{"id":4122,"date":"1949-09-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1949-09-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1949-vol-30-no-9-lets-slow-down\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T14:43:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T14:43:45","slug":"september-1949-vol-30-no-9-lets-slow-down","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1949-vol-30-no-9-lets-slow-down\/","title":{"rendered":"September 1949 &#8211; Vol. 30, No. 9 &#8211; Let&#8217;s Slow Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">When Dale Carnegie wrote his latest book                     he started out by saying its purpose was not to tell something                     new, but to remind you of what you already know and to kick                     you in the shins and inspire you to do something about applying                     it.<\/p>\n<p> This Monthly Letter does not set itself up as a confident                     counsellor in mental and physical health, but merely attempts                     to break down a problem that bedevils every adult person in                     Canada, and no one more than the business man.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is the feeling of being pushed. For ten years                     it has been becoming progressively worse. We cannot put our                     finger with certainty on anything that is causing it; we cannot                     point our finger confidently at the goal to which we are being                     pushed. We just keep rushing along in a confused state of                     never having time to do the things that seem to be pressing                     upon us.<\/p>\n<p>Twentieth-century living keeps us guessing. The trouble                     seems to be that we are midway in transition from an age that                     was based on the assumption of permanence into one where the                     only certainty is change. We are not highly-enough developed                     to feel comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>We are victims of a mounting tension. We have difficulty                     in relaxing. We feel that we are not quite as quick as we                     should be in grasping things. We are sensitive, and doubtful,                     and in a hurry. Our high-strung nervous systems are on                     a perpetual binge. We have no time for the repose that is                     necessary if we are to see the stars.<\/p>\n<p>A curious symptom is that people talk more than they did                     of &#8220;next&#8221; and less of things done. It&#8217;s always the &#8220;next&#8221;                     job, or &#8220;next&#8221; week, or the &#8220;next problem to be tackled.&#8221;                     Having reached a destination we try to cut down our &#8220;turn                     around&#8221; time so that we may sail off quickly to the next port.<\/p>\n<p>David Seabury, in his excellent advice on <em>How to Worry                     Successfully <\/em>reduces the whole business to this: &#8220;Frenzied                     toil has long been a curse in America, though often praised                     as a virtue.&#8221; He quotes Longfellow: &#8220;But they, while their                     companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.&#8221; Then                     Seabury adds: &#8220;Nonsense. They were digging their graves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is sad but true that the persons held up by our culture                     as most praiseworthy and desirable are the very people who                     are most likely to overdo the pace of life. They are conscientious,                     painstaking and indefatigable in their work; they have a strong                     sense of social responsibility; they assume more than their                     share of community tasks.<\/p>\n<p>Teachers, maintaining discipline in a restive young race;                     doctors trying to cope with crowded reception rooms; stenographers                     who must do so many words a minute if they are to get their                     work out; telephone operators whose hands must keep pace with                     conversation; business men rushing from piled-up desks                     to business conference lunches and back again; farmers deprived                     of help by the lure of city life; all these are examples of                     high-tension living. And social affairs take their toll,                     too. Even small talk makes a demand on nervous energies.<\/p>\n<p>Often people in all good faith deny that they are under                     any tension. The state has become chronic with them, and they                     are not aware of it. But to the keen observer there are signs:                     unnecessary hand-waving and pencil-tapping, wrinkled                     foreheads, frowns, vacant stares, restlessness.<\/p>\n<h3>Worry is a Menace<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Worry&#8221; is commonly blamed.<\/p>\n<p>The mind can do wonders in the way of work and adjustment                     to disturbances, but it is soon wrecked by worry. If gravestones                     told the truth, nine out of ten of them would say: &#8220;This man&#8217;s                     life was shortened several years by the fear of bad developments,                     most of which never happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Worry is a most illogical thing. Often it is not the things                     we do but the things we don&#8217;t get done that worry us. We find                     ourselves harrassed by an accumulation of jobs, they may be                     in the factory, the home, the office, the garden, or in social                     circles. We worry about the past, which can&#8217;t be helped, and                     about the future without affecting it for our good. Many times                     chronic worry is the cause and not the result of problems.<\/p>\n<p>We all know the story of the centipede that became worried                     about a possible breakdown of the mechanism moving his hundred                     legs, and ended in a tangle. Another classic is about the                     woman who worried because she did not worry so much about                     her elder daughter as she did about her younger child, and                     it didn&#8217;t seem right to her that one child should be more                     important than the other. A trainman tells about a woman who                     burst into weeping when the train was crossing a bridge over                     a flooded river. He questioned her sympathetically about her                     trouble, and she told him: &#8220;I was just thinking how dreadful                     it would be if I had a child and the child was ever drowned.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Silly? But how much more sensible are the things we worry                     about? Our choice is quite impartial: things past or present,                     real or &#8220;might be&#8221;; acts done or left undone &#8211; all are grist                     to our worry mill. And we know very well that anticipating                     trouble seldom averts it; that apprehension solves nothing;                     that regret is a dangerous salve.<\/p>\n<p>There is an inevitable kind of worry. Every one of us is                     sometime confronted by a problem too big for him, or with                     a crisis of so disturbing a nature that his habitual reasoning                     reaction is temporarily suspended. Our worry does neither                     an ailing relative nor ourselves any good, but so long as                     we live in this dangerous world, so long as we have imagination                     and sensitivity, and so long as our control over our environment                     remains so partial, a certain amount of worry is the fate                     of man.<\/p>\n<p>It is not legitimate anxiety that is the danger, but prolonged                     and excessive fear that pushes us into ill-considered                     action. Problems will arise, and we can do one of two things:                     bring to bear our best reasoned-out solution, or suffer                     spiritual unhappiness by giving ourselves over to fruitless                     worry.<\/p>\n<h3>What do we Know?<\/h3>\n<p>So far as the human mind is concerned, we are in a twilight                     region between understanding and not understanding its workings.                     We know how fatal it is to meet a difficulty with our eyes                     on the past, but we cannot yet see far enough into the future                     to be sure of our course.<\/p>\n<p>Our myths of today were yesterday&#8217;s truths, and <em>our                     <\/em>truths are only the working concepts to be used by tomorrow&#8217;s                     men and women. We don&#8217;t like to have our myths taken away,                     and some of them project themselves into life in a disruptive                     way.<\/p>\n<p>Among savages there is little neurosis. Is this because,                     with meagre knowledge of the possibilities of life, they have                     few incitements to intensify their longings? Our western world,                     shorn of old restraints, teems with stimulants. Our outlook                     is the &#8220;go &#8211; get&#8221; outlook. The passion goes so far as to encourage                     people to wish for what they have not earned, and to be angry                     when they do not get it.<\/p>\n<p>The search for prestige leads to all kinds of neurotic bypaths:                     some want white-walled tires on their cars, others like                     to have their names emblazoned on stationery and speakers&#8217;                     programmes; the social climber must sit &#8220;above the salt&#8221; or                     suffer heartburn, and, as Dr. D. Ewen Cameron puts it in his                     book <em>Life is for Living <\/em>as a white collar worker                     you demand cloth towels in your washroom instead of paper                     ones which are much more sanitary but are the hall mark of                     the manual worker&#8217;s washroom.<\/p>\n<p>The man who keeps his balance realizes that he can&#8217;t do,                     be, and have all he would like. Time, ability and opportunity                     limit what is possible. If he will reduce the number of his                     desires and fears he will find himself able to cast aside                     the jitters and to work toward accomplishment instead of striving.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s efficiency consists in knowing how to manage our                     minds.<\/p>\n<p>The mind-manager knows that good, hard, efficient work,                     either physical or mental, never in itself produced one single                     case of nervous exhaustion. He knows that most mental fatigue                     results from monotony, or from descending to a routine task                     after one of great interest requiring intense thought. He                     knows that there is so close relationship between the body                     and the mind that the language of one is readily translated                     into that of the other; that muscular aches and pains may                     be caused by mental perturbations. And, as Satan moralizes                     in Milton&#8217;s <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>: &#8220;The mind&#8230;in itself                     can make a Heaven of Hell, Hell of Heaven.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Health Requires Rest<\/h3>\n<p>The high price paid by so many men for what they get out                     of life need not be exacted at all. They are not realists.                     Persons who complain of &#8220;pressure&#8221; of modern life, but neglect                     ordinary health precautions; people who bewail the loss of                     their youthful vigour without finding compensating factors:                     these are intellectually immature.<\/p>\n<p>The layman cannot be sure of his physical perfection, no                     matter how well he feels. He needs to co-operate with                     a competent and understanding physician, to listen to his                     advice &#8211; and follow it.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t delude yourself. Next worse thing to not giving                     a physician a chance periodically to keep you in tip-top                     shape is to satisfy your nagging conscience by doing it half-heartedly.                     A superficial, incomplete, or hurried examination is to be                     unqualifiedly condemned. The false security it builds is disastrous                     self-cheating.<\/p>\n<p>Likely the doctor will say you need more rest, and however                     you may pooh-pooh it, the chances are 100-to-one                     that he is right. Most of us do not quit until we have gone                     beyond the point of normal fatigue and have even exhausted                     our capacity for &#8220;running on our nerve.&#8221; We borrow against                     our capital reserves. We put up as collateral such temporary                     aids as emotional goads, coffee, alcohol and &#8220;the demands                     of life.&#8221; The only way to get out of the red is by rest.<\/p>\n<p>To many persons, time taken out for rest seems a total loss                     instead of an investment. Adults, like children, can find                     many excuses for not going to bed, regardless of consequences.                     The man who is determined on managing his mind for the good                     of his mental and physical health will take this situation                     in hand Strangely enough, nine out of ten such men will find                     that they get more things done per day on the average, and                     better done.<\/p>\n<p>Not only time in bed is to be counted as resting. Short                     periods of relaxation spaced throughout the day result in                     far less fatigue for the total work accomplished than when                     one attempts to carry on in a long stretch. One may relax                     when walking along the street, by flexing his muscles and                     diverting his mind to things around him. One man we know seizes                     the opportunities given him by red traffic lights to settle                     back in his car momentarily and relax. That kind of intelligent                     treatment of oneself is efficiency; the most inefficient way                     of handling tiredness and pressure is to take stimulants or                     drugs.<\/p>\n<h3>Relaxation Rebuilds Energy<\/h3>\n<p>Rest, meaning both sleep and through-the-day relaxation,                     is the most generally prescribed remedy for many ills. Sir                     William Osier, the one hundredth anniversary of whose birth                     was celebrated on a worldwide scale in July, wrote in 1910:                     &#8220;the ordinary high-pressure business or professional                     man suffering from angina pectoris may find relief, or even                     cure, in the simple process of slowing the engines.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We do not intend to go deeply into the matter of diet. There                     are many ready-made diets published; every man is alone                     in both his desires and the capability of his body to assimilate                     food, and, anyhow, every man&#8217;s wife has ideas on the subject.                     It would, nevertheless, be the act of a wise man to ask his                     physician about the quantity, kind and frequency of meals                     that would be best for a man doing his kind of work.<\/p>\n<p>The only point we do wish to make emphatically is that enough                     time should be taken for a leisurely lunch, divorced from                     business, whether one eats heartily or prefers a slim mid-day                     meal. Many a business man in the financial districts of Toronto,                     Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver talks his way through lunch                     and then drives himself to the end of the afternoon on nervous                     energy alone.<\/p>\n<p>Relaxing at lunch may have its counterpart throughout the                     business day. Between appointments, while one visitor is being                     shown out and another is coming in, why not sit back with                     closed eyes and released muscles? While dictating, why not                     put your feet up on a stool or chair? If you have a mid-morning                     orange juice and an afternoon cup of tea, don&#8217;t gulp them                     at your desk between snatches of reading bad news about production                     or a sizzling letter from a customer: stand up at the window                     and relax muscles, eyes, and mind. This ability to relax is                     one of the surest symptoms of health.<\/p>\n<p>But there is more to it. Relaxation is good for the mind                     and body: it is also a sign that one has an adequate philosophy                     of life. The man who can alternate work and relaxation shows                     that he recognizes two worlds: the world as it is and the                     world he is working toward. His balance demonstrates itself                     in his handling of particular situations and in his long-range                     view.<\/p>\n<p>Recreation and vacation are important, of course. As John                     Wanamaker once said: &#8220;People who cannot find time for recreation                     are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.&#8221; Every                     business man knows the &#8220;stale&#8221; feeling that comes after a                     prolonged period of high pressure routine work.<\/p>\n<p>More vacations are needed. Dr. Edgar V. Allen, of the Mayo                     Clinic, told a group of executives: &#8220;If one could calculate                     the efficiency of an executive in terms of total contribution                     to an industry, one would probably find that, within certain                     limits, his contribution increased in proportion to his vacations.&#8221;                     Another authority wrote: &#8220;For an executive, two or three weeks                     off in the summer is not a vacation at all; it is simply a                     reprieve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Make Home a Castle<\/h3>\n<p>Most effective year-round release from rush and tension                     is in the home. That is, if the sanctity of the home as a                     man&#8217;s castle and personal retreat is preserved. When you can                     look forward to spending the evening in your peaceful family                     circle, with the drawbridge up, it gives a glow and a more                     intense vitality to your whole day.<\/p>\n<p>Every man, but particularly, the man who is conscious of                     the pressure of business life, will find it a life-saver                     to build a schedule of privacy and stick to it at all costs.                     It may appear eccentric to more boisterous friends, but it                     will become, in a short time, a badge of wisdom and distinction.                     In addition, you will find that this is something you have                     always wanted to do.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever way of betterment is adopted, the man who awakens                     to the senselessness of going round and round will leap off                     the conveyor belt every once in a while and walk slowly while                     it whizzes past him.<\/p>\n<p>The death toll among business executives is unwarranted.                     More persons die every year of heart and arterial diseases                     than of any other. Death rates among policyholders reported                     in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company <em>Statistical                     Bulletin <\/em>show that of 669 deaths per 100,000 from all                     causes up to the end of June this year, 322 were from heart                     and arterial diseases.<\/p>\n<p>A business man showed us recently a list of deaths, early                     retirements, and extended leaves of members of his staff.                     More than 70 per cent of them were victims of heart diseases                     &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; and there is no doubt that most common                     among the causes would be over-strain.<\/p>\n<p>Too many business men have been tricked into believing that                     they are obliged always to work harder and longer than their                     subordinates, to push harder than their competitors. Their                     typical day may be described as a mixture of chaos and struggle.                     We have been too long resigned to the idea that somehow this                     is inevitable, a preordained purgatory for business leaders.<\/p>\n<h3>Shuffle Off Tasks<\/h3>\n<p>In keeping his balance amid the turmoil of business life,                     a man must shuttle off all the tasks that do not require his                     personal genius, and keep his mind free for the decisions                     that matter. It is necessary that some of the business be                     left to take its course under the hands of subordinates, that                     report-reading be reduced to the essential minimum; that                     long-drawn-out meetings be ruthlessly cut off; that                     routine be left to others. Such a life need not remain just                     a dream. In fact, it must not, if you are to keep your mental                     health and maintain your efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>Probably 75 per cent of the things a key executive does                     could be done by subordinates. Secretaries can write routine                     letters; after the amenities are satisfied, telephone calls                     can be referred to heads of departments for detailed attention;                     your own letters and conversation can be cut to the bone;                     reports you have to read should be brief.<\/p>\n<p>Let us look at some examples from Churchill&#8217;s management                     of the war. He demanded compression of information into the                     shortest space. One of his favourite expressions was: &#8220;It                     would be a great comfort if this could be compressed on one                     or two sheets of paper.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This demand was not confined to trivial things. On one occasion                     he asked for the latest ideas for the structure and organization                     of an armoured division, and added: &#8220;This should be prepared                     on one sheet of paper: showing all the principal elements                     and accessories.&#8217;, Another request, to be answered on one                     sheet, was for information about arrangements for Channel                     convoys &#8220;now that the Germans are all along the French coast.&#8221;                     Still another demanded a statement about tanks: how many with                     the army, how many of each kind made each month, how many                     on hand, the forecasts of production, the plans for heavier                     tanks &#8211; all of this on one page.<\/p>\n<p>Most business men have acquiesced in the custom of reading                     lengthy reports, instead of insisting, as Churchill did, upon                     having the work of analysing, selecting and digesting done                     by a subordinate.<\/p>\n<p>The idea will naturally suggest itself: If Churchill, responsible                     for all the Empire&#8217;s war effort, could get a satisfactory                     report on one page each of the state of Britain&#8217;s food supply,                     submarine losses, the crisis caused by Eire&#8217;s refusal to permit                     use of southern Irish ports, the state of defence after Dunkirk,                     and a host of equally big issues: if Churchill could get adequate                     reports on one page each, what business executive could not                     with advantage make similar demands of his staff? And what                     subordinate would not profit by learning to do it?<\/p>\n<p>Besides cutting down the demands upon his time and energy                     within his own organization, a man needs to guard against                     encroachments from outside. One of the most dangerous occupational                     hazards to which business executives are exposed is the invitation                     to serve on boards of professional, industrial or community                     groups. This is not because these are not good and worthy                     activities, but because the executive, like others of mankind,                     has only 24 hours a day in his life, and a limited number                     of years to live.<\/p>\n<h3>Time for Meditation<\/h3>\n<p>The advice given his class by a professor: &#8220;Strenuosity                     is not always efficiency&#8221; could be taken with advantage by                     every person in the business world today. Industry and commerce                     will benefit more by having men who work at a steady pace                     than by having a stable of sprinting gazelles who tire easily.                     An even pace, rather than spurts, makes the best use of energy                     and intellect.<\/p>\n<p>By slowing down the pace of business-living we gain                     more than physical and mental health &#8211; more, even, than efficiency.                     Caught up as we are in the rush of life, we have forgotten                     in part how to live. We have forgotten how to find simple                     things charming. The act of taking a walk at night under the                     stars does something to you that not all the successful business                     deals, nor all the pick-me-up nostrums can provide.                     Joy in sunlight, birds and flowers is not for poets only,                     but also for business men.<\/p>\n<p>Meditation is one of the great needs of the age. Meditation                     brings life, its relationships and its purposes, its objectives                     and its rewards, into sharp focus. It is a sure aid for frazzled                     nerves. It is, too, a practical tool for living. The man who                     was trapped by a landslide and had five minutes breathing                     space in which to save himself practised it: he spent three                     of the minutes thinking a way out, and two minutes taking                     it.<\/p>\n<h3>Getting Off the Speedway<\/h3>\n<p>Everything mentioned as an antidote for the present mad                     pace of life calls for a facing of facts regarding ourselves,                     our jobs, and our future. It is said that there were some                     who refused to look through Galileo&#8217;s telescope for fear that                     he was speaking the truth. Nothing is easier than to hypnotize                     ourselves with the idea that the present way is the accustomed                     way and therefore right. On the other hand, nothing would                     be better for us than to ask about even the most casual and                     usual action: &#8220;is there any other way of doing this?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The big thing is to get down to acknowledging that there                     is a problem, then to decide to do something about it; then                     to do it. One chain-store executive, worn out by pacing                     the floor mumbling to himself, schooled himself to a system.                     He sat down with pencil and paper, listed arguments for and                     against the question before him, put it away overnight, and                     made his decision after a glance over the two columns in the                     morning.<\/p>\n<p>Another man goes even farther. He writes out five descriptions                     of a situation as he imagines five quite different people                     would see it. There is no worry and no pressure attached to                     <em>his <\/em>decisions. He sees the problem in all its aspects,                     and sees the results of various solutions from five points                     of view.<\/p>\n<p>People who are on the rush all day every day and far into                     the night are not living fully. The true life of man does                     not consist in reckless surrender to forces he cannot explain,                     which is a just and fair description of the rush complex that                     has us in its grip. Life at its best should be an harmonious                     adjustment of necessity and desire, of what must be done and                     what we should like to do. It would be, as Carlyle said in                     writing about Goethe, &#8220;the calm supremacy of the spirit over                     its circumstances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These are abnormal days. We must meet them with firmness,                     admitting our susceptibility to injurious influences and doing                     what we can to get rid of physical and emotional strain. We                     should try, in our own way, to change the world for the better,                     without worrying because it doesn&#8217;t change faster. We need                     to learn to overcome what troubles can be surmounted, and                     adapt ourselves to those that are as yet incurable.<\/p>\n<p>We need to be honest realists. This means admitting limitations                     of physical and mental strength and keeping within those limits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[29],"class_list":["post-4122","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-29"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>September 1949 - Vol. 30, No. 9 - Let&#039;s Slow Down - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1949-vol-30-no-9-lets-slow-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"September 1949 - Vol. 30, No. 9 - Let&#039;s Slow Down - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Dale Carnegie wrote his latest book he started out by saying its purpose was not to tell something new, but to remind you of what you already know and to kick you in the shins and inspire you to do something about applying it. 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