of the waste of days, half an hour at least on six mornings a week,
and one hour and a half on three evenings a week. Total, seven
hours and a half a week.

I propose to be content with that seven hours and a half for the
present. "What?" you cry. "You pretend to show us how to live, and
you only deal with seven hours and a half out of a hundred and
sixty-eight! Are you going to perform a miracle with your seven
hours and a half?" Well, not to mince the matter, I am--if you will
kindly let me! That is to say, I am going to ask you to attempt an
experience which, while perfectly natural and explicable, has all
the air of a miracle. My contention is that the full use of those
seven-and-a-half hours will quicken the whole life of the week, add
zest to it, and increase the interest which you feel in even the
most banal occupations. You practise physical exercises for a mere
ten minutes morning and evening, and yet you are not astonished when
your physical health and strength are beneficially affected every
hour of the day, and your whole physical outlook changed. Why
should you be astonished that an average of over an hour a day given
to the mind should permanently and completely enliven the whole
activity of the mind?

More time might assuredly be given to the cultivation of one's self.
And in proportion as the time was longer the results would be
greater. But I prefer to begin with what looks like a trifling
effort.

It is not really a trifling effort, as those will discover who have
yet to essay it. To "clear" even seven hours and a half from the
jungle is passably difficult. For some sacrifice has to be made.