I've been coming to MRP for almost 3 years now. I lurked the first year and never posted a thing. I did do some write ups, but never posted, either because I was chickenshit, or just didn't think they had enough value. I was in the middle of a new write up and I found an old one I never posted. I read it and felt encouraged so I decided to post it as is. I'm a musician and writing as such, but the thoughts can be applied outside music.

-Music brings the tingles. But only for so long. The other stuff still matters.

-Practice makes permanent, not perfect. If you practice something incorrectly, you will play it perfectly incorrect. Which in turns makes it even harder to learn the correct way as you now how to unlearn the bad way. Make sure you've got it right before investing hours into something.

-If you find something you love, don't give it up for anyone. I gave up my calling to sit in an office cube everyday because of a woman. Music gives me a satisfaction like nothing else on the planet. If you've found that "thing", death should be the only thing that takes it from you.

-Consistency is key. Rust is always lingering just around the corner to take the place of achievements.

-There is always someone better. Pride is dumb. Doesn't matter how good I got, there was always some new up and coming 12yr old that was 10x better. Do the best with what you've got and be content in that.

-Know your limits. This goes along with pride. This happened more as a young musician, but I'd over estimate my abilities and make a fool of myself.

-One bad performance doesn't diminish all the good ones. I've learned to not wallow in past mistakes, rather, use them as motivation for the next time.

-The rests are just as important as the notes. You can be really good and play lots of notes perfectly, but sometimes one sweet note is all you need. Life can get hectic, try not to clutter it up with too many "notes" if they're not needed.

-Doesn't matter how good you are there will always be critics. They are either right and you need to improve, or they're wrong and you need to be confident enough in your ability to not let it affect you.

-Every complicated piece is a lot of simple notes strung together.

-People are fickle. Set your expectations low.

-I never regretted a practice session. Gave up many hours of "fun" with friends in my younger years to stay at home and practice. There was never an event with the "bros" I missed out on that compares to the feeling of killing it on stage.