And so what？ What can you do about it？ Well， here is whatone stenographer did about it—a stenographer working for an oilcompany in Tulsa， Oklahoma. For several days each month， shehad one of the dullest jobs imaginable： filling out printed formsfor oil leases， inserting figures and statistics. This task was soboring that she resolved， in self-defence， to make it interesting.
How？ She had a daily contest with herself She counted thenumber of forms she filled out each morning， and then tried toexcel that record in the afternoon. She counted each day’s totaland tried to better it the next day. Result？ She was soon able to fillout more of these dull printed forms than any other stenographerin her division. And what did all this get her？ Praise？ No....
Thanks？ No.... Promotion？ No.... Increased pay？ No.... But it didhelp to prevent the fatigue that is spawned by boredom. It didgive her a mental stimulant. Because she had done her best tomake a dull job interesting， she had more energy， more zest， andgot far more happiness out of her leisure hours.
I happen to know this story is true， because I married that girl.
Here is the story of another stenographer who found it paid toact as if her work were interesting. She used to fight her work. Butno more. Her name is Miss Vallie G. Golden， and she lives at 473South Kenilworth Avenue， Elmhurst， Illinois. Here is her story， asshe wrote it to me：
“There are four stenographers in my office and each of us isassigned to take letters from several men. Once in a while we getjammed up in these assignments； and one day， when an assistantdepartment head insisted that I do a long letter over， I started torebel. I tried to point out to him that the letter could be correctedwithout being retyped—and he retorted that if I didn’t do it over，he would find someone else who would！ I was absolutely fuming！
But as I started to retype this letter， it suddenly occurred to methat there were a lot of other people who would jump at thechance to do the work I was doing. Also， that I was being paid asalary to do just that work. I began to feel better. I suddenly madeup my mind to do my work as if I actually enjoyed it—even thoughI despised it. Then I made this important discovery： if I do mywork as if I really enjoy it， then I do enjoy it to some extent I alsofound I can work faster when I enjoy my work. So there is seldomany need now for me to work overtime. This new attitude of minegained me the reputation of being a good worker. And when oneof the department superintendents needed a private secretary， heasked for me for the job—because， he said， I was willing to do extrawork without being sulky！ This matter of the power of a changedmental attitude，” wrote Miss Golden， “has been a tremendouslyimportant discovery to me. It has worked wonders！”
Without perhaps being conscious of it. Miss Vallie Golden wasusing the famous “as if” philosophy. William James counseled usto act “as if” we were brave， and we would be brave； and to act “asif” we were happy， and we would be happy， and so on.
Act “as if” you were interested in your job， and that bit ofacting will tend to make your interest real. It will also tend todecrease your fatigue， your tensions， and your worries.
Years ago， there was another young man who was bored withhis dull job of standing at a lathe， turning out bolts in a factory.
His first name was Sam. Sam wanted to quit， but he was afraid hecouldn’t find another job. Since he had to do this dull work， Samdecided he would make it interesting. So he ran a race with themechanic operating a machine beside him. One of them was totrim off the rough surfaces on his machine， and the other was totrim the bolts down to the proper diameter. They would switchmachines occasionally and see who could turn out the mostbolts. The foreman， impressed with Sam’s speed and accuracy，soon gave him a better job. That was the start of a whole seriesof promotions. Thirty years later， Sam—Samuel Vauclain—waspresident of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. But he might haveremained a mechanic all his life if he had not resolved to make adull job interesting.
