Finally，Mr.Howell persuaded the board of directors to take up one problem at a time and come to a decision.No procrastination—no putting off.The decision might be to ask for additional facts；it might be to do something or do nothing.But a decision was reached on each problem before passing on to the next.Mr.Howell told me that the results were striking and salutary：the docket was cleared.The calendar was clean.No longer was it necessary for each member to carry home a bundle of reports.No longer was there a worried sense of unresolved problems.
A good rule，not only for the board of directors of U.S.Steel，but for you and me.
Good Working Habit No.4：Learn to Organise，Deputise，and Supervise.
Many a business man is driving himself to a premature grave because he has never learned to delegate responsibility to others，insists on doing everything himself.Result：details and confusion overwhelm him.He is driven by a sense of hurry，worry，anxiety，and tension.It is hard to learn to delegate responsibilities.I know.It was hard for me，awfully hard.I also know from experience the disasters that can be caused by delegating authority to the wrong people.But difficult as it is to delegate authority，the executive must do it if he is to avoid worry，tension，and fatigue.
The man who builds up a big business，and doesn’t learn to organise，deputise，and supervise，usually pops off with heart trouble in his fifties or early sixties—heart trouble caused by tension and worries.Want a specific instance？Look at the death notices in your local paper.
Chapter 56
How To Banish the Boredom That Produces Fatigue，Worry，and Resentment
One of the chief causes of fatigue is boredom.let’s take the case of Alice，a stenographer who lives on your street.Alice came home one night utterly exhausted.She acted fatigued.She was fatigued.She had a headache.She had a backache.She was so exhausted she wanted to go to bed without waiting for dinner.Her mother pleaded....She sat down at the table.The telephone rang.The boy friend！An invitation to a dance！Her eyes sparkled.Her spirits soared.She rushed upstairs，put on her Alice—blue gown，and danced until three o’clock in the morning；and when she finally did get home，she was not the slightest bit exhausted.She was，in fact，so exhilarated she couldn’t fall asleep.
Was Alice really and honestly tired eight hours earlier，when she looked and acted exhausted？Sure she was.She was exhausted because she was bored with her work，perhaps bored with life.There are millions of Alices.You may be one of them.
It is a well-known fact that your emotional attitude usually has far more to do with producing fatigue than has physical exertion.A few years ago，Joseph E.Barmack，Ph.D.，published in the Archives of Psychology a report of some of his experiments showing how boredom produces fatigue.Dr.Barmack put a group of students through a series of tests in which，he knew，they could have little interest.The result？The students felt tired and sleepy，complained of headaches and eyestrain，felt irritable.In some cases，even their stomachs were upset.Was it all “imagination”？
No.Metabolism tests were taken of these students.These tests showed that the blood pressure of the body and the consumption of oxygen actually decrease when a person is bored，and that the whole metabolism picks up immediately as soon as he begins to feel interest and pleasure in his work！
We rarely get tired when we are doing something interesting and exciting.For example，I recently took a vacation in the Canadian Rockies up around Lake Louise.I spent several days trout fishing along Corral Creek，fighting my way through brush higher than my head，stumbling over logs，struggling through fallen timber—yet after eight hours of this，I was not exhausted.Why？Because I was excited，exhilarated.I had a sense of high achievement：six cut-throat trout.But suppose I had been bored by fishing，then how do you think I would have felt？I would have been worn out by such strenuous work at an altitude of seven thousand feet.
Even in such exhausting activities as mountain climbing，boredom may tire you far more than the strenuous work involved.For example，Mr.S.H.Kingman，president of the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank of Minneapolis，told me of an incident that is a perfect illustration of that statement.In July，1943，the Canadian government asked the Canadian Alpine Club to furnish guides to train the members of the Prince of Wales Rangers in mountain climbing.Mr.Kingman was one of the guides chosen to train these soldiers.He told me how he and the other guides—men ranging from forty-two to fifty-nine years of age—took these young army men on long hikes across glaciers and snow fields and up a sheer cliff of forty feet，where they had to climb with ropes and tiny foot-holds and precarious hand-holds.They climbed Michael’s Peak，the Vice-President Peak，and other unnamed peaks in the Little Yoho Valley in the Canadian Rockies.After fifteen hours of mountain climbing，these young men，whowere in the pink of condition （they had just finished a six-week course in tough Commando training），were utterly exhausted.
Was their fatigue caused by using muscles that had not been hardened by Commando training？Any man who had ever been through Commando training would hoot at such a ridiculous question！No，they were utterly exhausted because they were bored by mountain climbing.They were so tarred，that many of them fell asleep without waiting to eat.But the guides—men who were two and three times as old as the soldiers—were they tired？Yes，but not exhausted.The guides ate dinner and stayed up for hours，talking about the day’s experiences.They were not exhausted because they were interested.
