Daily Inspiration 7-28-12

"The key to life is to become skillful enough to be able to do rewarding things." -- Jim Rohn I love live music with a passion. And, I love all levels of skill at it. I suppose it is because I am a musician and can relate to the millions of levels. As a musician it is easy to also know where we are on the skill scale, but we don't pay much attention to that until someone more skilled and/or practiced reminds us of our place. At the same time, with the vast majority of musicians I know, they love music at all levels too and so they don't look down on someone with less skill, but applaud the effort and the place they are at, while rejoicing in the finest when they have the opportunity to witness it. I went to a small event our client, ABC Music in Benicia put on tonight and there were two groups playing. One group is what you would call professional musicians, the other group was made up of music teachers. Both groups very skilled, but the difference was interesting and inspired this edition of the Daily Inspirations. I loved both groups for different reasons and because they were playing great music and having fun. It was obvious on their faces. The teachers teach students young and older that are total beginners through advanced musicians. This I know from being a teacher myself as well as an avid student, praise and encouragement is the key ingredient, but more than this it must be fun. It must be enjoyed. The more it is enjoyed; the more fun, the better. I remembered when I first got to play a whole song on the guitar when I was a teenager. It was a hot song at the time, and a classic now, called Louie, Louie, and it has three chords and that is it. I didn't even know one chord then, so my teacher, an older, more skilled teenager, turned the guitar to the key of E and I just had to put my finger over the whole fret to make the next chord and so on. It was easy as pie. What fun that was. Then I learned some chords from a Roy Clark book, and I was hooked. I got better and better as time and practice and better instruments came and went. But, the key ingredient was that it was fun. Just like the musicians tonight were having. They don't play regularly together. It was an improv and a skilled one at that, but they were having fun and they had at least as much, and maybe more fun listening and appreciating the other group and visa versa. My takeaway and the lesson I found from this experience tonight is that regardless of where we are, we need to have fun, and appreciate where we are in pursuit of where we want to be. There will always be more no matter how skilled we get, so if we don't have fun along the way and appreciate ourselves and our efforts and our experiences, it is a total waste of time and energy. At the sales seminar on Thursday, the same thing applied. There were all different levels of skill in sales in that room, from the absolute beginner to the best in the region. We need to respect ourselves where ever we may be and have fun moving toward the increased skill level. If we aren't having fun with it, and if it isn't rewarding, there will be little or no desire to move to a higher skill level. One other key takeaway was that musicians become better by playing with other musicians, and by playing together create a certain synergy that gives the music a whole new experience and is a great encouragement to play more and to improve. Doing things with others rather than alone spurs added skills and a more enjoyable experience at the same time. Did I mention that I had a wonderful time? It was the best!

Have A Grand Time Learning And Growing By Appreciating And Accepting Yourself In Pursuit Of The New And Improved You. There's Plenty Of Time. Spread Some Joy Today--Cut yourself some slack. No need to be hard on yourself. Chill. It's all good.