Insert your practice throughout your day

Seize the Moments

Jul 3, 2005
by Howard E. Butt, Jr.


Author and educator John Erskine was 14 when his piano teacher asked him if he practiced an hour at a time. John said yes.

His teacher said, "Well, don’t! When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes. Insert your practice throughout your day — and music will become part of your life."

Years later, when John’s schedule allowed no time to write, he recalled his teacher’s words. He began to write in five- and ten-minute snatches. To his astonishment, within one week, he had a manuscript ready to revise.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Dreams rarely arrive gift-wrapped in long stretches of time. So we seize the day . . . the hour . . . and the mighty minutes . . . in the high calling of our daily work.