Because it doesn't make sense. Sentence A can't be true is sentence B is true. A: Pick an amount that makes you feel anxious. B: If you aren't anxious... If you aren't anxious, then you didn't "pick an amount that makes you feel anxious". I think I see the point, but the logic is incorrect and needs to be clarified. The point, as I see it, is that you should find an amount of work that you can comfortably complete rather than trying to do too much. If I were to write it, I would say: Pick an amount of work that you think you can complete before the end of the day. If the amount makes you feel anxious, you are trying to do too much.

As Johnny indicates, there is no logic to the sentences. In Sentence #1, the directive to "pick an amount" is an imperative. Imperatives (commands) are not reasoned to begin with. Neither does amount have a classification, so there is nothing logical about the term. Regarding Sentence #2, Feelings of anxiety have no relation to the exercise of logic. ------------------------ I think that if some logic is intended, it is in the form of some kind of advice given to an employing about how to estimate how much work the employee should undertake to get done in a certain amount of time. That is however, only an informed guess. Perhaps you can write more about the sentences? .

Also, I can show you specifically where this author demonstrates confused thinking. "Don't be ambitious."--your textbook author Logically, this is absurd. Telling a student of Law (or any other subject) not to be "ambitious" is like telling a lawyer not to make an effort to win his case before the court. It is also similar to telling a student not to have an intense desire to graduate from school. Logically, that is completely absurd. Some author exhibit this kind of writing, in which they show a tendency to not only teach, but to "police" your emotions. This sort of thing used to bother me until I figured out what was going on. That happened when I began practicing Logic for myself.

(Correction to paragraph 5, which should read) "given to an employee"