Motivating Myself

Way back in the days of manual typewriters—before word processing and before electric typewriters—I learned to test out the touch of a typewriter by typing this sentence: “Now is the time for all good boys to come to the aid of their country.” Supposedly this sentence covers most of the keys on the typewriter so you can get the feel of it. To this day, every time I put my hands on a key pad those words go through my head.

Touching my fingers to alphabet keys also brings back another memory every time I touch them. In my freshman year of college I was taking a linguistics class where we had to memorize the phonetic symbols. I transcribed the "good boys" sentence into phonetic symbols figuring if it had most of the keys it would be an easy way to learn most of the symbols. To my surprise the final exam asked us to write out that “good boys” sentence in phonetic symbols. I aced the exam!

The fact that forty-plus years later the simple act of putting my fingers on a key pad brings back those memories is intriguing to me. Our minds are powerful and if instead of just letting things happen we recognize the power of the mind and memory we can make them work for us. We can purposely make associations that will constantly remind us of the things that will make us better, bring us closer to God, and help us remember His ways.

I’ve told you before that glancing at my side-by-side refrigerator reminds me that I am yoked side-by-side with Jesus Christ. I know that sounds a little strange, but it works to motivate and encourage me. And writing this has given me an idea I wish I'd thought of years ago. I'm going to change the “good boys” sentence into something meaningful for me so that every time I put my fingers on the keys I’ll think “Now is the time for me to be the best that I can be.”

Wow! That's a good one. Thanks for being out there so I could think this up to share with you!