Seems to be a lot of emphasis on take downs. Some can be difficult and it is always important to be safe and efficient. But still, I love doing takedowns and 60-70% of them can be performed with little stress. The stressful ones are even more fun just performed more carefully. But I never let takedowns stroke my ego, they are still pretty simple and are not in my opinion the definition of an arborist.
In my limited experience the difficulty in tree care lies in the trees that are still alive and are going to stay that way. Caring for trees, diagnosing their problems, acting as mediator between the trees and the people, treating customers and employees in an ethical and fair manner, always focusing on safety, and making decisions in the best interest of the living trees are where the true challenges lie for me. Take downs are fun and for me are the gravy of the job, but they don't make anybody superior because they can drop a tree faster (9.8 m/s/s)?.