Gabriel Hummel

Builders Are Better Than Quitters

If you build it, they will come

Do you want to know what is totally unacceptable?

No it’s not a reference to the only good movie Kevin Costner made

Its quitters

Of all of the problems that people are faced with, quitting seems to be the number one source of pain and frustration in our society

People love to quit things

“At least I tried”

“I gave it my best shot”

“I don’t care about that anymore”

We all know what these self assuring phrases sound like; we use them all the time

When you try something new, or fall into old habits, people around you will not only be sympathetic to your ordeal, but they will offer condolence in the most detrimental way possible

“Don’t worry about it”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway”

Are they trying to condemn you to a life of mediocrity? Of course not, they are trying to help you in your time of need, but executing it in all the wrong ways

Quitting happens when you try to lose weight, but give up because it’s too hard

Quitting happens when you hear about that shiny new position at work, but don’t even bother to apply

Quitting happens when you try thing after thing, but because none of it sticks you just move onto the next new thing

Quitting is damaging the lifestyle you currently have, and the one you want to have

How can one overcome being a quitter?

Be a builder

A builder is someone who is too busy trying to build up the things in their life that they have no time to put down any bricks and quit

Builders spend their time planning as architects, planning out and sculpting in their mind, and with their hands, the ideals for what they want out of their structures

Builders rarely spend time sitting down on the job, because there are personal deadlines to be met and if they quit, there will be personal consequences

Builders have the absolute skill necessary in order to lay bricks in such a way that a perfect foundation for new structures is created

Builders are blessed with ability to have an entire structure fall down in front of them, and pick up the pieces that are left over and make something new and even better

Builders understand that life is like Lego building blocks, anything is possible once they pick up the first brick

Builder or quitter? You decide

Build on

Gabriel

Risk Your Life

playatrisk

“To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk revealing your true self.
To place you ideas, your dreams, before a crowd
Is to risk rejection.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk disappointment.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard
In life is to risk nothing.
Those who risk nothing, do nothing, have nothing,
And become nothing.”

William Arthur Ward

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the saying,

“Risk your life for _______”

Every movie, TV show, random Joe, mother and girlfriend loves to use this proverb

It seems that everything we do these days puts us at serious risk for our lives

Whether we are smoking a cigar, eating fried foods, going on airplanes, anything and everything has been on the hot seat for being a potential detriment to our health

Eating right and not lighting up aside, is this the real source of risking your life?

Of course not

To risk one’s life is to put one’s self on the line, to try where everyone else has failed, to put an inordinate amount of effort behind something that you believe in, but has little chance of success

True risk of one’s life only happens for a select group of people

And while many people might pin these people as skydivers, cliff jumpers, or whalers, they are simply everyday people who put the passion behind trying for things they truly believe in

Whether you are starting your own business that you don’t think can compete with the big guys

Putting your true self out there when meeting some attractive person at the bar

Or even taking the time to tell your kid how much you are proud of their death metal band

To risk is to live

If you are not going out of your way to risk things, you are slowly dying as a person inside

I don’t want to scare you, but if you “play it safe” your whole life and don’t spin the wheel on a regular basis, I can absolutely guarantee you that your death bed will not only dimly surrounded, but you will look back on your life and realized that you truly never lived

Risk it all and play your life like a poker player staring at a pair of 2s

I promise you’ll thank me in the morning

Cheers

Gabriel

Proper Edumacation

EDUCATION Gap 1

Recently I was chatting with a friend of mine about the current job market back in Michigan (shit would be an understatement) and he expressed to me how lucky I was to have a college education backing all of my ridiculous adventures

“You will always have the ability to get a job because you went to college” he says

This statement got me wondering a lot about education and the various twists in turns in the present day education system

Many people see the following pattern the minute anyone starts talking about a proper “edumacation”

1. Preschool

2. Kindergarten

3. Elementary school

4. Middle School

5. High School

6. College (Bachelors)

7. Master’s Degree

8. Doctorate

Across the world some of these are mashed together, and some of the categories don’t exist, but the pattern still remains the same

What blows my mind is that many people believe that you must follow this path in order to have success in life

You need to enroll your kid in preschool so they don’t fall behind in kindergarten

You need to go to college to get a good job and make good money

You need a master’s degree in order to really be competitive in the job market

I am sure you have heard all of this before, and it all sounds like the same old bullshit to me

Now here is a radical idea, what if someone was brought up on a completely different education system?

What if you didn’t spend 8 hours a day sitting in a classroom learning about a lot of crap that will only serve a purpose when you finally get that spot on jeopardy

What if the path to “happiness” wasn’t so damn boring?

Imagine for a moment the following education system

1. Taught by parents or guardians the basic skills needed in order to be affluent in today’s society (math, general science, alphabet)

2. Travel the world and learn about different cultures, ideas, and expose a child to a plethora of new ideas and concepts

3. Obtain teaching and training on a variety of subjects and trades from art teachers in America to diving instructors in Australia

4. Have a greater understanding of who you are, what you like, dislike, and strive to be in life because you have so many points of reference from the vast variety of experiences you have encountered (even by as early as the age of 15)

5. Did apprenticeships and internships with a variety of different leaders in a diverse range of fields (until they found a few that stuck)

How do you think that child would fare against the Harvard graduate with a doctorate in English literature?

Many people would cite that the Harvard grad would have way more book smarts and have a far superior understanding of a variety of topics, and likely would have the benefit of a great career

This is likely true

But trying to compare the two is like comparing Apples to Oranges in many ways

Not everyone is going to be a Harvard grad with a doctorate; in fact most will have a high school degree or bachelors from a general university

But still comparing to the Harvard grad, the worldly student without the formal education will be just as well equipped to make it in the “real world” as the Harvard grad, and could be just as successful and happy as they are (maybe even more)

Don’t believe me?

Do a quick Google search for traveling families or home school education vs. institution based

Should everyone pull their kid out of school and travel to Cambodia then?

Of course not

The idea is that you should challenge what is really means to be educated, and understand that whether you value book smarts, street smarts, a traditional or crazy ass educational system, the path to learning the most in life must have an open mind

You know that the smartest, happiness, and most successful people in the world did not get that way form diligently reading the same textbooks for a decade

As long as you spend the time to learn from as many sources as possible and continue to learn until the day you die, you will have success in life

No home schooling or Harvard PhD will change that

Live and learn

Gabriel

Spreading the Wealth

(Great picture, lame message)

So let’s say that you are like Richie Rich in life

Maybe not with things, but more so with knowledge, skills, and relationships

Whether you are an expert on electronics, know how to easily create a work of art, or simple know how to drink a pitcher of beer in under 5 seconds, there are areas in your life that you have some level of talent over

These talents are things that either came to you naturally or grew over the course of much trial and error. The beauty of having these talents is that they will typically never leave you, especially if you enjoy practicing them on a regular basis

Now for the million dollar question, do you like to share that information?

Are you the type of person who finds it hard to keep a secret that is going to impact someone’s life in a majorly positive way?

Do you know the best way to make a model train and spend time with children showing them how a whole world can be created with only a few tools?

Do you know how to lift people’s spirits at the drop of a hat and make it your business to put a smile on as many people’s faces as humanly possible?

Or are you a hoarder?

Do you know the best technique to shoot a 3 pointer but refuse to expose your secret?

Are you a talented writer who doesn’t want to share their work for fear of people stealing your ideas?

Do you know the secret to happiness but don’t want to tell anyone else because you are afraid of what they might think of you?

It is important to understand not only what your “good stuff” is, but to share it as much as possible

Just like when you do some form of charity work and get a high from helping others, the exact same feeling comes when you push your talents into the limelight in an effort to enrich other people’s lives

When you hoard information, ideas, talents, anything really, your life will feel emptier despite the fact that you are holding onto more stuff

Think of it like when you hear a bit of good news about a close friend, and you cannot wait to tell the first person you see all about it. That is how you should treat your talents, skills, valuable information, and your positive feelings when interacting with anyone

I don’t want you running our and trying to be the next starter of the hippie revolution and put daisies in people’s gun barrels and smoke pot all day. Simply make a conscious effort to push out all the great stuff you run into

Don’t worry about people taking your ideas

Think about the passion you are adding to people’s lives

Don’t think your creations aren’t good enough for the public eye

Feel great that you have the balls to put yourself out there

Go out and spread the wealth

I promise you will come back richer than you were before

Cheers

Gabriel

Are You Rich?

richness_1

I know of two kinds of rich people in this world

Some people are rich with things; they have money, cars, houses, toys, people, relationships, extravagancies

Some people are rich in mind and spirit; they have inner peace, happiness, relationships, love

While there are differences between these two different types of people, they are not mutually exclusive

You can be the special type of person who is rich with things but also has a multitude of loving relationships, just as much as you can be a person who is rich in mind and has a small collection of priceless comic books

The key thing here is not to place one type of person above another, but rather to understand that these illustrious differences do indeed exists and in order for us to pursue either front, different steps needs to be taken

I would be lying if I said having some nice things doesn’t make a bit easier and can add a great deal of excitement

I would also be called out on bullshitting if I said that all you need in life is inner peace, because as great as it is to feel great all the time, it’s kind of hard to be happy when you have no place to sleep

It’s important to recognize what type of person you are now, and what type of person you are striving to be. Whether you are trying to be the next Bill Gates with a heart of gold, or a self absorbed sports athlete that loves things over people, you need to know that these types exist in order to make your journey easier

Now there is an illustrious 3^rd type of person that does exists in the grand scheme of things

This person is so super fucking secret that no one really talks about it, but yet everyone knows of someone like this

What I am hinting at is the person who not only has inner peace and joy in nearly all aspects of his life, but also is rich financially. Think the Dali Lama with spinners on his car

This is the ideal in my opinion

Not only have you achieved happiness in your life no matter what, and recognize the richness that exists even when you can’t put food on your plate, you can also afford to splurge and go on exciting adventures in exotic lands that may have not been available to you and your loved ones without the proper financial resources

That sounds pretty damn awesome if you ask me

So remember, there are really 3 rich types in the world, aim for the balanced partner and your life will be that much more awesome

Cheers

Gabriel

Builders Are Better Than Quitters

Risk Your Life

Proper Edumacation

Are You Rich?

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