[Sidenote: _Mental Friction and Inner Whirlwinds_]

_Stop wasting your energy._

Heretofore you have used your powers in a more or less haphazard way,
with a vast amount of waste and no efficient direction. From now on
you are to exercise more intelligence in this respect and make all
your energies contribute to your business progress and your personal
success.

You are losing power in fruitless outward activities.

You are losing power in the thinking of useless thoughts. You cannot
stop the ceaseless activity of the mind. But you can conserve its
forces by directing them into channels that are worth while.

You are losing power in a turmoil of inward mental strains and
inharmonies. Catch yourself at some moment when you are forging ahead
in a crowded day's work. You will then see what an inner whirlwind of
excitement is in progress, what stresses and strains are at work, what
contrary impulses, what frictions and obstacles are being overcome.

Now, to the engineer every one of these words--friction, obstacle,
strain--spells loss of efficiency, and in this _Course_ we shall teach
you how you may do away with antagonistic impulses, may bring your
combined mental forces to bear upon the common enemy, and may hurl
yourself into the struggles of business and practical life with a
joyful and headlong impetuosity that no obstacle can withstand.