Spectrum GT

Had a thought the other day. If I look over the garden fence and am envious of my neighbour’s house and garden, his BMW and his wife’s Ferrari, their swimming pool, and their cattle and goats then I am said to covet his possessions of today. Does this also mean that if I desire that new Fender Precision bass in the window of the local music store I am also covetous of his possessions of tomorrow?

When I go into the local music store I drool like Homer Simpson in a donut emporium. I had for a long time this idea that if I owned that new bass somehow I would be a better player and my music would dramatically change for the better. I also aspire from time to time to be a songwriter. How many times have I thought if only I had gone to music school and had some training perhaps I could today be able to tell a quaver from a crotchet. Or if I had learned to play the piano or learned to sing or if I just had some music skill or a creative left brain instead of an analytical right brain to write better lyrics then things would somehow be better.

We all think like that from time to time. If only I was here or there or had extra training or knowledge or experience or this or that….but the reality is they are just excuses!

 “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome” (Samuel Johnson)

I came to a conclusion a number of years ago and it is the principle by which I live today. It’s not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination and can be summed up as follows:

Do your best where you are now, with what limited resources you have in your possession and do it in the best way you know how. But just do it. Don’t wait, do it now. At the same time look for ways of increasing knowledge and skill and as you acquire these, plough them back into your current efforts.

“Use your gifts faithfully and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know and you shall attain to higher knowledge” (Matthew Arnold)

Maybe one day I will own that bass guitar and maybe one day I will be a songwriter and write inspirational lyrics and beautiful melodies but in the meantime I will continue to churn out ideas and song efforts in the hope that over time the lyrics, music, singing and production will improve.