LETTERS by Harriet S. Maxson, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 29, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 34.

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LETTERS

By Harriet S. Maxson, M.D.

TO A

DAUGHTER

By Harriet S. Maxson, M.D.

The Possibilities of Spare Moments

MY DEAR DAUGHTER,—

I could but smile at your interpretation of my letter of ten days ago. Did you think I expected you to read the Bible, all that is written on practical nursing, the history of the world, and current literature, all in a day? No, no, dear; I only wish you to form the habit of well selected reading and study, and to know how to divide your time. I could almost hear your dear voice when I read, "But I haven't time for all this, mother;" somehow it sounded familiar.

Now, daughter, I want to have a little chat with you about this matter of time. "Time is the stuff life is made of," said Benjamin Franklin. It is so precious that God gave us only one little moment of it at once, and so sacred that we can have that moment but once. Our heavenly Father, in bestowing this gift of time, "is no respecter of persons." You and I have as much of it as any one who was ever born into this world.

How is it that some accomplish so much more than others? We are assured by those who understand life and its problems best, that the difference is not so much in the opportunities, or the individual endowments, as in the use of what we have. The right and wrong use of time makes all the difference of success and failure in life. You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must take it.

In order to get the most out of time, like money, it should be used according to a well thought out scheme. Divide the twenty-four hours into hours for sleep, work, recreation, and mental training, according to a plan that suits your judgment and circumstances. Then make things go that way. Having done this, you will need to pursue it with all the perseverance of which you are capable. By and by, the power of habit will come to your aid.

When you work, work. Put the whole mind and heart into it. Know nothing else. Do everything the very best. Distance everybody about you. All this is easy when the habit of conquering takes possession. It is wholesome in this connection to read what men have accomplished who have once learned the art of redeeming the time. Study the causes of the success of Benjamin Franklin, of Lincoln, of McKinley, of Sir Michael Faraday, of Agassiz, of Edison. Learn the might of minutes. "Every day is a little life, and our whole life is a day repeated. Those that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate."

Let us consider some of the ways in which this loss creeps into our lives, and I think you will begin to see a remedy for your "I have no time" disease.

First, you would be surprised if you could realize how many minutes slip past you in idle dreaming. These are moments worse than lost, for they are moments in which is fastened upon you that destructive habit of mind-wandering. Watch for these moments. They may overtake you in the street-car, or while walking, or perhaps after retiring at night, or during some wakeful hour. Put them in right directed thinking, recalling some text of Scripture, or repeating some inspiring poem, or in some other way which your experience will suggest to you.

On a par with this undirected, haphazard mind-wandering, is the scarcely less baneful vain imaginings, in which our friends figure in various attitudes which are unreal, and which not infrequently lead us to expressions in word and act which are uncalled for and unjust.

I wonder if you ever spend time in idle chatting with your classmates and friends. Make a note of this, dear, for your own sake, and call a halt.

How much time first and last is spent in waiting! I trust you have ceased to rob others by making them wait for you. But so long as there is such a general disregard for the rights of others in this respect, you will be subject to this loss. Prepare for it.

Some people will pick up a good education in the odds and ends of time others carelessly throw away, as one man saves a fortune by small economies which others disdain to practise. What young man is too busy to get an hour a day for self-improvement?

If a genius like Gladstone carried through life a little book in his pocket lest an unexpected moment should slip from his grasp, what should we, of common abilities, resort to, to save the precious moments from oblivion?

"Nothing is worse for those who have business than the visits of those who have none," was the motto of a Scotch editor.

Drive the minutes, or they will drive you. Success in life is what Garfield called a question of "margins." Tell me how a young man uses the ragged edges of time while waiting for meals or tardy appointments, after his day's work, or evenings—what opportunity!—and I will tell you what that man's success will be. One can usually tell by his manner, the direction of the wrinkles in his forehead, or the expression of his eyes, whether he has been in the habit of using his time to good advantage or not.

The most valuable of all possessions is time. Life itself is measured by it. The man who loses no time, doubles his life. Wasting time is killing life.

Some squander time, some invest it, some kill it. That precious half hour a day which many of us throw away, would, rightly used, save us from the ignorance which mortifies us, the narrowness and pettiness which always attend exclusive application to our callings.

"Four things come not back,—the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity."

So many little gems of thought, in form of booklets, can be carried about with you in a hand-satchel ready for use at odd moments! Ten minutes daily for one year is equivalent to six days of ten hours each. You could accomplish a great deal of reading in that time, couldn't you? Try it. I am sure you can find ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night, probably more, over and above that you now have. At the end of the year, balance accounts, and see how much you have gained.

Much of the world's best work has been done in these tidbits of time. Persistently train yourself to make them profitable. Strive to learn the comparative value of things. Cut out all that which is harmful and indifferent from your life, and study to make time and make it count. Diligent application, putting your whole heart and soul into your work, will enable you to do many things in half the time you now take. What has been done by others, you can do, dear one. Live in this thought, and you will be surprised to see how much more you can accomplish.