Your best ever lesson

Rocker

Could be guitar / music related or something entirely different like using a power tool.  Something that stuck with you and became part of you.

Mine was to anticipate nothing, in other words to expect the unexpected.

In second level school my friend and I were paired to do research as part of our Physics lesson.  We read up everything we could about it and produced papers detailing our findings.  From reading the books in the library, I was very sure that the result would be as I predicted.  My companion was not so sure so we conducted an experiment to prove it one way or the other.  Well I couldn't have been more wrong!  To confirm our findings, we redid the experiment with the same results.

Conclusion and lesson learnt: always anticipate nothing, and expect the unexpected.

What was/is your best ever lesson.

viz

When I learned about super locrian over the dominant. It induced a whole new spurt of creativity from me. 

Axe_meister

Best lesson was at school.
Our science teacher wanted to teach us a little chemistry and some physics.
So he got a trolley and cylinder of Hydrogen and a cylinder of Oxygen pointed the nossels together and ignighted 

ArchtopDave

In recent years, deciding that I would do something special for my 60th birthday - no previous experience, but booked myself on to one of Mark Bailey's Build Your Own Guitar Courses. I've since made 3 guitars with him, and they're all really good instruments.

CabbageCat

I went to a "How to Make a Ridiculous Point With Subtlety" class in Ireland in 1913. It was excellent and I learned a great deal. A bunch of dudes went to "Imaginary Physics for Future Embarrassing Digs" next door which apparently went pretty well too.

Out of interest, Rocker, what was the experiment you guys did?

CHRISB50

When I was about 12 I was in the bath. I think my hand rubbed against my bits. I thought... That felt nice. So I rubbed it a bit more. A few minutes later and... Wow. That day I learned what a wank was. 

I think most of us will agree it's an important lesson to learn. 

RocknRollDave

Don't marry a lesbian.

Sporky

Rocker said:

What was/is your best ever lesson.

How to conduct testing sessions to minimise the effects of expectation and confirmation bias.

Rocker

You might need to brush up on your lesson @Sporky, you appear to be biased and confrontational about almost every post I write. Learn to let it go my friend....

scrumhalf

Fight the battles you can win at a time that you can win them.

rossyamaha

Don't eat yellow snow. 
When going on a blind date, if her name is James, put 2 and 2 together. 
When your wife says do what you want, under NO circumstances do what you want!

Sporky

Rocker said:

You might need to brush up on your lesson @Sporky, you appear to be biased and confrontational about almost every post I write.

You asked a question, I answered it. Learning to conduct valid tests and shootouts has formed a significant part of my career - turns out I'm pretty good at it - and has informed my life in wider ways too. In fact it's not far off what you said was your most important lesson, so I can't understand why you're upset. I'd have thought you'd like the parallel - no need for hostility.

stimpsonslostson

How to post photo bucket photos onto a thread here. 

More seriously:
Don't be a dick. Especially to people like cleaners, janitors and other support staff: they can make your life easier... Or miserable in SO many different ways. 

joeyowen

To not judge people on their money 

I worked in the bank for a few years, and I saw millionaires in jeans and a t-shirt. Or people wearing the best everything and looking perfect whilst paying off their 8k credit card bill 

Also, money doesn't make people dicks and bring rich doesn't mean you don't have problems. I know very happy skint people and very unhappy rich people. Snobby dick skint people and worldly generous rich people 

Money doesn't always change a person. 

sinbaadi

Since there is an apt cliche:  "don't judge a book by its cover".  

Also, stress and nerves wear off with practice.  Took me far too long to figure that one out.

bingefeller

Troy Grady's picking videos.  When I saw them it was like everything about alternate picking clicked together.  

Emp_Fab

Never, ever pull the HT lead out of the distributor of a running engine.

lloyd

Specifically for work:

You can think what you like
Say some of what you think
But never write anything down....

or words to that effect by my Taid (granddad)

EricTheWeary

When I was supervising offenders there was an old hand who said when you close a case file always write 'this person will reoffend'  on it as you will be 100% right if a file needs to be re opened. 

axisus

RocknRollDave said:

Don't marry a lesbian.

... Unless you are a lesbian

Alnico

Driving a 38 Tonne DAF 3300 and a tandem axle, steel sprung trailer to Italy and back again with a full load both ways up and down the old switchback roads to the tunnel at Mont Blanc in the mid 90's.