Evening star., 1943-02-23
McEvoy Tells
How to Get
Things Done
Sprowl at Length,
Breathe Peacefully,
Is His Recipe
Ry ]. 2. McENOY.


a fellow who amazed all his friends
with the amount OF work he got
done. The fellow was writer-also
teacher in high school-also a
bootie buffer in gremlin factory, or
something equally significant.
Everybody was always asking him
how did he get so much done and
what was the secret Of his success,
and his answer was considered to
be highly illuminating as well as
inspirational, so I put 1t down here
at the risk of infuriating the mill
lions of superior souls who don't
give hoot about being inspired or
stimulated to greater production.
II get so much DONE" he said
smugly, 'only because use the
little minutes when / am not doir &
big things. The little minutes so
carelessly wasted by others" And
then he went on to elaborate, as
though we didn't know exactly what
he meant by that snide crack.
Busy Little Minutes.
It seems he always carried piece
Of paper and pencil with him, and
snatched every spare minute to
write. While committing, for ex-
ample, he didn't waste time trying
to read his neighbours paper. He
wrote and wrote, until his neighbor
left the train and the paper in his
seat Not only did he get his work
done that way-but he saved the
price Of the paper and the strain
on his neck. In restaurants he
wrote while waiting for his order.
He wrote while waiting in outer
Offices for appointments-and at this
dentists, instead of reading tired
old stories, he wrote them.
But 1t was at home he got IN his
best licks. BY writing only between
the time his wife would say, Tn
all ready now, dear. except for my
hat"-and the actual time she joined
him at the door-he managed last
year to write three novels, each
longer and more significant than
Gone With the Wind" IA short
stories, a three-act play and 81
prize winning jingles for radio con-
tests.
You may wonder why I bother to
give further publicity to such sub
versive nonsense. The answer is We
must know what we are up against
in order to fight it successfully. Tho
unthinking may fall for such prop
aganda. Give them the falsehood
first: then the truth. And what Is
the truth7 believe I can say, with
out too much cloying modesty, that
have discovered it, developed 1t,
adopted 1t, and owe all my success
| to the fact that I live by 1t.
Here's My System.
Paradoxically enough. my system
also is based on the little min
utes." Only instead of snatching
| at them in order to do something
like writing, carefully hoard them
for the purpose of doing nothing
with them-absolutely nothing. BY
this simple method, I figure I can
accumulate five or six hours OF every
day OF pure unadulterated loafing.
which more ambitious people waste
in nonsensical accomplishments
While waiting for dinner I relax
and do nothing. While waiting In
outer offices or riding trains, cars,
buses or takes, I sit quietly and
listen to the deep breathing OF my
slumbering brain.
There Is scientific basis for this
method. Think about yourself as
storage battery. Every time you
turn off the light Of interest in
your eyes you are saving Juice. It
has been proved that an active
brain sends out electrical impulses.
have trained mine to "cut out"
automatically whenever a load Of
any kind Is put on it. As a result,
my brain at the end of the year
shows no wear whatsoever.
Yes, 1t Is true man can write
novels or master a dozen new
languages through the years while
waiting for his wife to put on her
hat-but how much better of he'll
be in the long run II he uses the
same time to sprawl at length, close
the eyes and breathe peacefully
until he is completely inert and be-
yond all feelings of pain or pleasure.
distributed by McNauTht Syndicate. Incl.