On Vital Reserves: The Energies of Men; The Gospel of Relaxation

On Vital Reserves: The Energies of Men; the gospel of relaxation
By William James

Excerpt

Everyone knows what it is to start a piece of work, either intellectual or muscular, feeling stale--or cold, as an Adirondack guide once put it to me. And everybody knows what it is to "warm up" to his job. The process of warming up gets particularly striking in the phenomenon known as "second wind." On usual occasions we make a practice of stopping an occupation as soon as we meet the first effect lay...