9: Relaxation
Scott notes that it is a curious thing: highly successful men who accomplish far more than others never seem to be hurried or anxious in their work. They seem to move at a very comfortable and casual pace, and yet accomplish outcomes that are far superior to others who seem to be working very hard indeed.
He suggests this is a matter of efficiency: those who hurry through their work often make a great deal of fuss about activities and even individual movements that contribute very little to achieving the outcome. They waste a lot of effort, and often have to do things two or three times to correct their mistakes that were made from working in a hurry.
This can be directly observed by watching two carpenters at work on a job site. The less experienced man will be very fretful in the way he places the nail, taps it in gently, then bends it on striking it and has to remove it and start over. If he tries to rush in his work, the effort is greater and the outcome worse. The experienced carpenter places a nail once and strikes it home with two or three taps of his hammer. And because he is thus efficient in his actions, he can drive five, ten, or more nails in the amount of time it takes the less experienced man to drive a single one.
However, it is not merely a matter of experience: watch any man work under the glare and constant criticism of a task-master, and you will observer that his mistakes and inefficiencies are all the greater for the stress he is placed under. Ironically, the stress is ostensibly place upon him for the sake of making him work faster, but it simply makes him move faster, and work slower and worse.
Being relaxed n one's work allows the mind to focus on the task - to keep "a cool head and a steady hand" and work both effectively and efficiency. This is the effect of being in the moment, concentrating on the task at had rather than thinking about the outcome and ignoring what is presently being done. It is only in a state or relaxation and calm composure that men are capable of their best work.
This is true of manual tasks, but is even more true of mental tasks. We discover the best solutions in moments of repose, when we are able to think on a problem without being hectored or perturbed.
The American notion that a man is most efficient when working at fevered pitch is utter nonsense - and yet it is widely maintained by mangers (though few workers share this opinion). It is telling that the European industrial press routinely make two remarks about the American worker - first, that he is full of energy and bustle; and second that his work demonstrates poor craftsmanship. This is not mere coincidence, but cause and effect.
A few quotes that the author presents:
- You are living like an army with all its reserves engaged in action, [lacking] stores of reserved force to fall back upon if any occasion should arise that requires it.
- You take too intensely the trivial moments of life
- The cause [of breakdowns and burnout with American workers] lies rather in those absurd feelings of hurry and having no time, in that breathlessness and tension, that anxiety of feature and that solicitude of results, that lack of inner harmony and ease
- It is your relaxed and easy worker, who is in no hurry, and quite thoughtless most of the while of consequences, who is your efficient worker
- Tension and anxiety ... are the surest drags upon steady progress and hindrances to our success.
- The American hustler in my opinion does not represent the highest type of human efficiency. He wastes a lot of nervous power and energy instead of accomplishing the greatest possible amount of work for the force expended.
- Regarding a worker as a machine he is not an economical one. He breaks down too often and has to be laid off for repairs too often. He tries to do everything too fast.
Relaxation as a Physiological Necessity
The basic physiology of human action shows a need for relaxation. A careful study of manual laborers demonstrates that they begin work slowly, then increase the rate to a point of high efficiency, and then this efficiency diminishes slowly over time. If there is no rest interval, the work becomes less and less efficient, but with sufficient rest, the cycle can be repeated and achieve the same high level of efficiency as in the original.
Even studies of the muscle tissues demonstrate a cyclical pattern: the muscle becomes tense for a time, then relaxes, then regains tension. I muscle kept taut weakens very quickly and becomes incapable of regaining its rigor, but a muscle that cycles between tension and relaxation can maintain its full power over a long period of time.
This has been proven out in industrial experiments, which demonstrate that workers in four six-hour shifts are more productive than those in three eight-hour shifts, and those are more productive than workers in two twelve-hour shifts. Those who work a five-day week are more productive than those who work six, and those who work six are more productive than those who work seven.
All of this gives evidence to the need for relaxation. Scott claims the same is true of the brain as is true of the muscles, though he provides no such evidence of productivity in office workers.
While workers can be pressed to work faster for short periods of time, it is non sustainable over the long run. The frantic pace and long hours leads to less usable output, because of both the reduction in the pace of work and the diminution of its accuracy.
As such, if the goal of the manager is to get the most production out of his workers over an extended period of time, he must be attentive to their need for rest as a means to replenish the store of energy and attentiveness they bring to their work.
Relaxation as a Learned Skill
Scott reiterates that "no man can do his best when he is hurried and fearful" but instead acts frenetically under those conditions, wasting energy and doing the wrong things. He suggests that being able to relax "at will" and remain in an efficient state, free from nervousness is "a thing which may be acquired more or less completely by all persons."
It begins with training men to do a task properly - not merely by description but by demonstration - and then coaching them to go about it in the right manner, paying close attention to not only the tools and materials, but to the muscles of the body. One cannot do things properly by guessing how they are done, but by learning how to do them by a process of movement that can be learned, ingrained by repetition, and remembered even in adverse conditions.
(EN: Evidence to this is crisis training. People are taught the route to exit a building in a fire, pilots are taught to land a plane when an engine fails, and soldiers are taught to load a rifle in a firefight. They are not left to figure it out when the time comes, and are drilled under non-adverse conditions, on the belief that knowledge and practice will give them the confidence to act in a crisis.)
The power of relaxation is derived from the "feeling of control and assurance" in a specific course of action, minimizing the possibility of confusion or misdirection in the presence of an important task. It's also suggested that merely "assuming the attitude of assurance and composure" can lead to actual feelings of assurance and composure - and experience performing a task and seeing the outcome reinforces the sense of how the task is to be done.
(EN: However, it is a particular problem on situations of artificial pressure. When driven by a taskmaster to work faster, the worker loses confidence in procedure: assuming his normal behavior is incorrect or at least insufficient to achieve the outcome demanded of him, he second-guesses himself and believes that something different must be done to achieve a different outcome. As a result, people perform consistently under normal stress, but will become inconsistent under artificial stress.)
The practice of relaxation also depends on being unperturbed. Managers who subject their laborers to "the crack of the lash" find that it causes not efficiency, but frenetic action and results in inefficiency and waste. Where faster work must be encouraged, care should be taken to avoid causing fear and anxiety, which stop the mind and cause training to be forgotten.
Intellectual Relaxation
Fear an anxiety are even more detrimental to the effectiveness and efficiency of the knowledge-worker, whose labor is more mental than physical. It is rather easier to witness, because the mistakes and inefficiencies are far more obvious in the output of a knowledge worker - but it is far more difficult to teach, because the workings of the mind cannot be observed as readily as the workings of the body.
Intellectual relaxation can be achieved by clearing one's mind. Scott suggests that knowledge workers should make a point to periodically address their composure: to pause in his work, close his eyes, relax his muscles, and breathe deeply to restore a sense of tranquility.
One particular problem for knowledge workers is leaving work behind at the end of the day. The laborer does not and cannot perform his work after leaving he factory, but the knowledge worker can carry his business around in his mind, brooding over business after he leaves the office, and never getting a break from his work. While he can be encouraged to clear his mind of work at the end of the day, it cannot be assured, and he may remain fretful and keyed up for quite some time - returning to the office weary rather than refreshed.
Scott suggests that relaxation of the body can encourage relaxation of the mind. Very many of the world's greatest ideas came to men in times of quiet repose when they were not attempting to solve a problem. (EN: This sounds like a generalization, but it has been observed even by more modern methods that the mind is more capable when there is a lower level of electrochemical activity in the brain - though it is still only vaguely understood and metaphorically explained.)
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The author mentions an observation of a tennis tournament, in which the champion caused great despair among his opponents not simply because he beat them soundly, but because of the casual and poised manner in which he played - suggesting that defeating them seemed to require very little effort.
The same casual and relaxed manner can be seen in anyone who does a job well: there is a certain poise and elegance in their action, and an absence of any evidence of exertion. Unfortunately, this is often regarded as disinterest or a lackadaisical approach: it is mistakenly believed that a man who is working his hardest must grimace, grunt, and breathe in huffs and otherwise give unnecessary demonstrations of physical exertion. Such a man is not struggling because he is working hard, but because he is working badly - an efficient worker, showing no signs of exertion, will easily outpace him.
Employers also have a misplaced fear of recreation: they fear that workers who have too much leisure time will forget their work, or return to the factory in a listless state because business has been banished from their minds. But recreation is necessary to prevent men from becoming weary of work and disinterested in it.
He mentions some of the great men of industry (Gladstone, Carnegie, and Rockefeller) and lists their hobbies and outside interests, which are estimable. These were not pastimes that they developed after becoming successful - but life-long engagements that they practiced on their way to becoming successful. He also suggests that it is important for man to develop an array of "outside interests" early in life - as youth are more likely to devote themselves to an activity whereas older men become set in their ways and less interested in trying new things.