Give a beginner guitarist who normally practices with a $100 beginners guitar a Fender original worth thousands of dollars and you won’t see any difference. The sounds will still be coarse and he’ll still have trouble making basic chords.
Give the same Fender original to a guitarist who has been learning for a year and you’ll begin to sense the difference. The sounds will be sweeter and the music more powerful. Give it to a seasoned pro and you will feel the difference.
There are 3 lessons here –
1. Our tools are only good after we cross the threshold level of competence. We could have the best golf clubs in the world but if we haven’t deliberately practiced golf and raised our skill levels, it doesn’t matter. So before you invest in the next great tool in a bid to raise your performance level, take a moment to ask yourself if you can bring out the best in the tool.
2. In the old world, access to great tools was scarce. Hence, there was a high cost to attempt just about anything. Starting a business required computers which cost millions of dollars. Today, the cost of tools has gone down to 0 in many cases and it’s easier than ever to build something meaningful. So, we need a really high focus on skills because the chances are high that the tools we need are available pretty easy.
3. Finally, skill building will require us to develop a collection of top notch habits. We have an unlimited number of options available – it will take more discipline and willpower than ever before to focus on what we’d like to achieve and to put in consistent effort to build something meaningful.
Bed-rock of habits first. Skills focus next. Tools focus last.
A Learning a Day 