Advice that stays with me that I believe to be true even though I struggle to follow it: you have to master your scales before you can write your masterpiece sonata, you have to hone the boring fundamental techniques (do those reps, run those laps, make the rectangular buildings) before you can bend those rules into something wild. Otherwise you’ll only have a tripped out vision that can’t stand, even in your imagination. Ambition is only good if it doesn’t make you so impatient that you can’t get your basics straight.