Kindness and a generous spirit go a long way. And a sense of humor. It's like medicine - very healing.
I do very few standards. Hardly any. Other people's tunes that I do are usually obscure tunes, for the most part, although I do a couple of Duke Ellington tunes that are well known.
I spent twelve years training for a career that was over in a week. Joe Namath spent one week training for a career that lasted twelve years.