99 Bad Habits That Can Ruin a Person's Life

Author: Jin Hai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: During the 12 years that Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady in the White House, she had to handle countless tedious tasks. However, before meeting a large group of people or giving a speech, she usually sat in a chair or sofa and rested her eyes for 20 minutes.
During World War II, Winston Churchill, who was over 60, could work for 16 hours a day. His secret was: he would work in bed until 11 a.m. each morning, reviewing reports, dictating orders, making phone calls, and even holding meetings in bed. After lunch, he would sleep for 1 hour, and before 8 p.m. dinner, he would sleep for another 2 hours. Because he often rested, he could stay energetic and keep working until midnight.
Any medical student still in school can tell you that fatigue reduces the body's resistance to common diseases and colds. Similarly, any psychotherapist can tell you that fatigue also weakens your resistance to worry and fear.
Dr. Jacobson, an experimental psychologist at the University of Chicago, believes that any mental or emotional tension cannot exist after complete relaxation. That is to say, if you can relax your tense emotions, you will no longer continue to worry. Therefore, to prevent fatigue and worry, you must rest frequently and rest before you feel tired.
Even a short rest can give you strong recovery ability. Even a 5-minute nap can help prevent fatigue. Edison believed that his boundless energy and endurance came from the habit of falling asleep at any time. "The Father of Modern Education" Horace Mann also adopted this habit after he grew older. When he served as the president of Antioch University, he often lay on a sofa and talked with students.
Rest frequently, just as your heart works: rest before you get tired. This way, you can add an extra hour of time to your daily schedule.
In our lives, we often engage in foolish behavior like "draining the pond to catch fish" or "killing the chicken to get eggs," sacrificing productivity (the chicken) to increase output (the eggs). We often care more about efficiency than effectiveness, neglecting effectiveness for the sake of efficiency, which weakens our ability to achieve results. Only when output and productivity are balanced can we achieve outstanding effectiveness. Many people stay up all night trying to do more, only to end up exhausted and unwell. However, if they get a good night's sleep, the effect is completely different—the next day they can be energetic and accomplish even more.