Originally Posted by: guitarist101Applies to alot more than changing strings too... I've screwed many things up (and every once in a while, I'll learn something that'll change my life/whatever entirely - for the better).

Same here. I remember when I was in my early teens, I was always led to believe that you had to know how to do something by being taught by somebody like a teacher. Like changing oil on a car, or fixing something around the house. It was just the way I was brought up and the way my parents did things. If something was broken, you called somebody who knew what they were doing.

One day my dad locked his keys in the car, and he's about to call a locksmith. My best friend at the time took total charge of the situation, went in through the trunk, took out the back seat, crawled through and got the door open for him. Then put the seat back in.
As we were leaving I asked him in amazement 'how did you learn how to do that?'
He says 'I just figured it out as I was doing it'
As if it was nothing.

But major life changing moment on my part. Like a lightbulb going off in my brain... holy crap..you could actually figure out how to do something while you were doing it and not have to be taught how?? I think that one event shaped just about everything else that's ever happened in my life cause now when everybody's standing around saying things like 'I don't know how to use a VCR' or 'I don't understand computers' or 'I don't know how to do that' or whatever, I think back to that moment and the first thing I do is jump in start trying to figure it out for myself. 9 times out of 10, I can solve the problem myself.

Saved me a bundle on home repairs, learned guitar, recording and computers, web programming, photography and film editing...the list is endless.

I think if my friend hadn't done that that day, I'd never have taken up guitar or learned half the things I know now.