Do you ask _how_ to concentrate? Think of the word itself, and of its

philological brother, _concentric_. Think of how a lens gathers and concenters

the rays of light within a given circle. It centers them by a process of

withdrawal. It may seem like a harsh saying, but the man who cannot concentrate

is either weak of will, a nervous wreck, or has never learned what will-power is

good for.

 

You must concentrate by resolutely withdrawing your attention from everything

else. If you concentrate your thought on a pain which may be afflicting you,

that pain will grow more intense. "Count your blessings" and they will multiply.

Center your thought on your strokes and your tennis play will gradually improve.

To concentrate is simply to attend to one thing, and attend to nothing else. If

you find that you cannot do that, there is something wrong--attend to that

first. Remove the cause and the symptom will disappear. Read the chapter on

"Will Power." Cultivate your will by willing and then doing, at all costs.

Concentrate--and you will win.

 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

 

1. Select from any source several sentences suitable for speaking aloud; deliver

them first in the manner condemned in this chapter, and second with due regard

for emphasis toward the close of each sentence.

 

2. Put into about one hundred words your impression of the effect produced.