Indolence and Lack of Order.
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More young men are hindered from arriving at positions of honor and eminent usefulness, by indolence and lack of order, than from any other causes. Nothing great is ever achieved, except by industry and earnest application, combined with an orderly arrangement of all the means necessary to the accomplishment of the object in view. From this may be clearly seen the importance of habits of industry and order. Without them, little can be done; with them, almost everything.
An active and energetic mind may achieve much, even where there is great lack of order; but indolence chains a man down, and keeps him fast in one position; it is, therefore, the most serious defect of the two, and should be striven against with unwearying perseverance.
the force of an adequate purpose. A man's love is his life; and here we see its illustration. The very life's love of the Indian is war and the chase. In the pursuit of them, every energy of body and mind is brought into activity. But when the tomahawk is buried, or he comes home from his hunting-grounds, he sinks into apparent imbecility
Activity is the result of some end or affection of the mind. Where no purpose is in the mind, there is indolence; but when there is an end in view of sufficient importance, all the powers of the mind come into spontaneous activity. Now, will any young man say that there are not objects for him to attain of sufficient importance to awaken him from his habits of indolence, no matter how much he has confirmed himself in them? We know there is not one who does not, at times, feel the necessity of concentrating every energy he possesses upon the accomplishment of some end; but the evil is, the thoughts are not kept steadily fixed upon the end, but are allowed to wander off to sport with unimportant things, or to retire in mere idle musings — and then comes indolence; for if there is no purpose — there will be no activity.
The first thing to be done, in the correction of this bad habit, is deliberately to resolve upon doing something that will require effort, and that a prolonged one. Let the object in view be worth attaining, and let there be an end in the mind beyond its mere attainment — an end of use. If the end is not one of some importance, there will be danger of its not inspiring the mind to an energetic continuance of its efforts.
In determining the object of pursuit, a good question for anyone to ask of himself is, "In what am I deficient?" There will be answers enough to this question to awaken up all a man's energies, and keep them awake for some time. The next question ought to be, "What will it be most useful for me first to do?" When this question is determined, then let the individual determining it resolve that he will pursue the study — for it ought to be the study of something that will give the mind new abilities to act, either in or out of the life-calling in which he may be engaged with diligence, until he has acquired all that is necessary for the attainment of the end in view. And let him also resolve, that he will fight against all his natural habits of indolence and indisposition to effort, that have too long hindered his progress. And let him not only make these resolutions, but let him keep them faithfully, as he values his highest and best interests.
Most of us sleep too much. From six and a half to seven hours sleep in a day, are said by physicians to be all that a healthy man requires. Not more than ten or twelve hours are taken up in business, nor should be. Properly-directed effort will do as much in that time as it could possibly do if more hours were consumed in business; for the mind, over-wearied, day after day, in bending itself in one direction, will lose its ability for making right efforts. In every twenty-four hours, therefore, there are from five to six or seven hours, which every man is under obligation to both society and himself to turn to some good account. He is insane if he spends it in mere slothfulness and pleasure-taking.
In rightly improving this time, every young man, who is earnestly seeking to unfold the native energies of his mind by giving it the food which God designed that it should receive, will soon discover, that, after a night's repose, his mind is clearer and more vigorous than after a day spent in labor, and, perhaps, anxiety; and he will naturally seek to give as much time for study in the morning as possible. Early rising, will bring to him a twofold benefit; it will strengthen both mind and body.
To a young man who has acquired the habit of indulging himself in morning slothfulness, it will be something of a trial to rise at five o'clock, in both winter and summer; but the self-denial practiced in doing this will be so fully repaid, in a little while, that we are sure no one, who has wakened up the responsibility of his position, and the incalculable benefits which must result from efforts such as he is making, will sink down again into disgraceful indolence. It is no hardship to rise early; it only requires an effort at first; and when one is fairly awake, and begins to drink in the pure morning air, and to feel a refreshing sense of new life and vigor, he is glad that he is not lost in dullness or leaden insensibility. Theheavy torpor that we find so hard to overcome in the morning, and which we rest in as a pleasant sensation, is misery compared to the sense of life which runs through every nerve of body and mind, after pure cold water has touched the face, and the lungs have expanded with the fresh and vigorous morning air.
But not only in the morning, but at all times, should we strive against this feeling of indolence. Every man has it; but only those whose purposes are strong enough to enable them to overcome it, rise to any eminence in the world. The demands of nature keep others at work at their daily tasks. Enough earned to satisfy these, and the mind and body sink again into inaction. In all, there is an almost unconquerable reluctance to effort of any kind. We are oppressed by an inertia that it requires some force to overcome. But we must exercise this force, and do it daily; and we shall find the task more and more easily accomplished, until diligence and effort become to us almost a second nature.
Next to indolence, with which all are more or less affected — comes lack of order, which in some is a constitutional defect, and in others the result of education — or, more correctly speaking, lack of education. Some children are never taught the importance of order; and, as very few have naturally a love of order, nearly all who are thus neglected are very deficient in this respect when they become men. But it is never too late to correct this bad habit; and the quicker a young man begins to do so, the better.
Let him commence by having in his own room, for instance, a place for everything, and by being careful to have everything in its place. If a clerk, the same order should be observed at his desk. First, there should be a system established, by which to arrange all his books and papers in the best way for access and reference, and then, when a book has been used, or a paper referred to, it should invariably be returned to its proper place, before anything else is done. The same rule, of a place for everything — and everything in its place, should be observed by all, in every calling.
The most fruitful source of disorder lies in the habit most people have of laying a thing down in the first place that presents itself, after using it, instead of restoring it to where it properly belongs. It seems to many, when in a hurry, a waste of time to carefully return a thing to the place from which they have taken it, instead of throwing it down anywhere; but this is a great mistake; the very reverse is the truth.
If in all the little matters of daily business or domestic arrangement, a system of order is observed, it will become so impressed upon the mind as to show itself in things of more importance. From adopting in things of lesser importance, an orderly arrangement, a man will naturally pursue an orderly arrangement in all his more important affairs, and thus insure success, which would otherwise have been extremely doubtful.
As nothing great can be accomplished without industry and an earnest purpose, so nothing great can be accomplished without order. The one is indispensable to the other, and they go hand in hand, as co-workers, in man's success.
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