Persistence...

I've got a 2 year old. Two year olds are great...everything is new, everything is an adventure, the only thing to worry about is what we're going to play. He loves the drums (calls them bang-bang), loves music, and he loves cookies...

The thing that amazes me the most is his learning process and how he works around his weak areas. He's really just now learning to put sentences together, learning to ask for things, etc. It's interesting to me that he doesn't really understand the process of asking a question. He hasn't grasped the concept that if he wants his train, all he has to say is "Daddy, train please." It's not a full question, but I would get the jist of what he wanted and get him his train. He knows all of those words, he just doesn't get the whole idea of asking for something. But he knows what he wants. So what does he do? He sits there and says,"Train train train train train train train train train train train..." Meanwhile I'm watching tv..."train train train train train train train"...I can't hear anything that's going on with the show I'm watching...all i hear is "train train train..."...and finally I get what he wants...he wants his train. So I get it for him.

This whole process could be SO much easier if he were to just ask me for the train. But he doesn't know to do that yet, so he repeats the word over and over, louder and louder, until someone notices and gets it for him.

I learn more from him than I'd like to admit at times...

This is the very essence of persistence. We could learn from it. This translates into practice, gigs, and life in general. Yes, many times there are smart ways to go about learning something new, or getting in with a new crowd, or whatever...we're humans, we have the ability to reason and think problems through and problem solve, and we should. But sometimes it comes down to sheer persistence. Who's gonna keep at it the longest.

I'm not the most talented player...I'm not the smartest person...I don't have all of the answers...but I'm persistent. It's paid off in spades in the past...you should try it. Not everything in life can be microwaved...some things have to slow boil...

The tortoise wins everytime I read the book...