I recently caught up with one of my good friends from school. We hadn’t seen each other in over 2 decades and it was great to hear how each of our lives had changed and how we had grown.

During our discussions he reminded me that he still had the guitar I had sold to him as a teenager and that it was in his office. He didn’t play it much any more however, it reminded him of good times and our friendship. I had always wondered what had happen to this guitar as it was my first electric guitar and all I pretty much did from the day I purchased it was practice. When I had saved enough money to upgrade my guitar, I sold it to my friend and am very glad to hear he still values it to this day.

At the end of our meeting I asked him to send me a photo of the guitar I had sold him which he did a few days later.

When I looked at the photo I could see the condition of the neck of the guitar where I had literally worn out parts of the fret board from continual practice. I remembered being frustrated at times having to stop practice due to bleeding fingers.

Today it is rare that I go through a day without a guitar in my hands at some stage and I am happy to have now passed the gift of musicianship to my children.

As a business coach I often remind my clients that for a season great effort is usually required to achieve an outstanding goal. So when I look at this picture of my first guitar I see the WHY behind the enjoyment I now receive both playing and listening to my children play the guitar.