The Washington herald., 1915-01-29
SHIRKING THE BIG TASK.
By ORIsON SWEET MARDEN.


do the hardest thing first" is the
motto hanging above the desk of a very
successful man know. He told me that
this single short sentence had wrought a
revolution m his life. Il suddenly real
lied one day." he said, that 1 had fallen
duties and evading disagreeable or diff
cult tasks until the ghosts OF them
blocked my path at every turn. / tackled
up that motto and set myself to bring
ing each days work in line with it. l
began on ths duties l had pushed aside,
the long-defeE-Ad. long overdue tasks
that had been put ont of sight In favor
of the easy. pleasant things. When at
last I cleared my path Of these. / made
IT a rule to begin 1T the biggest. tough
est job in the VIII Die days work before
me. l gave my freshest efforts to the
kind of work ha0 previously put of the
longest. and before long l found that
what used to loom up before me like a
mountain OF difficulty was really very
simple and easy to dispose Of when han
died with energy and determination. And
IL is to this, more than to anything else,
that l owe what is called my success"
The great thing is to start out in life
with a determination to stand for some
cheney, not to let inclination for comfort
and ease and the passion for pleasure de-
YOUR so much of our energy, absorb so
much of our time
II is very pleasant to slide along the
! line of least resistance, to take things
easy, and not to feel obliged to exert
| oneself too strenuously, but one never
gets anywhere by adopting such a policy.
II j were just starting out again in
1 - life To mako the T1nOGf
OF myself. l would resolve to do whatever
would promote my growth. whatever
would make me a larger, broader. and
| stronger man, regardless Of whether II
was pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or
disagreeable. convenient or inconventent.
| Growth would be my goal and I would
sacrifice my comfort. leisure. good times
anything to reach that goal.
| Forming the habit of taking things easy
is as insidiOus as the opium habit. the
| drug habit, or the drink habit.
The man who waits until he feels like
! il. who is the victim of his moods, never
| amounts to much. 1t Is the man who can
make his program and carry IT out. re-
gardless OF whether 1t is easy or hard,
or whether he feels like IL or not, who
gets ahead.
How many have suffered with tooth
ache for years just because they dreaded
| to have the tooth extracted! OF course,
| they knew that the pain would be over
in few seconds, but they could not bear
to think of going through the disagree
| able experience, and put It on until ab-
solutely compelled to.
This anticipating, dreading thing Is
fatal to the greatest efficiency. IT cuts
OF the largest percentage Of our power.
It affects ones disposition and makes
one fractions, irritable. touchy. The mind
loses its elasticity, its freshness, and
buoyancy.
on the other hand. know OF no habit
which will give any one SO much satis-
faction in after life as that OF forcing
oneself always to do the thing which
would be best for him in the long run,
regardless of whether II is pleasant or
disagreeable.
Every weak turning aside from the
tasks life sets US Is traitorous TO our
own self-respect. II Is as though priest
should profane the altar. Life calls upon
us TO fiil the place of men in the ranks
Of courageous world workers-gives US
man-sized jobs in the service OF our fell
low-men. II we shrink because the task
Is hard, IL we shrink because such EFFORT
costs us pain. IL We turn from the tonic
of difficulty because the taste Is bitter.
we forfeit our own respect and that Of
every one who knows US.
II Won are n victim OF putting of dis
agreeable tasks. just make up your mind
today that you have done 50 for the last
time. Start out tomorrow morning with
the resolute determination to postpone
nothing, 10 dread nothing which Is neces-
sary 70 be done, to pillow right through
the obstacles and dif1culties, tackle the
disagreeabIe task, and you will be sur
prised to see how these obstacles win
get out Of the way OF such forcefulness.
II Is Irresolution that invites obstacles.
The habit of postponing the disagreeable
task muitiplies difficulties.