just stay with it....................

 

     To fill time in his stand-up routine, in 1963, comedian Steve Martin decided to try to learn an instrument.

     For no particular reason, Martin chose the banjo.  He bought a book called How to Play the 5-string Banjo, by Pete Seeger.  The first lesson was how to strum a C chord.  When Martin strummed a C chord, "I couldn't tell the difference," he admitted.  To him, when he strummed a C chord, it sounded just like when he strummed without touching any strings. 

     "But I just stayed with it," he said.  "And I kept telling myself, 'Well, if I just stay with it, one day, I will have played for forty years.'  Anybody who sticks with the banjo for forty years will be able to play it."

     Martin stayed with it, and in 2001, he won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Music Performance.  It took thirty-eight years, one day at a time, staying with it.

     When it gets tough, remind yourself that eventually the minutes and hours will add up.

     Stick with it.  Be patient.

-Paul Rabil, The Way of the Champion