Artur Rubinstein was/is one of the great pianists of the last century. He is renowned for both his artistry and his technical competence. But it was not always that way. Here are Rubinstein's words about practice.
"When I don't practice for a day, I know.
When I don't practice for two days, the orchestra knows.
When I don't practice for three days, the world knows.
I must confess with sorrow that I was not very proud of myself. The dissipated life I was leading . . . never allowed me to concentrate on my work. I prepared my concerts using the large repertoire I had accumulated but without the urge to play better, without referring to the text, relying entirely on my fine memory and my cleverly acquired knowledge of how to use certain encores to arouse the audience to the right pitch of enthusiasm.
To put it in a nutshell, I couldn't boast of one single piece which I played entirely faithful to the text and without some technical shortcomings . . .
I knew I was born a true musician but instead of developing talent I was living off the capital of it."
At the time of this realization, Rubinstein then devoted himself to excellence through practice. Afterwards, he maintained a high level of performance through his 70's and 80's leaving a legacy as one of the greatest pianists of recent times.
Check out this website for a very nice introduction to Rubinstein.
Click here for a video of Rubinstein playing.
I am struck by several things:
ONE: If the secret of success in real estate is location, location, location, the secret of success in life and leadership is practice, practice, practice.
TWO: It requires discipline and devotion if one is to sustain a commitment to practice.
THREE: Natural, raw talent is not sufficient. I think God gives us gifts/talents and then expects us to multiply/develop/enhance them. Practice is the only way to do this. Without practice, we squander what God has given us.
- If you are called to preach and teach - you need to be constantly developing your skills as a student, a preparer of the message and then as a communicator.
- If you are called to lead - you need to be constantly increasing your strengths to new levels, and when possible, adding new ones to your toolbox.
FOUR: It is never too late to begin a new devotion to practice.
FIVE: If you need to - get a mentor. A mentor will know how to help you develop practice routines so you can grow from average to good and from good to great.
Brian Rice
