dly, but one did spend it; one did do something with
it, however ill-advised that something may have been. To do something
else means a change of habits.

And habits are the very dickens to change! Further, any change, even a
change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and
discomforts. If you imagine that you will be able to devote seven
hours and a half a week to serious, continuous effort, and still live
your old life, you are mistaken. I repeat that some sacrifice, and an
immense deal of volition, will be necessary. And it is because I know
the difficulty, it is because I know the almost disastrous effect of
failure in such an enterprise, that I earnestly advise a very humble
beginning. You must safeguard your self-respect. Self-respect is at the
root of all purposefulness, and a failure in an enterprise deliberately
planned deals a desperate wound at one's self-respect. Hence I iterate
and reiterate: Start quietly, unostentatiously.

When you have conscientiously given seven hours and a half a week to
the cultivation of your vitality for three months--then you may begin
to sing louder and tell yourself what wondrous things you are capable
of doing.

Before coming to the method of using the indicated hours, I have one
final suggestion to make. That is, as regards the evenings, to allow
much more than an hour and a half in which to do the work of an hour
and a half. Remember the chance of accidents. Remember human nature.
And give yourself, say, from 9 to 11.30 for your task of ninety minutes.

VII

CONTROLLING THE MIND

People say: "One can't help one's thoughts." But one can. The
control of the thinking machine is perfectly possible. And since
nothing whatever happens to us outside our own brain; since nothing
hurts us or gives us pleasure except within the brain, the supreme
importance of being able to control what goes on in that mysterious
brain is patent. This idea is one of the oldest platitudes, but it is
a platitude whose profound truth and urgency most people live and die
without realising. People complain of the lack of power to
concentrate, not witting that they may acquire the power, if they
choose.

And without the power to concentrate--that is to say, without the power
to dictate to the brain its task and to ensure obedience--true life is
impossible. Mind control is the first element of a full existence.

Hence, it seems to me, the first business of the day sho