Gabriel Hummel

The Last Percent

Ever not given 100% when doing something?

Of course you have, we all have

Sometimes you put out a low amount of effort when you see your kitchen sink full of a small bacteria army, and other times you huff and puff as you drag yourself into the gym in the morning

Occasionally we find ourselves in a situation that is fairly routine, not ideal, and certainly would be avoided like the bubonic plague if possible

This is totally fine

I am not a huge purveyor of the idea, “give it 100% all the time 24/7 because you are doing yourself and society a disservice if you aren’t busting your ass all the time”

While it seems many self help people will say otherwise, I say don’t worry about putting worth your best effort on absolutely everything you do, as you will likely get drained very quickly

Don’t mistake my easy nature for a license to slack off though

There is some method to the madness of putting forth 100% of the effort the whole way through

Squeezing out those last percentage points on the things that truly matter in your life will make a drastic change in the quality of your life

Anyone who works out a lot will tell you the major difference between a 90% and 100% effort workout

All successful businessmen will tell you that it’s when a project got all of their focus and not just a portion of it that it truly succeeded

You need to take this “All or Nothing” philosophy to heart whenever you find yourself working on something that you know is important to who you are

Taking out the trash? Probably not

Writing in your journal? Probably yes

Make these distinctions, and don’t let your “half-ass” list get to long

Once you have a clear idea in your mind, it becomes painfully obvious that pushing out those last percentage points of effort will make all the difference in the world

It’s that final barrage of effort that turns an okay project into an awesome one

It’s the last push that makes your art a masterpiece

It’s one percentage point that wins the game instead of losing it

Fight for those last percentage points, and I swear you will notice a difference

100%

Gabriel

But I Just Wanted to Help

So you have this big shiny new plan for your life and you are super excited that you have actually started taking steps to making a reality of your wildest fantasy

Awesome

You feel the need to spread the love to as many people as possible. Friends, family members, spouses, and even the homeless guy you see with the same unoriginal sign every day on your drive to work seem to be appropriate targets for your cheerfulness

In your attempts to spread the love, you inadvertently break your vow of humbleness and begin on the path of gloating

Your gloating quickly turns to lecturing; about how the people in your life should be jumping on your “get shit done” bandwagon and going for gold just like you

“Be Like Mike” seems to your new motto (replacing Mike with your name of course)

I am in full blown support for people trying to change other people’s lives, but many people make this critical mistake of stepping on other people’s toes and telling them how to live their life

As much as you think other people should make changes in their life, it’s not your call

It’s up to your friends, family, and even that homeless guy with the sign to decide to make a change in their own lives. This would be a change that they want

You cannot assume that other people want to change any aspect of their life, let alone what that change might be

Even if people complain to you about how their life isn’t the way they want it, it is not your position to tell them “how it is”

Only after these people decide that change is needed, and they come to you looking for a resource or an idea, then share with them things that helped you, and leave it at that

It is their responsibility and advantageous for them to follow down the same path of self discovery that you did, with the only expectations being in life threatening situations

They will go much further on their own path than ever if they had you there to hodl their hand the whole time

In those special moments when people truly want some sound advice, merely act like a signpost and help to point them on the path that has less heartache and more challenges

To wrap it up, I am damn proud of you for making a change, and even happier that you want to help to make changes in other people’s lives as a result

Just don’t force the change, let it happen

Don’t be stepping on toes

Gabriel

Goals Run Deep

One of the most important things you can do for your is to set goals

Personal

Professional

Personable

Anything and everything goes when it comes to setting and goal and pushing towards it. I would go as far as to say that if you don’t have any goals you are aiming for in life, you are simply wasting your time on this planet

That being said, there are some potential pitfalls that need to be addressed

Many people who set goals put way to much stock into the minute details behind them, and they spend so much time beating themselves up over not achieving certain aspects of their goals that they loose their passion and give up

Other people obsess about a goal until it consumes their life, they can think of nothing else other than making that goal a reality. While this may seem very productive on the surface, it can often wreck other areas of your life

Others simply set the bar way to high initially, and when they fail to fall in alignment with their expectations, they become a self hater and underachiever

There are lots of hang ups with goal setting, but it is still drastically important to getting more of the good stuff out of life

A good way to overcome these potential roadblocks is to setup a timetable of goals

Have short term, mid-range, and long term goal checkpoints that serve as reminders for some greater vision

For example, say you want to start a business. No matter how many times you watch the secret, you will not have a restaurant overnight

Instead set an initial goal of scouting out the perfect location for your dream restaurant, then set another for coming up with a great design, another for cuisine served, etc

The key is to develop easily actionable steps that will lead to progress towards your major goal

If you continue to set and accomplish smaller goals that lead to your big goal, you will find the process to be a lot more enjoyable, effective, and far less daunting and time consuming

Then before you know it, you will be one step closer towards living the life you want

Gooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll

Gabriel

Happy Anniversary

I just want to keep it short and sweet, even though I could likely write multiple pages of thanks and appreciation

This website was first launched a year ago this time. It has grown from a small wordpress.com site to a growing entity capable nearly capable of world domination. I have only one person to thank for all of my success.

The fan

You, the readers of my site who recieve my emails in your inbox everyday and listen to my ramblings every single week

Without you this site would be nothing

I cannot express how grateful I am, and how happy I am to be running this site

Cheers to you all

Here is to another 5 years

Gabriel

Saving the World, One Purchase at a Time

Eco friendly bags

Recyclable lap tops

Hemp clothing (non smoke-able)

There is a trend that is overtaking our nation faster than a naked person getting attacked by sex addicts

The “Green Movement”

What is this movement you might ask?

This movement is about saving the environment, or at least that’s what its suppose to be about

People everywhere are finding out ways to help reduce their carbon footprint in the world, and making them feel better about themselves in the process

Is there anything wrong with this? Not directly

People wanting to make a difference? Good stuff

People wanting to feel better about themselves? Amen

People running around buying more stuff to replace the stuff they already have so they can be part of the green bandwagon in order to feel good about themselves? Lame

These people may have their heart in the right place, but advertisers and the population mass have gotten to them and turned something that should be amazing into something that is best left in the market of clothing, technology, and other random acts of consumerism

Case and point, you do not need to run about and by a recyclable apple computer and a horde bio degenerating cleaning products right now in order to help the environment

I am not the crowning man of the green movement trying to lead the world with my hemp made cape and organic raw smoothie in hand, but I know marketing bullshit when I see it

I also know enough to tell you that there are far superior ways to help save our planet, and upgrade your reality a bit, without the need to whip out the checkbook or be part of the in crowd

Some examples that actually do a lot of good

1) Stop wasting water by taking shorter showers, fixing your leaky toilet, and turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth (and save over 200 gallons of water a day)

2) If commuting to work via bicycle isn’t an option, consider walking or cycling the next time you want to go to your local coffee shop or convenience store instead of using the car

3) Recycle (duh)

4) When your gadgets, clothes, furniture, etc breaks and needs to be replaced then consider buying something that is a more ecologically sound replacement (but don’t freak out about it, even hippies have iPhones)

There are literally a million things you can do, just pick and choose the ones that seem the most feasible and you will be a step ahead of hardcore Whole Foods shoppers without the extra stuff, money spent, and generally misguided efforts to save the planet

Who knows? You might even feel pretty damn good about yourself

Get greener

Gabriel

The Last Percent

But I Just Wanted to Help

Goals Run Deep

Happy Anniversary

Saving the World, One Purchase at a Time

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