Gabriel Hummel

Think Outside Your Box

What does it really mean to think outside the box?

Why does everyone find it so important?

Does it mean trying something new and creative? Does it mean doing something that no one has ever done before? Do you have to feverishly beat your head against the wall until you come up with a great accessory option for an ipad that no one has thought of yet?

What if thinking outside of the box simply meant thinking outside of YOUR box

Imagine if you’re a painter, writer, or musician and your full time job is to be creative 24/7

Would you really want to think outside the box more and ponder some deep seeded lyrics or think of the best way to use a toothbrush as a painting instrument in order to stand out, or would it be a lot more fun to simply stay at home and do absolutely nothing creative at all for an entire day?

The key to thinking outside the box is to know what type of box you typically find yourself in

If you box is a cubicle that involves banging out TPS reports until you commit Seppuku then maybe thinking outside the box is taking your laptop to a library and doing some writing and research for that awesome article you have always thought about writing

If you are a fitness junkie akin to Arnold during his Mr. Universe phase and find yourself at the gym more than a post pregnancy American pop star, then maybe thinking outside the box would involve a nice day lounging at home with your new copy of Starcraft 2

The importance of thinking outside the box isn’t the concept of forcing yourself to do something that no one has done before, its forcing yourself to do something that YOU haven’t done before

Every time you step outside the box, even if just for a brief moment, you will not only learn something about yourself, but you just might get some insight to that next great idea that makes a big impact on your own life, and not something that has to fundamentally alter the space time continuum

Think outside your box

Gabriel

Travel Quotes To Inspire International Escapades

Here are a selection of travel quotes that will not only offer some inspiration to spur your future adventures, but at a minimum can serve as a cool motivational poster to hang next to your “team player” self help wall ornament

“Culture is the sea we swim in — so pervasive, so all-consuming, that we fail to notice its existence until we stop out of it. It matters more than we think.”

Eric Weiner

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

St. Augustine

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

Mark Twain

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

Henry Miller

“The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home — and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries.”

Rolf Potts

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

Lao Tzu

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.”

Robert Frost

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.”

Caskie Stinnett

And one more to really ponder why you aren’t already living as digital nomad

“Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

Paulo Coelho

One step forward

Gabriel

Fat, Stupid, and Socially Retarded

Usually I try to make my posts on the more uplifting side, something not quite akin to Anthony Robbins but more like that coach that yelled at you but always took you aside and told you that you could do it if you busted your ass

Yeah a coach with a big megaphone and a “omg loud” voice (check on one of those things)

But alas I need to make a post that Is not quite as uplifting, with the only reason to be a buzz kill being that I have noticed some crazy crap going on lately

When did a message on Facebook constitute a proper happy birthday to someone?

When did it become easier to IM someone than meet them and have a real conversation?

Why are we becoming less active, more antisocial, and less intelligent?

I am somewhat frightened as to the potential future for America, instead of having a bunch of badass, smart, fit, street smart armed adults, we are on the verge of becoming a nation of fat, uneducated, work obsessed, antisocial people who bear a striking resemblance to the humans featured in Wall-E

When I see that people go out to dinner with friends, lovers, family and spend more time on their cell phone than talking with the people that matter most in life, that bothers me

When people value an 80 hour work week over spending time during the week to exercise and get active, I wonder about their health

When people care more about going to school just so they can earn a living in some career path that has no interest to them whatsoever but is, “the smart move”, I cringe in pain

I respect the fact that not everyone is going to run around and be a superhero and spend less time at work, spend more time with friends and family, and also spend more time at the gym instead of at Arby’s, but If things like that aren’t important to you, what is exactly?

I love finding passion projects to spend time on, whether its writing a book, cooking an elaborate meal, planning my next travel adventure, but I always make sure that I find time to do the things that are really important

“What is really important to you?”

That is the question that I ask our younger generation and often fear at the potential response

We have lots of people that are doing amazing things with their small business, startup, or even people making huge leaps while climbing the corporate ladder, but what else?

Do the people who are work obsessed find time to address all those basic needs that anyone would be hard pressed to argue with?

Sure we all need food, shelter, and water, but the more core human needs of love, family, fit mind and body, passion for work

I think that everyone on this planet should have all of those things (in addition to a bunch of other really cool and important stuff) but it seems that less and less people share my philosophy

I am not completely discouraged, however

I have watched people who were far more resistant to change make drastic changes in their life for the better

My mother decides to go to the gym 5 days a week and get on board with eating even healthier, whole, foods (She is even recording and researching what she eats on a Android phone)

I see more and more people out to meet new people just for the sake of sharing ideas and a few laughs with my meet up groups online

I see friends trying new food, ideas, activities, and new experiences and embracing the things they really enjoy

I do not believe that we are doomed to be a nation of fat, stupid, social retards

I do know that if some changes aren’t made in the near future, our upcoming generation is totally screwed

I am seeing a lot of people waking up to this fact and taking measures in order to insure that we are not falling down a black hole of near despair, and as long as more people jump on board then we will start to see some more radical changes for the better

So maybe this wasn’t a sad post, but a hopeful one for the future that is still forming

As long as people begin to stop “checking in” at every Starbucks they walk into and decide to have a cup of coffee with a friend in real life instead of sending them some crops of beans via Farmville, I think everyone will be just fine

Hopeful

Gabriel

Death by Productivity

I have noticed a very perverse trend in the world of self improvement recently

No its not more people trying to sell on the idea that all you need to be rich is to constantly fantasize about having a pool of money with a bunch of naked chicks dancing around it

Being productive

Awesome concept in theory, basically get more things done that actually matter to you and less things done that have no positive impact in your life

Sounds great right?

It is great, as long as you spend some time goofing off as well

It seems as if every financial, self help, nutrition, and cat hypnotist blog on the planet is selling out the idea of making your life more productive

They have tips, tricks, guides, ideas, and generally all that you need in order to stop spending 5 hours a day in front of a TV and pick up that novel you have always wanted to read, or at least read a book with some pictures in it

Its these people who are trying to make your life better but might be in-adversely hurting you in the process

You can get the yellow fever equivalent of many self help junkies

Over productiveness

What are the symptoms you might ask?

A unrelenting desire to do something productive at all times of the day.
Going to the bathroom and at any given moment thinking about how you should be reading a book while doing your morning “cleanse”
Beating yourself up for downloading and watching last week’s episode of entourage and promising that next week you will rewrite a encyclopedia instead as reoperations
Constantly updating and checking your to do list on your iphone so you don’t miss an opportune time to get something accomplished while you wait in line at the baseball game

You get the idea, it’s basically obsessing over getting “important” things done in your life at all times

I know that something like this exists not just because people talk about it on forums on the internet, but also because I went through it myself for a period of time

I was obsessed with only spending time doing things that mattered, and after nearing burning myself out to the point of exhaustion I realized that in order to actually enjoy life, you need to have a healthy mix of productive, goal oriented time, and time best spent watching TV or mindlessly shooting zombies on your Xbox

But how do you find the right balance?

Depends

If you already spend almost all of your time watching TV, it’s probably a good idea to do the extreme opposite for a while and find a smooth middle ground between the two

If you are already an overachiever, try watching all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back and then reassess how much time each day you should spend doing “mindless” activities

Everyone will be different, and just because Joe down the street has written 18 books and done 4 marathons and is in talks with Spielberg for a movie adaptation of his latest screenplay doesn’t mean you need to be as productive as him

Hell, for all you know, he could be miserable as hell with no time to reminisce after a night of glory with his chosen mate because he is too busy furiously punching away at his keyboard

Do I want you to use this post as an excuse to sit on your ass longer and get nothing done?

Hell no

Do I want you to understand that like anything in life, balance is necessary in order to succeed so that might mean mixing a bit of video games in with your latest painting your trying to finish?

Hell yes

Put down the to-do list

Gabriel

Attack Of The Robots From Outer Space

Do you ever fear a pending attack from giant robots in outer space?

Probably not

Do you ever fear that you might find yourself in in a coffee shop with no iphone, gps, laptop, or even a watch?

I may have just sent shivers up your spine

Recently I just got a brand new toy to play with, you know, the phone with the robots and the big red check-mark? Yeah, that one

I have been using a smartphone for over two years now, and as a whole it has really helped me out over the years

Aimless Internet browsing got me through the mind numbing, soul sucking, head banging college courses

Google maps helped me find that one apartment complex that otherwise would have remained buried behind a local burger joint

Jamming out to Armin Van Buuren has never been easier with my trusty phone in my pocket and two weights in both of my hands

My phone served as my lifeline for a lot of different things and played the role of my primary mp3 player, phone, calendar, note taker, gps, and even printer of hundred dollar bills

But in lust for technological superiority, did I become codependent?

Could I leave my phone at home and not frantically wonder when the next twitter update was going to come in?

What would happen if I didn’t hear about the next great deal on slickdeals before it became expired?

My life would be over as I knew it……or would it?

What if I always had my phone on silent

What if I only looked at my phone when I needed it, and not the other way around?

What if I viewed my phone as a tool and not my lifeline?

What if when I went on vacation to Japan I decide to leave my *311 at home?

Much like the pending attack of robots from outer space, you will likely have a much greater fear and discomfort in relation to leaving your phone at home in place of having to grab a ray gun and point it at the nearest giant mechanical beast

I propose a challenge to you

Leave your big screened, death gripped, and overall OCD device at home the next time you head out

You just might find that not getting the update about the pending robot invasion may be the best kind of news you don’t get all day

Unplug

Gabriel

Think Outside Your Box

Travel Quotes To Inspire International Escapades

Fat, Stupid, and Socially Retarded

Death by Productivity

Attack Of The Robots From Outer Space

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