--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Gates, Susa Young collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 11 published: 1905-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Susa Young Gates, "Do It Now—But How?," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 11 (September 1905): 841–846.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0811unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0811unse start_page: 841 end_page: 846 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0811unse publication_year: 1905 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Do It Now—But How? DO IT NOW.-BUT HOW? BY SUSA YOUNG GATES. We sometimes see, over an office desk, the legend, "Do it now!" And instinctively we hurry up our talk or business with the busv individual we have interrupted, and hasten away, some- what dizzy and faint from our interview with the human buzz-saw we have just left. Americans are rushing and tearing, and running and plunging all over their own land, and in every other country on the globe. They take little time to eat or sleep, and as for such a thing as quiet contemplation, they know of it only .as a dreary adjunct to various slow people in other nations. Magazines are published to key up every individual who reads them into the highest pitch of the so-called strenuous life. To succeed we must rush, pound and tear. This might be all right, if it were not for two things: first, such impetuosity wears rapidly on the human machine; and, sec- ond, there is no corresponding results from the over- zealous ener- gy put forth. The steady-going European, and even the Oriental, "gets there" just as efficaciously and promptly as does the scurry- ing American. There is one phase of this broad and many-sided subject that appeals directly to every woman, and that is, the necessity for concentration of energy. Nature works along the line of least resistance. She also conserves her energy, so that when an occa- sional burst of force is required, there is plenty of reserve power to draw upon. The young man and woman of today, copying and even sur- passing the bad examples of their parent3 and teachers, are living 842 IMPROVEMENT ERA. up to the highest pressure possible for the body and mind to put forth. Such a course is necessarily dangerous, even suicidal. And yet, cries out the youth, what can be done? How can I avoid it? The answer lies in a simple rule, observe nature, follow nature. Not perverted nature, but wholesome, sweet, unhurrying nature. Nature, who is never idle, never over-crowded, always quietly, methodically at work, even when she rests. For rest of one part of nature is but a sign of increased activity in some other part. To return for one restful moment to other nations, it is a delight to travel in Europe where the slow bus crawls along the crowded but not scurrying streets; so comfortably slow is it that even a woman may get out or in without serious danger, as it trundles along. Europeans live with their thoughts, not with their nerves. It is not the purpose of this screed to decry activity, indus- try and progressiveness; it is rather to ask of nature how best that activity and industry may be used. First, then, let us lay down two propositions: Every human soul has its physical,!mental and spiritual limita- tions. Second, in order to develop nature's gifts and powers to the highest point, the individual must choose nature's way, and work along the line of least resistance. Granting, then, that all persons have their limitations, that is, they can do so much and no more, it must also be remembered that the limitations of the mental and physical powers can be in- creased or decreased up to a certain point. But even then, there remain such inflexible limits as time, space and human capacity. Wise is the young man and woman who recognizes early that they have just so many hours in a day, and just so much vital capital, or bodily strength, in their physical or mental bank with which to fill that day. As to what the youth will do with this time and this strength, we do not inquire. But how properly to adjust his time, to ap- portion his strength, this let us consider. In other words, it is not intended to inquire whether a youth studies or works, teaches, writes, washes dishes, makes dresses, plows, builds, talks or thinks; DO IT NO W.—B UT HO W? 843 but how he does these things — the method in which his life's work is done, this is our present concern. It is easy to talk to most men about method in work; for society has, in its own defense, established well defined rules and regulations for the conduct of business life. Men go to the farm, to the shop, and to the office, at quite regular hours; they necessarily eat at quite regular hours. If it were not so, all social and business life would be in chaos, and confusion would stop the wheels of life and its activities. So that men usually live more or less under the rule of method and of a well defined busi- ness system. But even they do not appreciate half the value of this which we call method. — While women alas, women, are driven to sheer distraction by their endeavor to essay every possible mental and physical thing in the interim of meals and bed time. The development of the strenuous life, and the sudden evolution of women from a prisoner in the home to a wild, free bird of passage, have reduced her to a nervous and physical wreck. It would not be wise nor just to advise men to give up their extreme modern activity, nor to tell women to go back into the home and not to come forth again into any public labor; but there are some things all may learn, and do, to better this seemingly helpless and hopeless condition. It is nonsense to tell a person not to fret, if he is surrounded by circumstances over which he has never exercised the least con- trol. No one thing so conduces to that most desirable condition of self -poise, as order in life, system in business, and method in work. My dear old Yankee grandmother used to tell of people who were tired to death at night, and they had done nothing all day but jump up and down in a bucket and "holler." Most people are more often "tired to death" because of the unusual cares, the unusual worries, than because of any amount of regular heavy work. A man would want to drop with weariness if he attempted to carry a thirty pound baby a block, but his slender, delicate wife can lift and tug that baby twenty hours out of the twenty-four. She began the lifting process when the baby was an infant. If 844 IMPROVEMENT ERA. we begin with our burden or work, when it is small, and go stead- the amount we can do or ily and regularly forward, it is amazing carry, in the end. It is the one who never knows what his day's work will be, where it will begin nor where it will end, who breaks down quick- est. Likewise the one who has little or nothing to do, naturally loses strength, force and energy. But if method is desirable, how acquire it? And what are its constituent parts? First and most important, method rests on the deep, broad foundation of habit. If a person rise at six every morning, it soon is the easiest thing in the world to awaken and arise at that hour. But if ris- ing is a matter of chance and irregularity,it requires alarm clocks to rouse one at six. The modern housekeeper suffers the most severely from the modern mode of life. The style and food of princes, in old days, is demanded of the modern, work-a-day woman of today, if she hopes to keep anywhere within calling distance of the "swim" and the "club." Her grandmother, good soul, troubled her head very little with the menu for her daily meals, for they were all alike. Monday saw Sunday's food warmed over, Tuesday was the day for fowl, Wednesday's ironing cooked the boiled dinner, Thursday brought mutton, Friday, fish, and Saturday, baked beans. If housekeepers knew the value of having a regular diet, changed regularly, served regularly, and all committed to habit, then women would soon get time and strength for mental pursuit and wider culture. The sub-consciousness of the brain takes charge of an act that becomes habitual, and the weary nerves need trouble with that detail no longer. The business man at his desk, whose work has been laid out in a routine, receives the least possible jar to his nerves or strength through his daily regular task. No matter how heavy it may be, he works along the line of least resistance. The youth who begins life on the farm or in the shop will find he has a-third more time, and two-thirds more strength, at the end of a week, if he has carefully arranged his work to fall into a DO IT NOW—BUT HOW? 845 system; not planning one day's work at a time, but one week's work, a year's work, carefully laid out ahead, and arranged so that it .is methodical, modifying and varying his work slightly as time or circumstances may require, but adhering steadily to a routine. Working with hoe or with hammer, at certain hours; rising, retiring and eating, regularly. Then, too, setting aside his rare spare time in the evenings to certain duties, studies, and pleasures; he will have to force himself to do this, at first, but later, it will come easy and without friction to nerves or brain. Young people at school, and later in offices, usually have their time well planned for them; and this is excellent life-disci- pline. But girls at home, boys on the farm, and on ranches, all these must exert a noble effort to put method into their lives. No one is too old to learn, to change habits, nor to drop faults. No matter what psychologists say, experience has proved that age is a limit which every individual fixes or moves forward or backward to suit himself. The man who talks and thinks of age, disease, or weakness, is opening wide the door of his soul, and inviting that disability to take up its abode within. The man with a fluctuating business, with varied public duties, is more apt to become a prey to disorderly habits in business than the day laborer. All the more need for him to exercise his intel- ligence in bringing order out of chaos. The young mother in the home cannot hope to carrv forward her increasing duties and obligations, unless she has a certain time and place wherein to attend to each daily duty. She should take certain hours for certain labor, and allow no encroachment from one duty into an- other, except in cases of accident or sickness. The brain enjoys regular habits, just as the stomach does; it will do its best work if allowed to work without hurry, worry or confusion. And, more, the brain without conscious effort will carefully store away into its own proper pigeonhole the thoughts and impressions belonging to certain times and duties, and with the aid of that wonderful sentinel, Association of Ideas, will call out, at the right moment, the very ideas and fancies belonging to certain duties, certain periods and certain emotions. The person who once forms a habit of thinking upon certain 846 IMPROVEMENT ERA. duties at certain hours of the day, soon acquires the habit of thinking upon that subject only at that particular hour; and if some new idea is suggested on that especial theme or duty, at an inopportune time, such as at night or when absent from home, the brain can easily be directed to pigeonhole that thought in its proper place, the person thinking, "I will recall that tomorrow at the regular hour for that duty," and no more trouble or thought need be taken. Women — and sometimes men — spend much idle time in use- less talk and profitless chatter, especially during working hours. Such people say it rests them to so gossip. This is not so; brain, body, and nerves do not obtain rest in being idle, at inopportune or improper times. After a good day's work, both physical and mental strength is renewed by an hour's gay chatter. Indeed, if a girl or boy sets aside a certain hour in the middle of the day for rest or recreation, that time spent in bright or quiet talk with a friend, if even the talk be of no seeming consequence, yet will the result be good, because the conscience and nerves are not fretting their owner with the thought of time wasted. No amount of hard work so tires a poor woman as to feel that a whole day has been wasted or spent in profitless, useless, labor; while it really rests one to do a successful day's work. Friction and irritation come mostly from unexpected words, acts, and events. One good parson used to pray daily, "0, Lord, do thou bless my interruptions." This life is so full of sickness, accidents and sorrows, that no one can hope to Uvea quiet, orderly life, day in and day out. But if the hour, the day, or the week, be stolen from its regular place and regular duty, the brain will at once accept the situation, if it has been so trained, drop out that space of time, clean and whole, as it were from the scheme of life, and it will move all that hour's thoughts and emotions for- ward to the next recurring interval. Thus the body and nerves are left free and foot-loose to attend to the sudden call thrust upon them. Such a is not weakness, it is strength, breadth, and a life large repose. Emotions are more easily controlled, thoughts gov- erned, and words restrained, when life is a regularly recurring