When Dr.Edward Thorndike of Columbia was conducting experiments in fatigue，he kept young men awake for almost a week by keeping them constantly interested.After much investigation，Dr.Thorndike is reported to have said：“Boredom is the only real cause of diminution of work.”
If you are a mental worker，it is seldom the amount of work you do that makes you tired.You may be tired by the amount of work you do not do.For example，remember the day last week when you were constantly interrupted.No letters answered.Appointments broken.Trouble here and there.Everything went wrong that day.You accomplished nothing whatever，yet you went home exhausted—and with a splitting head.
The next day everything clicked at the office.You accomplished forty times more than you did the previous day.Yet you went home fresh as a snowy-white gardenia.You have had that experience.So have I.
The lesson to be learned？Just this：our fatigue is often caused not by work，but by worry，frustration，and resentment.
While writing this chapter，I went to see a revival of JeromeKern’s delightful musical comedy，Show Boat.Captain Andy，captain of the Cotton Blossom，says，in one of his philosophical interludes：“The lucky folks are the ones that get to do the things they enjoy doing.”Such folks are lucky because they have more energy，more happiness，less worry，and less fatigue.Where your interests are，there is your energy also.Walking ten blocks with a nagging wife can be more fatiguing than walking ten miles with an adoring sweetheart.
And so what？What can you do about it？Well，here is what one stenographer did about it—a stenographer working for an oil company in Tulsa，Oklahoma.For several days each month，she had one of the dullest jobs imaginable：filling out printed forms for oil leases，inserting figures and statistics.This task was so boring that she resolved，in self-defence，to make it interesting.How？She had a daily contest with herself She counted the number of forms she filled out each morning，and then tried to excel that record in the afternoon.She counted each day’s total and tried to better it the next day.Result？She was soon able to fill out more of these dull printed forms than any other stenographer in her division.And what did all this get her？Praise？No....Thanks？No....Promotion？No....Increased pay？No....But it did help to prevent the fatigue that is spawned by boredom.It did give her a mental stimulant.Because she had done her best to make a dull job interesting，she had more energy，more zest，and got far more happiness out of her leisure hours.
I happen to know this story is true，because I married that girl.Here is the story of another stenographer who found it paid to act as if her work were interesting.She used to fight her work.But no more.Her name is Miss Vallie G.Golden，and she lives at 473South Kenilworth Avenue，Elmhurst，Illinois.Here is her story，asshe wrote it to me：
“There are four stenographers in my office and each of us is assigned to take letters from several men.Once in a while we get jammed up in these assignments；and one day，when an assistant department head insisted that I do a long letter over，I started to rebel.I tried to point out to him that the letter could be corrected without being retyped—and he retorted that if I didn’t do it over，he would find someone else who would！I was absolutely fuming！But as I started to retype this letter，it suddenly occurred to me that there were a lot of other people who would jump at the chance to do the work I was doing.Also，that I was being paid a salary to do just that work.I began to feel better.I suddenly made up my mind to do my work as if I actually enjoyed it—even though I despised it.Then I made this important discovery：if I do my work as if I really enjoy it，then I do enjoy it to some extent I also found I can work faster when I enjoy my work.So there is seldom any need now for me to work overtime.This new attitude of mine gained me the reputation of being a good worker.And when one of the department superintendents needed a private secretary，he asked for me for the job—because，he said，I was willing to do extra work without being sulky！This matter of the power of a changed mental attitude，”wrote Miss Golden，“has been a tremendously important discovery to me.It has worked wonders！”
Without perhaps being conscious of it.Miss Vallie Golden was using the famous “as if”philosophy.William James counseled us to act “as if”we were brave，and we would be brave；and to act “as if”we were happy，and we would be happy，and so on.
Act “as if”you were interested in your job，and that bit of acting will tend to make your interest real.It will also tend to decrease your fatigue，your tensions，and your worries.
Years ago，there was another young man who was bored with his dull job of standing at a lathe，turning out bolts in a factory.
His first name was Sam.Sam wanted to quit，but he was afraid he couldn’t find another job.Since he had to do this dull work，Sam decided he would make it interesting.So he ran a race with the mechanic operating a machine beside him.One of them was to trim off the rough surfaces on his machine，and the other was to trim the bolts down to the proper diameter.They would switch machines occasionally and see who could turn out the most bolts.The foreman，impressed with Sam’s speed and accuracy，soon gave him a better job.That was the start of a whole series of promotions.Thirty years later，Sam—Samuel Vauclain—was president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works.But he might have remained a mechanic all his life if he had not resolved to make a dull job interesting.
