or in offices for which they are qualified.



Unimportant Details.

We can neither regulate the complexity of our environment nor the
number of problems which we must settle within a given time.
But we can improve the conditions very much by avoiding
overconcentration on unimportant details. The brain's best time
and energy should be reserved for our own immediate problems; it
should not be hampered by details of others.

The various officers of an industrial organization should know the
ins and outs of the thinking machine on which they depend for
guidance. With such knowledge each brain will give the greatest
results, and without such knowledge the best brain may be
untrustworthy.

One of the important characteristics of the mind is its tendency
to lose sight of everything except the subject in mind. One danger
is dodged by jumping into another which we have not seen. Both
dangers were plainly in sight to any one who had not concentrated
on one of them.

In the regular every-day business life, we seem to have ample time
to consider each problem. But in reality our great length of time
is offset by a great number of elements to consider, and a more
profound effect of long continued teaching or molding of our
environment.