, curse and swear, not realizing that he is poisoning his mind, getting himself out of time, and totally unfitting himself for the day’s work.
If your mental attitude is right, if you face life in the right way, if the right spirit is in you, if you put yourself in tune, everything you do — taking your morning bath, dressing, eating your breakfast, going to your office for business — all this will give you a sense of real pleasure. But if you fret and stew and think that these many things in your daily routine are a bore, a waste of time, you are losing a lot of precious energy.
If there is anything that an efficient man must do it is to put himself in tune for the day’s work and not allow anything to disturb his mental balance or throw his mind out of poise.
There is nothing irksome in doing necessary things in the day’s routine if we do them in the right, kindly spirit. The spirit is everything. What’s the use of keeping yourself, your home, your place of business all stirred up over the trivial, the things that do not amount to anything?
The art of all arts is to keep the mind poised, balanced, serene. Then you are in condition to do the best thing possible to you and to enjoy life to the full. It takes but little to destroy the harmony of the home or the place of business. It takes little to destroy your own peace of mind. Why should a great big man, made in the image of his Creator, inheriting all the good things of the world, allow himself to be so upset by a little, contemptible, trifling, picayunish thing? Is it sensible? Is it worthwhile? A thousand times no!
Just try this experiment of starting out in the morning with an invincible determination to keep your poise, your mind serene, yourself in harmony all day, no matter what happens to make you otherwise, make up your mind that you cannot afford to lose your mental balance in any circumstances. You will get such immense satisfaction from your increased efficiency, the greater amount of work you can do with so much greater comfort and greater peace of mind, that you will not feel that you can afford to pay such a terrible price, the price of your peace of mind and your happiness, for the sake of indulging your explosive passions. There is no business or efficiency in it.
– Orison Swett Marden, The Chicago Daily News, Chicago, IL., June 7, 1919
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