​As a photographer, I am drawn to colorful, challenging subjects.  On a recent visit to family in the St. Louis MO area I was presented with opportunity to capture the elusive hummingbird buzzing around a trio of feeders in my sister-in-law's front yard garden.  The first thing I learned was that hummingbirds are harder to capture with my camera than I thought.  Did you know that hummingbirds beat their wings more than 50 times per second, and even faster in extreme flight mode. They’re also among the fastest fliers for their size, reaching speeds of up to 37 mph, and up to 60 mph in courtship dives.  They also can fly backward and hover. No other bird can match the hummingbird for agility on the wing. They can hover in midair at flowers and feeders, and they’re the only birds that can fly backward. Their wings move in a figure-eight pattern, which allows them to maneuver with ease.  
I made some camera adjustments, but still could not capture a suitable image in sharp focus.    I found over time and lots of practice (I'm thankful that digital images don't cost like film used to and you can get instant feedback on images taken) I was getting closer to a usable image.  I discovered the trick was making sure the hummingbird was square in the middle of my auto-focus box and my shutter speed as at 2000th/sec.
Here is a couple of take-aways I reminded myself of from this challenge that were applicable beyond my photography.
1. Be balanced in the estimation of your abilities.  Capturing these tiny, speedy birds was harder than thought to get an acceptable in focus image.
2. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.  Many folks in life think mere experience is the best teacher.  If that was the case you could have plenty of experience but still not get it right or acceptable.  Every "experience" needs to be evaluated and adjustments made to achieve proficiency of skills that are repeatable for maturity and growth in whatever process you're trying to master.