I have two favorite drummers of all time. They are radically different from each other. But what I love about them is the same.

[Stewart Copeland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Copeland) is best known as drummer for [The Police](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Police). As a drummer, he is best known for his precision and his ability to get a myriad of versatility using a relatively small drum kit.

[Alex Van Halen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Van_Halen) is the drummer for [Van Halen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen). As a drummer, he is best known for his big sound and for is ability to, in the space of a four minute song, make use of every piece of his very large drum kit.

You may look at these two and wonder how they could possibly have anything, outside of being drummers, in common. Here’s how: They both take the tools at hand and use them to their fullest extent. Big or small, they each squeeze every drop from their sets. In doing so, they each have carved out a place of their own in the history of modern rock music.

It is a reminder for me to try to do the same. No matter if I am using pen and paper, a smartphone, or a desktop computer. Command the tool at hand, squeeze every drop, carve out a place.