"...the most crucial ingredient by far for success in music is... what happens in the practice room." -William Westney

The plane shook briefly during the five hour flight back, nearly spilling my seltzer with lime. My eyes tracing back and forth along the scribbles translating every tip, lesson, and idea into tomorrow's new program, or next year's big hit.

The invaluable five days spark years of project solutions and design practices from video solutions and virtual learning templates to renovations of on-boarding materials... even great tools to continue upping my design-game, including an online animation tool which this post is named after.

Don't worry... there'll be additional posts highlighting many of the lessons I've learned and tools I fell in love with from DevLearn 2018.

Today's post is about taking the time to practice. As a professional, every training I deliver is a performance... a delicate flow of animation and images composed using lessons and techniques that only come from my urge to grow.

In life, you are either a rider or a driver. A driver is in control with their eyes looking months down the road. After hitting a pothole, they think aloud, “what can I do differently next time?” instead of “Oh no! My shocks!”

As you learn to be in the present, you will become better at preparing for the future.

For example:

When I take on a new project, I try to find a unique item to tackle such as a game element that scores based on how long it takes to answer a question, or a few small elements such as using keyboard shortcuts to facilitate the task at hand.

Whatever technique you add to your toolbox, it is the practice that makes it stick. Add it to your next three projects, or build it three times, each time improving the design. What seems like a waste of time now pays off tenfold tomorrow. If we’re not driving, someone else is taking us for a ride.

Comment below to share a time you jumped into the driver seat.