Chapter 19 Section 2 Stay awake for an extra hour every day

The first rule of preventing fatigue and worry is to take frequent breaks and rest before you feel tired. Resting before you feel fatigued can add an extra hour to your waking hours each day. Any medical student in school will tell you that fatigue reduces the body's resistance to common illnesses and colds; and any psychotherapist will tell you that fatigue also reduces your resistance to worry and fear. resistance.So, preventing fatigue also prevents worry. Dr. Jacobson, director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the University of Chicago, has written two books on how to relax tension: "Eliminate Tension" and "You Must Relax Tension", and he has also conducted research on ways to relax tension For medical use.He believed that any kind of mental and emotional tension "is impossible to exist after complete relaxation".This means that if you can relax your tension, it will be impossible to continue worrying.

So, to prevent fatigue and worry, the first rule is: rest often, rest before you feel tired. This is important because fatigue builds up surprisingly quickly.During the Second World War, Churchill was over 60 years old, but he was able to work 16 hours a day. Where is his secret?He works in bed until 11 every morning, reading reports, dictating orders, making phone calls and even holding meetings in bed.After lunch he sleeps for another hour.At night, he was in bed for another two hours before dinner at 8 o'clock.He didn't want to eliminate fatigue, because he didn't have to eliminate it at all, he prevented it beforehand.Because he often rests, he can work energetically until after midnight.

John Rockefeller also created two amazing records: his property was second to none in the world at that time, and his life expectancy reached 98 years; how did he achieve these two points?The main reason is of course genetics.People in his family are very long-lived.Another reason is that he takes a half-hour nap in the office at noon every day. At this time, he does not answer even the calls from the President of the United States. In the book "Why You Fatigue", Daniel writes: "Rest is not absolutely doing nothing, rest is repairing." Taking a five-minute nap can also help prevent fatigue.

Conley Mack, the great baseball player, told me that if he didn't take a nap before every game, he would be exhausted by the fifth inning.However, if he takes a nap, even if he only sleeps for five minutes, he can complete the game without feeling tired at all. So did Horace Mann, the "father of modern education," in his later years.When he was the president of Antioch University, he used to lie on a couch and talk to students. I visited Henry Ford just before his 80th birthday.I really can't figure out why he looks so refreshed and healthy.I asked him what is the secret?He said: "I will never stand when I can sit down; I will never sit when I can lie down."

I once advised a film director in Hollywood to try something like this.Later, he told me that such methods can work wonders.I'm talking about Jack Chanak, one of the biggest directors in Hollywood.When he came to see me a few years ago, he was the manager of the short films department at MGM, and he said he was often tired and burned out.He tried everything, drinking mineral water, taking vitamins and other supplements, but nothing helped him at all.I suggested that he take a "vacation" every day.How to do it?It was when he was in a meeting with his subordinates in the office, lying down and relaxing.

Two years later, when I saw him again, he said: "A miracle happened, that's what my doctor said. In the past, every time I talked about short films with my subordinates, I always sat in a chair and was very nervous. Now every time I have a meeting, I lie on the couch in the office. I feel better now than I have in 20 years, I can work two hours more a day, and I feel less tired." So how do you use these methods?If you're a typist, you can't take a nap in the office every day like Edison or Sam Galwin; if you're an accountant, you can't lie on the couch and discuss with your boss problems with accounts.However, if you live in a small city and come home for lunch at noon every day, you can take a ten-minute nap after dinner.This is what General Marshall used to do.During World War II, he felt that commanding American troops was so busy that he had to rest at noon.

If you can't get a nap in the middle of the day.Then, at least lie down and rest for an hour before dinner, which is much cheaper than drinking a glass of wine before eating. After careful calculation, it is more than 5467 times more effective than drinking a glass of wine.If you can get an hour of sleep around 5 or 6 in the afternoon, or around 7, then you can add an hour of waking time to your life every day.why?Because that hour of sleep before dinner, plus the six hours of sleep at night—seven hours in total—will do you more good than eight hours straight. People who are engaged in physical labor can do more work every day if they have more rest time.Frederick Taylor proved this when he was a scientific management engineer at Bedham Steel.He once observed that each worker can load about 12 and a half tons of pig iron on the truck every day, and they are generally exhausted by noon.He made a scientific study on all the factors that cause fatigue, and believed that these workers should not only load 12 and a half tons of pig iron per day, but should load 47 tons per day.According to his calculations, they should be able to do 4 times their current performance without fatigue, they just have to prove it.

He selected a Mr. Schmidt from among the porters and asked him to work according to the prescribed time, and a special person commanded him with a watch: "Now lift a piece of pig iron and go... Now sit down and rest... Now go... ... rest now." As a result, other people can only move 12 and a half tons a day, but Schmidt can move 47 tons.For three years, his ability to work has never diminished, because he has time to rest before he gets tired: every hour he works about 26 minutes, he takes a break of 34 minutes.He spends more time resting than working, but his work performance is almost 4 times that of others!

Let me repeat, do it the way the US Army does - rest often, do it the way your heart works: rest before fatigue.This will give you an extra hour of waking time per day.