Yeah that’s right; you heard me… I’m
talking to you… I’m calling you out.
I’m looking you in the eyes, (ok well, not really
since you are probably reading this article, but figuratively, I am burning a
cyclops type hole in your face right now) and telling you that you don’t stand
a chance.
I’m telling you that if you can read this article,
look through this list and not claim it as your own, then you should be a
little worried.
Actually, you should be very worried. You should
drop everything and immediately question your existence on earth. You should
find a mirror, look yourself in the eyes, raise your hand and slap yourself in
the face.
Got it? Now repeat that until you come to your
senses and continue reading whenever you’re ready.
I’m Talkin’ ‘Bout Street Skills Son!
I’m not talking about the: study hard, party light,
graduate top-of-your-class skills.
I’m not even talking about the: slack-off, skip
class, smoke weed, drink and party but still graduate, skill-set your $50,000+
diploma has lead you to believe you have.
“I’m talking ’bout, step out your door, make some
moves, and get-some-shit-done, kind of skills! Some, move out your mama’s
house, quit your job — say “fuck the world” — and then actually go do it, kind of
skills”.
The kind of skills you develop in the real world,
outside the bubble of your parents protection or the ideological indoctrination
that has overwhelmed our entire educational system.
Skills that can be had by anyone willing to pay the
price to get them. Skills that are quickly becoming extinct.
I’m talking about skills that cannot be taught in a
classroom or in a textbook. Skills you can only learn by doing; by learning how
to fly after jumping off the cliff.
Skills that can only be developed when you find
your true self. When you put yourself on the line or otherwise expose yourself
to the possibility of failure.
The skills you can only develop when you are
willing to risk it all in order to do that one amazing thing.
Skills that up until now, you thought you had.
“Basically, what I am trying to tell you is that, in this game called
life, you don’t stand a chance…
1 :: Because You Have Not Failed Enough
Because you are comfortable in your mediocrity;
because you choose not to try.
Because it is easier to talk about learning that
new (programming?) language as opposed to actually learning it.
Because you think everything is too hard or too
complicated so you will just “sit this one out”, or maybe you’ll,
“do-it-tomorrow”!
Because you hate your job but won’t get a new one;
because it is easy to reject rejection.
Because while you’re sitting around failing to try,
I am out there trying to fail, challenging myself, learning new things and
failing as fast as possible.
Because as I fail, I learn, and then adjust my
course to make sure my path is always forward. Like the process of annealing
steel, I’ve been through the fire and pounded into shape. The shape of a sword
with polished edges and a razor sharp blade that will cut you in half if you
are not equally hardened.
2 :: Because You Care What Others Think About You
Because you have to fit in.
Because you believe that being different is only
cool if you’re different in the same way that other people are different.
Because you are afraid to embrace your true self
for fear of how the world will see you. You think that because you judge
others, this means that those people must, in-turn, be judging you.
Because you care more about the stuff you have as
opposed to the things you’ve done.
Because while you’re out spending your money on new
outfits, new cars, overpriced meals or nights at the bar, I’ll be investing in
myself. And while you try to fit in with the world I’ll make the world fit in
with me.
Because I will recklessly abandon all insecurities
and expose my true self to the world. I will become immune to the impact of
your opinion and stand naked in a crowd of ideas; comfortable in knowing that
while you married the mundane I explored the exceptional.
3 :: Because You Think You Are Smarter Than You Are
Because you did what everyone else did; you studied
what they studied and read what they read.
Because you learned what you had to learn in order
to pass their tests and you think that makes you smart.
Because you think learning is only something people
do in schools.
Because while you were away at college, I was
studying life; because instead of learning about the world in a classroom I
went out and learned it by living.
Because I know more than any piece of paper you
could ever frame from a university. Because smart is not what you learn, it’s
how you live.
Because I might not have a degree but I challenge
you to find a topic that I can’t talk to you about cohesively.
Because I could pass your tests if I had to, but
you couldn’t stand for a single second in the face of the tests that life has
thrown me. Tests that are not graded on a bell curve or by percentages; tests
that are graded by one simple stipulation: survival!
4 :: Because You Don’t Read
Because you read the things you are required to
read or nothing at all.
Because you think history is boring and philosophy
is stupid.
Because you would rather sit and watch “E!” or
“MTV” instead of exploring something new, instead of diving head first, into
the brain of another man in an attempt to better understand the world around
you.
Because you refuse to acknowledge that all the
power in the world comes from the words of those that lived before us. That
anything you desire can be had by searching through the multitude of words that
are available to us now more abundantly than ever before.
Because you are probably not reading this article
even though you know you should.
Because the people that are reading this already
know these things.
Because you can lead a horse to water but you can’t
make him drink.
5 :: Because You Lack Curiosity
Because you get your news from copy-cat members of
the state-controlled media.
Because you are unwilling to ask this simple
question… “What if it’s all a lie?”, and accept the possibility that maybe it
is; that just maybe, the methods of mass media are under direct orders to: keep
you distracted.
Because you call me a know-it-all but refuse to
call yourself a know-nothing-at-all.
Because I thirst for knowledge, regardless the
topic.
Because while you’re busy playing Candy
Crush, or Megalopolis, I am reading about string theory
and quantum mechanics.
Because while you waste your time with Tosh.o I am
learning how to edit video, build websites and design mobile apps.
Because if we were to go heads-up in a debate, I
would crush you. I would make it a point to defeat my own argument; from every
imaginable angle; in order to understand everything you might be able to use
against me.
Because I would dedicate myself to understanding
both sides of the argument so thoroughly that I could argue your side for you
and win; even after having just handed you a defeat in the same debate.
6 :: Because You Don’t Ask Enough Questions
Because you do not question authority.
Because you don’t question yourself.
Because you don’t understand the power of properly
placed questioning in life, respectful disagreements and standing up for what
you know to be right in the face of someone telling you otherwise. Unable to
question reality; stuck in a self imposed survival strategy within a
matrix-style monotony.
Because I know that you will give me all the
information I need to destroy you by letting you talk.
Because I study human behaviors and you ignore
everyone but yourself.
Because I watch how you say the things you say just
as closely as I listen to what you say; and you say way too much!
Because control comes, not from spewing your
ignorance like some incurable case of logorrhea, but from properly structuring
the context of your questions.
Because I study the premise of your argument and
destroy it from the ground level before you even get a chance to establish your
ideas.
7 :: Because You Can’t Handle The Truth
Because you refuse to admit that you don’t even
know the things you don’t know.
Because there isn’t an article online that would
make up for all the time you have wasted in life.
Because even if I told you everything could be
different tomorrow you would wait until then to begin doing anything about it.
Because even when you think I’m not, I’m aware of
my surroundings.
Because you think that since I have not
acknowledged you, it means that I have not seen you.
Because, you walk around with your head up your
ass, oblivious to the world around you. Blissfully ignorant of the reality that
sits so close to your face that if you stuck your tongue out, just once, you
would taste it and realize how delicious the truth actually is.
Because you would become an instant addict. Unable
to pull yourself from the teat of truth. Finally able to understand your lack
of understanding, and then you would see; then you would know that the only
thing holding you back from doing something truly amazing, is you!