The Last Man Standing Wins
I’ve been throwing a bunch of my stuff at the wall musically, trying to figure out what to concentrate on. A generalist if there ever was one, I’m pretty good at a bunch of stuff, but I really want to sharpen my focus and get good at a few things.
Had the bass gig yesterday. That was good and fun. I know I’m proficient, just a little out of practice. No biggie there.
Getting better w/ my weekly electronic set. I love the limitations, and that’s all getting there.
And I’m also working on a big project that I’ll talk about in another week (because I’ve only been working on it a week), and I figure if I’m after two weeks in, then it’s real. Otherwise, I don’t want to flake on myself and my dear readers.
The one thing that rises to the top every time, and that I truly believe, is you don’t have to be the most talented or the smartest or the best looking or have the greatest equipment or anything. If you’re deficient in any of that, which I am in every possible category, you can beat them by showing up the most.
For example, in the past I'd been a pretty shitty bass player. Then I decided to get good, and I showed up every day. Lo and behold, I’m not so bad. And since I’m about to hit 55, I’m also one of the last men standing. That’s pretty great.
In the early 2000-teens, I focused on Ableton, bought a class, bought the book, went through the whole thing. That served me really well.
I’m about to go through the MPC Bible, offensive as the name may be. And I’m going to go through the whole thing.
So this is all to say that truly, you can overcome any and all deficiency just by showing up more than other people.
And I guarantee you, if you stick with it for way shorter than you think, you will start to enter the 80th percentile. Then quickly, you’ll get into the 20th percentile and then into the rare air of the single digits of people that stuck with it.
Just like this blog. It is April 26th, I think, and I’ve been going since November 4th. I’m getting better. I’m learning about myself. A few of my entries in the last week or two have not been great, but it’s been because I’ve been holding something back that I want to talk about, which is this thing that I’ve been working on for a couple weeks, which I’m not ready to talk about, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It doesn’t matter. I don’t live and die by each entry. I do get super pumped when I have a good one, and I don’t worry about the other ones because I’ve got volume on my side.
That’s the same thing with Jamuary (a song a day). It’s the same thing for walking every day for about 30 minutes for over five years.
I am committed to the power of showing up in my life, and that’s made all the difference. And it’s the very easiest thing.
It’s not even a skill. It’s just doing.