Luck plays a real role, but my approach is to do the best with the cards I've dealt. I registered bagpipelessons.com in 1999, just as the internet was taking off — good timing I call luck, but the follow-through of building a business on it for over two decades was work, not chance.
Mastery of any skill — a musical instrument, a business, a craft — takes years of incremental progress, not a shortcut. I compare it to a comet nudged a hundredth of a degree off course: tiny, consistent adjustments compound into something completely different over time. There's no plug-in or download that replaces that.
The fastest way to learn anything is to find someone who has already walked the path and will tell you the truth. A great coach or mentor doesn't just hand you information — they help you avoid pitfalls, see your blind spots, and figure out the next right step, the way top athletes rely on coaches even after they're already the best in the world.
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Life: In The Pursuit of Excellence with Jori Chisholm
57m · Full class available to Inner Circle members
04:32school plans piping clock: a kid, the medical Rewinding as then for🔒
06:08and path Studying different choosing psychology a🔒
08:59bagpipelessons.com and Seattle 1999 in Registering to moving🔒
10:32a of unconventional path running Challenges and the one-person business🔒
12:56and hours idea 10,000 Mastery better the takes teaching time:🔒
15:58accelerate Finding to learning mentor right the or coach🔒
24:19Pipe and lesson: Major Gillies mentor's A Alasdair telling the truth🔒
27:25Encouragement vs. harder pushed being🔒
34:44Persistence, business delayed and gratification, incremental progress🔒
38:43come inventions you from: what noticing Where bothers🔒
41:19and Online the Drumming World Creating Piping Championships🔒
47:13I success my living and purpose to, life on What credit🔒
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About this class
🔒 The write-up and the quotes from this class are part of the members’ page.
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