# Making the Most of One's Mind/Chapter 5

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MODE OF STUDY
WHEN you go into your study you intend to work with your mind, but you must bring your body along, and the problem is how to deal with it during the study period. The least you can do, one would think, is to treat it as you would any other visitor, and offer it a chair. But not every one is of this opinion. There are those who point out that it is more profitable to stand than to sit while studying, and there are others who go still further, and maintain that a certain amount of gentle motion stimulates the brain. Some students walk up and down the room as they study, while others content themselves with some nervous motion or other, such as fidgeting with their hands, resting now on the right leg, now on the left, moving the head from side to side, twirling a pencil between the fingers—there is no end to the vagaries.
Now this is one of those cases in which it is dangerous to lay down hard and fast rules. What is excellent for one, may be disastrous for another. ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/121 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/122 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/123 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/124 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/125 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/126 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/127 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/128 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/129 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/130 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/131 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/132 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/133 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/134 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/135 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/136 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/137 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/138 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/139 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/140 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/141 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/142 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/143 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/144 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/145 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/146 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/147 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/148 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/149 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/150 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/151 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/152 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/153 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/154 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/155 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/156 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/157 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/158 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/159 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/160 ​Page:Making the most of one's mind (IA makingmostofones00adam).pdf/161 ​which I was acquainted, it was counted an offence "not to have something on your paper." The effect of this was that even if a pupil had no idea how to work a particular problem, he had to write down something—a most pernicious habit. Writing nonsense is necessarily bad for any one. No doubt it is very unpleasant to sit at your desk and gnaw the end of your pen, but you do not improve matters by scribbling down meaningless words. This criticism naturally does not apply so long as you have the least idea of getting at a result by a series of trials. Your attempts may be far from hopeful, but so long as they have a definite object they are justifiable. So soon, however, as you have no definite purpose in what you do, you can no longer be said to study in any real sense.