Here's a mindset that I've lucked into and have come to realize is valuable: when I play on a recording date, I don't want anything else out of that experience than for it to be the best reflection possible of where I am at the time.
If you don't know me, I bet you think this is cope; after all, so many musicians want to wait until they're ready and to deliver the world the best possible document of their musicianship. But my discography proves that I hold this belief sincerely. I hardly know any musician friends who would have put out what became Aim to Stay after five years on the shelf, having been recorded in the middle of a raw youth.
I'm not trying to become something or prove anything. I just want that recording to capture who I am and to continue serving as the best reflection of me. (And my relationships with those who recorded with me.) Both my first two albums have been exactly that. As I travel through time, they're the best reflections I'm ever going to have.