You woulda thought....

Ten Things I Wish I'd Learned By Now

1. There are very few goals that are more important than the journeys to attain them.
   
2. Without a goal, developing random skills in the abstract isn't all that satisfying.
   
   
   
   1. This goes double for musical instruments.
      
   2. This goes triple for physical fitness.
      
   
   
3. Doing something "just to say I did it" is not sufficient motivation.
   
4. Buckaroo Banzai is my role model, and has been for quite some time.
   
5. Survival strategies are not necessarily a subset of success strategies.
   
6. The vast majority of people I'll encounter in my career don't care about my success or failure. They just want to get their work done.
   
7. There is this geek fantasy of working on something gigantic alone and in secret, and then unveiling it whole and complete to an adoring world. Yup, still a fantasy.
   
8. "Things that I don't want" may be phrased in the same way as "Things that I want", but they are not the same thing.
   
9. Comparing my achievements to any one of my peers is silly at the best of times. Comparing my achievements to all of my peers' is even sillier.
   
10. The Internet will be there in the morning. Yes, really. Get some sleep.
    

This list took a couple of days to write out. It was worth the time.