What One New Thing?

A project finished without learning one new thing is a wasted project.

I’ve been doing a lot of recording studio work this year. That was unexpected.

With each project, I’ve been honing skills I developed in my college and grad school years, and then more or less rested on since. I had occasional projects, but nothing regular.

So with each project, I’ve asked myself this question: “What one new thing do I want to learn how to do?”

(Okay, sometimes I need to learn to do two or three new things in Pro Tools for one project…)

Once I know the answer to that question, I can usually find out how to execute it with a targeted Duck Duck Go search, a text to a friend, or just 30 minutes spent poking around the application. And with diligence, I can hold onto that knowledge for future projects, and then add one more new thing.

Regardless of the domain, every project is an opportunity to learn how to do “one new thing.” And over time, those new things can add up to a lot of things!

A project completed without learning one new thing is a wasted project.