Success Is Succession

Success advice and inspiration from a guitar craftsman. 
 
There was a cool obituary (not a phrase you read often) in yesterday's New York Times. "Bill Collings, Maker of Sought-After Guitars, Dies at 68".  
 
For Collings the priority wasn't stamping out instruments as cheaply and quickly as possible. It was about quality. His work was his art. I'm guessing that is why his customers included musicians like Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, and Paul Simon.  
 
There are companies that make cheap guitars by the boatload. They slap them together without a lot of care or pride. Many people are the same with the content they post. It's one thing to try and come up short. But you see a number of people who are not even trying.  
 
And constantly trying was apparently a cornerstone of Collings' work philosophy. He is quoted as saying, "Success is succession, over and over and over, and it comes from failure. Failure, failure, failure -- knowing that if you stop, you're done."

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