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            As with many careers, 
            the pursuer usually spends much of his/her time figuring out the logistics 
            within their craft and often forgets all about his head or his heart. 
            Without a fundamental knowledge and understanding of basic life principles 
            and wisdom, you will no doubt find yourself lost somewhere along the 
            way without a sense of purpose or meaning in life. 
            You may find yourself engaged in a long uphill battle that could otherwise 
            be prevented by simply practicing a few 
            Life Lessons. Please read with an open mind. These 
            words have been life-changing for many a successful person. 
             
              
           
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    BE PREPARED  Remember that old boy scout motto? Well it holds 
true outside of the scouts too.   You must prepare yourself for anything that 
comes along. If you're ready when the time comes,   you "will" get 
that big gig that you've dreamed of all your life! Pretend it will happen very 
soon   and start preparing for it now! Work hard and be ready for that moment. 
           
            
          THE LAW OF RECIPROCATION 
            If you help others, it "will" come back to you. Try it and 
            see! 
            Do something very special for someone in your life. This could be 
            anything from helping  
            to teach a lower income child how to play the drums (for free). Or 
            maybe start a child  
            sponsorship with an established, reputable charity. There is a great 
            feeling 
            of self-worth and dignity that comes from these noble gestures and 
            God mysteriously has a way of 
            repaying you for each and every one.  
           
           
                       SACRIFICE 
                    
            You must be willing to "give" so that you can "get". 
            This is another law of nature. 
            If you want to be a great drummer you must ask yourself what 
            you are willing 
            to give up. It's usually things like extra sleep, partying, Nintendo, 
            and various other  
            time wasters. We're not trying to keep you from having fun mind you. 
            By all means, enjoy life  
            and experience everything you can. But just remember that you can't 
            always have your proverbial cake 
            and eat it too. With all successful men and women, there has been 
            a measure of great sacrifice 
            along the way. (Keep in mind though, there is also a huge pot of gold 
            at the end of the rainbow.) 
          
          
             
               
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          GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES 
            There is something mysterious about this old saying, but it rings 
            so very true.  
            We've all seen it many times before; the person we know that works 
            hard and is 
            persistent, ends up becoming successful in some form or fashion and 
            the lazy person 
            or the "party king" that spent half of his life impressing 
            his friends or sleeping until 3:00 every day,  
            often ends up at age 30 with a nice full time job at Burger King.  
            -Work hard and prosper! 
            
          DRUGS ARE A DEAD END ROAD 
            Drugs are a lie. They are deception at it's utmost. They'll bait 
            you with their sultry  
            temptations and then reel you in like a bleeding fish on a hook. Sure, 
            it's fun to live 
            dangerously now and then but please be realistic about what's at stake 
            and the dangers 
            involved. Many a career has been ruined by drugs and alcohol. We don't 
            need to  
            convince you of this. Simply watch any number of VH1 biographies on 
            the lives  
            of famous musicians that had it all but lost it all because they were 
            "trapped" by 
            the drugs they once boasted about. Folks, it's a dead end road! 
            
           
          THE GOLDEN RULE  
"Nearly every religion regardless 
of it's age or range of   geographical influence, emphasizes the ethical principle  
known to westerners as, "The Golden Rule". The world's   religions 
formulate this principle in startlingly similar ways."  Ref: 
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World's Religions What's 
this got to with drumming, you ask?  Well, without common decency and some 
sort of ethical base, you will not  truly be happy inside. Without happiness, 
you'll most likely reflect negatively upon  the world around you. This in turn 
leads people to not want to work with you.   Please give some thought to the 
true meaning of the phrase,   "Treat others as you yourselves wish to 
be treated" or "Love thy neighbor as thyself".   It is considered 
and agreed upon by major philosophers and theologians worldwide  to be one 
of the most concise and general principles of ethics.       
SHOW UP EARLY  Have you ever noticed 
that when you leave at the last minute to get   somewhere, you're usually late? 
This is because we don't always take into consideration  the extra factors 
that get in the way. Things such as running back into the house to get   something 
you forgot, stopping for gas, answering that call just before you walk   out 
the door, getting stuck in traffic and getting lost are all things that will   
make you considerably late if you're not careful.   Get in the habit now of 
always leaving a half hour early. If the leave time is 6:00,   make it 5:30 
instead and commit to that new time. We guarantee you this will   work and 
there is no greater feeling than showing up on time for a gig. It not only   
relieves stress but it adds to your reputation and this will benefit you greatly 
in the future. 'To 
be early is to be on time  To be on time is to be late  and to and to be 
late is unacceptable.'  - Adam B.    
           
            
               
                 
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            GOAL SETTING 
              / RESOLUTIONS 
              How many of you make New Years Resolutions at the beginning of the 
              year? Or are you 
              the type to say, "Well, what's the use, I never keep 'em anyway."? 
              Think about it 
              for a minute, 
              if we had that attitude about everything in life, then why would 
              we even get up in the morning? 
              I mean, why drive to work or go to school when you might have an 
              accident and get killed? 
              You see how silly this is? 
           
          The 
word resolution is just a fancy word for "goal setting". Webster lists 
several 
            definitions but reoccurring words are "resolve", "declare", 
            and "decide".  
             Why 
not use the beginning of the year (or any time for that matter) as a fresh start  
to achieve the goals that you set for yourself on DRUMS? Write them down in big 
bold letters and tape  them to the wall if you have to. This is a common habit 
of successful people and it WILL work  if "you" work hard for it 
and "MAKE IT HAPPEN". Even if you don't meet all of your goals,  
just "TRYING" gets you a lot closer than you would have gotten otherwise. 
     * If 
you have anything to add to this page, let 
us know.   We welcome your feedback.  Katherine 
writes: "I loved those lessons, I think they are true to life and 
rock on!  I wanted to add that if you have a good attitude, it will go far. 
I know it's corny, but the only reason  I made it on our school drumline was 
because I came at least half an hour early to help set up, and  because they 
knew that they could teach me anything I needed to know. I had proved I could  
listen to directions and did my best. It really works!". 
          Jay Walker writes: 
            Hey I'd 
            just like to say thank you for the life lesson reading. It really 
             
             changed 
the perspective I've had on life lately: partying non stop, drinking   and 
smoking. I really needed something like this to stop and make me realize   
how stupid and such a waste of time it is. I still plan to have fun but to   
keep my future in mind while doing so, and putting time aside for practicing drumming 
  and other things so i can be as good as i can be. Thank you very much. Vinnie 
writes: I 
heard this old saying and it stuck with me throughout my whole  drumming 'life'. 
In The 
great W. Griesel's words:  'An 
Amateur practices until he gets it right,  but, a Professional practices until 
he cant get it wrong!'  
*An 
inspiring story from one of our customers Chuck 
Benscoter writes: Great stuff! It's refreshing to know that there are others  
who believe like I do, that drums and drumming go way beyond just beating the 
skins.  Here's something for thinking about:   As 
we practice the rudiments we are teaching our hands (and feet!!) to do things  
they don't naturally want to do. 1 or more beats on one appendage combined with  
another appendage doing something similar or different at the same time  to 
achieve a sound/rhythm sequence. Once we learn these we find that  playing 
goes from effort to effortless to out right fun. The 
same thing goes in life. There are things that, as humans, we don't  necessarily 
do naturally. Sometimes we react instead of interact, or worse  yet we do nothing 
at all. Just like drumming we need to practice  life's rudiments to truly succeed 
and be happy. 
          We 
            call these 'life rudiments' by many names (the golden rule, 
            10 commandments, etc.) but it all comes down to practice makes perfect 
            and just like drumming we are never perfect but always striving for 
            it. 
          
          Rick 
            Williams writes: Who 
            ever wrote those lessons hit the nail on the head!!!!! 
            I am 43 years old I started playing drums when I was 15 I thought 
            that the drinking, 
            smokin pot, hash, and doin' lines were cool. Well when I was 23 I 
            found myself 
            selling off my drums and whatever else I could find just for a fix!!!!!!!!! 
             
            You name it I did it. After my drums were gone I didn't play again 
            until I was 41. What 
            a waste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been clean now for five years and started 
            to play again 
            I asked GOD to help me and he has. Be good to yourself young drummers. 
            Play on. 
          Renee 
            Aspen writes: All 
            of these are great life lessons and I think everyone should read 
            these whether they play the drums or not. But there are two lessons 
            that I especially live by: 
            The first one is "In order to get respect you have to give it". 
            If you really want respect the best 
            way to get it is to give it people will respect you much more.You'll 
            get more respect by major 
            record companies if you simply give them some. The second is "you 
            either win or you learn, 
            you can never lose". Maybe you have a bad gig or you messed up 
            in one of your solos 
            but you didn't lose, you simply learned next time I should do this 
            or I need to practice this. 
            I just wanted to share those tips that have helped me much on and 
            off the drums. 
          Nichole 
            writes: I 
            just read your life lessons, and I must say that they really touched 
            me. 
            I just started playing a few days ago, and these have really had an 
            impact on me. I had all these 
            vague goals in my head of what I want out of life and my band, and 
            those just put everything in perspective for me. 
            I'm gonna write down all my goals and carry them around with me everywhere 
            I go so I never forget why I started 
            doing this, and that I need to get up off my ass and start taking 
            life more seriously. I'm gonna be 18 in a month and I need to 
            get my life moving in a direction I want it to go.  
             
            Also, I have always believed in "The Rule of Three", that 
            if you do something bad to someone it will 
            come back at you three times as bad, so it's always good just to be 
            nice to people or at least respectful if you can. 
             
            Thank you for enlightening me so much. 
            
          E-mail 
            us with your Comments 
             
           
          
           
             
            Feel free to use the content of this page for your own use. We 
            simply ask that you please make reference to Drum Bum. -Thanks! 
              
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