Six weeks later， this same executive invited Dr. Sadler to cometo his office. He was changed-and so was his desk. He opened thedesk drawers to show there was no unfinished business insideof the desk. “Six weeks ago，” this executive said， “I had threedifferent desks in two different offices—and was snowed under bymy work. I was never finished. After talking to you， I came backhere and cleared out a wagon-load of reports and old papers. NowI work at one desk， settle things as they come up， and don’t havea mountain of unfinished business nagging at me and making metense and worried. But the most astonishing thing is I’ve recoveredcompletely. There is nothing wrong any more with my health！”
Charles Evans Hughes， former Chief Justice of the United StatesSupreme Court， said： “Men do not die from overwork. They die fromdissipation and worry.” Yes， from dissipation of their energies—and worry because they never seem to get their work done.
Good Working Habit No. 2： Do Things in the Order of TheirImportance.
Henry L. Dougherty， founder of the nation-wide Cities ServiceCompany， said that regardless of how much salary he paid， therewere two abilities he found it almost impossible to find.Those twopriceless abilities are： first， the ability to think. Second， the abilityto do things in the order of their importance.
Charles Luckman， the lad who started from scratch andclimbed in twelve years to president of the Pepsodent Company， got a salary of a hundred thousand dollars a year， and made amillion dollars besides—that lad declares that he owes muchof his success to developing the two abilities that Henry L.
Dougherty said he found almost impossible to find. CharlesLuckman said： “As far back as I can remember， I have got up atfive o’clock in the morning because I can think better then thanany other time—I can think better then and plan my day， plan todo things in the order of their importance.”
Franklin Bettger， one of America’s most successful insurancesalesmen， doesn’t wait until five o’clock in the morning to planhis day. He plans it the night before—sets a goal for himself—agoal to sell a certain amount of insurance that day. If he fails， thatamount is added to the next day—and so on.
I know from long experience that one is not always able todo things in the order of their importance， but I also know thatsome kind of plan to do first things first is infinitely better thanextemporising as you go along.
If George Bernard Shaw had not made it a rigid rule to do firstthings first， he would probably have failed as a writer and mighthave remained a bank cashier all his life. His plan called for writingfive pages each day. That plan and his dogged determination tocarry it through saved him. That plan inspired him to go right onwriting five pages a day for nine heartbreaking years， even thoughhe made a total of only thirty dollars in those nine years-about apenny a day.
Good Working Habit No. 3. When You Face a Problem， SolveIt Then and There if You Have the Facts Necessary to Make aDecision. Don’t Keep
Putting off Decisions.
One of my former students， the late H. P. Howell， told me thatwhen he was a member of the board of directors of U.S. Steel， the meetings of the board were often long-drawn-out affairs—manyproblems were discussed， few decisions were made. The result： eachmember of the board had to carry home bundles of reports to study.
Finally， Mr. Howell persuaded the board of directors to take upone problem at a time and come to a decision. No procrastination—no putting off. The decision might be to ask for additional facts；it might be to do something or do nothing. But a decision wasreached on each problem before passing on to the next. Mr.
Howell told me that the results were striking and salutary： thedocket was cleared. The calendar was clean. No longer was itnecessary for each member to carry home a bundle of reports. Nolonger was there a worried sense of unresolved problems.
A good rule， not only for the board of directors of U. S. Steel，but for you and me.
Good Working Habit No. 4： Learn to Organise， Deputise， andSupervise.
Many a business man is driving himself to a premature gravebecause he has never learned to delegate responsibility to others，insists on doing everything himself. Result： details and confusionoverwhelm him. He is driven by a sense of hurry， worry， anxiety，and tension. It is hard to learn to delegate responsibilities. I know.
It was hard for me， awfully hard. I also know from experience thedisasters that can be caused by delegating authority to the wrongpeople. But difficult as it is to delegate authority， the executivemust do it if he is to avoid worry， tension， and fatigue.
The man who builds up a big business， and doesn’t learn toorganise， deputise， and supervise， usually pops off with hearttrouble in his fifties or early sixties—heart trouble caused bytension and worries. Want a specific instance？ Look at the deathnotices in your local paper.