Dr. Beattie, speaking of this subject, tells us “It is a matter of no small importance that we acquire the habit of doing only one thing at a time; by which I mean that while attending to any one object, our thoughts ought not to wander to another.”  And Granville adds, “A frequent cause of failure in the faculty of Attention is striving to think of more than one thing at a time.”  And Kay quotes, approvingly, a writer who says:  “She did things easily, because she attended to them in the doing.  When she made bread, she thought of the bread, and not of the fashion of her next dress, or of her partner at the last dance.” Lord Chesterfield said, “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at a time; but there is not time enough in the year if you try to do two things at a time.”

To attain the best results one should practice concentrating upon the task before him, shutting out, so far as possible, every other idea or thought.  One should even forget self—­personality—­in such cases, as there is nothing more destructive of good thinking than to allow morbid self-consciousness to intrude.  One does best when he “forgets himself” in his work, and sinks his personality in the creative work.  The “earnest” man or woman is the one who sinks personality in the desired result, or performance of the task undertaken.  The actor, or preacher, or orator, or writer, must lose sight of himself to get the best results.  Keep the Attention fixed on the thing before you, and let the self take care of itself.

In connection with the above, we may relate an anecdote of Whateley that may be interesting in connection with the consideration of this subject of “losing one’s self” in the task.  He was asked for a recipe for “bashfulness,” and replied that the person was bashful simply because he was thinking of himself and the impression he was making.  His recipe was that the young man should think of others—­of the pleasure he could give them—­and in that way he would forget all about himself.  The prescription is said to have effected the cure.  The same authority has written, “Let both the extemporary speaker, and the reader of his own compositions, study to avoid as far as possible all thoughts of self, earnestly fixing the mind on the matter of what is delivered; and they will feel less that embarrassment which arises from the thought of what opinion the hearers will form of them.”

The same writer, Whateley, seems to have made quite a study of Attention and has given us some interesting information on its details.  The following may be read with interest, and if properly understood may be employed to advantage.  He says, “It is a fact, and a very curious one. that many people find that they can best attend to any serious matter when they are occupied with something else which requires a little, and but a little, attention, such as working with the needle, cutting open paper leaves, or, for