3. Try to do only one thing at a time.

Another cause of confusion, and the resulting feelings of nervousness, hurry, and anxiety, is the absurd habit of trying to do many things at one time. The student studies and watches TV simultaneously. The businessman, in­stead of concentrating upon and only trying to "do" the one letter that he is presently dictating, is thinking in the back of his mind of all the things he should accomplish today, or perhaps this week, and unconsciously trying mentally to accomplish them all at once. The habit is particularly insidious because it is seldom recognized for what it is. When we feel jittery, or worried, or anxious in thinking of the great amount of work that lies before us, the jittery feelings are not caused by the work, but by our mental attitude—which is "I ought to be able to do this all at once." We become nervous because we are try­ing to do the impossible, and thereby making futility and frustration inevitable. The truth is: We can only "do" one thing at a time. Realizing this, fully convincing our­selves of this simple and obvious truth, enables us to mentally stop trying to "do" the things that lie "next," and to concentrate all our awareness, all our responsiveness, on this one thing we are doing now. When we work with this attitude, we are relaxed, we are free from the feelings of hurry and anxiety, and we are able to concentrate and think at our best.