Words of Encouragement

Most people in the world are day people: they get their best work done in the late morning hours. But some people work best late at night, like Anton Rubinstein. Mornings were like poison to this famous Russian pianist: he found it very difficult even to get up early. But sometimes he had to get up early to meet the schedule of a concert tour, and it was Mrs. Rubinstein’s task to help him do this. In the early years of their relationship, she had tried alarm clocks of all kinds, and she had tried pushing him out of bed, but nothing worked. He would either fall back to sleep, or be so sluggish that he’d miss his appointment anyway.

Finally, though, after years of experimenting, she managed to find a way to wake him up in the morning. He had spent his life refining his sensitivity to music, to the point that he could hear the smallest flaw in a piece. Mrs. Rubinstein found that the easiest way to get her husband up was to go to the piano and begin playing scales-but only seven of the eight notes. After she had played the faulty scale a few times, Anton would be out of bed and at the piano, wide awake, and itching to finish the scale properly.

We all have problems with motivation from time to time. The trick is to find a system that will get us moving again. Your system may be tied in with your personality, hobbies, or life goals. But try to find that thing which will re-motivate you, and keep it near at hand.