Ability is not easy

Just a short entry to share something funny that happened to me today. I got a taste of my own medicine.

If you have been reading this for any length of time, you know that I always talk about how much better it is to hire an expert to help with your information systems strategy. My big argument is usually that many people don’t realize that the value in what I do. It definitely isn’t a commodity, and while raw talent has a little to do with it, my real strength is a combination of loving what I do, a lot practice and the embarrassment of a few failures along the way to give me solid experience.

One of my hobbies is playing the guitar. I am not very good at it, but I enjoy trying. I was in Guitar Center today to buy some strings and for some reason decided to wander into the little room where they have all the real expensive guitars. I saw a guy in there just whaling away on a guitar. I sat there for a few minutes and watched in awe as I was trying to think of what kind of guitar it had to be to sound that good.

When he finished I talked to him for a couple of minutes and found out a couple of things that shocked me. The guitar he was playing was a $149 Yamaha model and the song he was playing that had me so hooked was an original.

Meaning it as a compliment, I told him I would give half my life to play like that. Without blinking he looked up at me and said “Yeah, well that’s pretty much what it took, dude.”

What an excellent way to put it. I hope I get a chance to use that line in the future with regard to my profession.

That’s it for today. Just wanted to share this. Thanks for your time.

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About the Author

Though his chief ambition is to one day control the entire Internet, Jim busies himself in the meantime running our little web development and marketing agency. He's a certified super nerd who ranks coding in old, outdated languages and watching Star Trek reruns just a bit too high on his list of fun things to do. Outside of work, Jim enjoys Hockey (Tampa Bay Lighning, to be specific), more genres of music than most people realize exist, riding his Harley (he calls it "two wheel therapy") and exploring the world through travel.