Leave ’em better than you found ’em

I can’t stand doom and gloomers. In fact, I highly advise you to cut them out of your life.

Doom and gloomers are not productive. In fact, they’re counterproductive. They end up turning into nihilistic douchebags like that Nirvana dipshit.

I strongly believe we all have a purpose. Each one of us.

You have to figure it out though. What are you good at? Well, there’s your start.

For some (myself included), you have to create your own purpose.

Mine is to create beauty. I create beauty in two different ways – music and art. Unfortunately, my music doesn’t sell at all. The first EP cost me about $10k to make and I’ve sold between 30 and 40 of them.

My paintings on the other hand sell for more money than I’ve ever made in music combined, including when I used to offer private guitar lessons. So needless to say, I focus more on my paintings now. Being broke isn’t exactly fun.

So what’s this article about? It’s simply about leaving the world a better place than you found it. If you’re a nihilistic douchebag, you won’t do that because you believe it’s all futile.

Well, here’s how to start…

When you borrow something

I’ve loaned my car out before. And I’ve borrowed others’ cars before.

When I borrow your car, you’ll get it back as clean or cleaner than it was before. Plus, you’ll get it back with a full tank of gas. Yes, even if it was totally empty when I borrowed it.

It’s out of general principle. I return anything I borrowed from you the same or better when you loaned it out.

That’s one credit I’ll give my main model before Allie. She didn’t drive at the time but when I’d drive her somewhere, she’d wash my car for me.

You don’t have to be rich to leave the world a better place than you found it. She needed a ride. She washed my car. That, is cool.

When you meet someone

I don’t waste time. It’s funny because I got a friend of mine who assumes every male jerks off to porn. Project much?

Anyways, I see it as a waste of time. That’s also why I deleted my social media accounts because they’re time sinks.

The same thing with people. When I meet you, I’ll talk about something positive and productive. I won’t waste your time. And I’d appreciate it if you won’t waste mine either.

When you have this mindset, you’ll have much better conversations. I’ve had some wonderful conversations over the years and one recently that went into 4AM from someone I met thru social media before I deleted that account.

I generally stay positive too. I don’t complain.

No, my life isn’t perfect. I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder right now and it’s preventing me from doing double digit pull-ups. But when I meet you, I’m not even going to mention it. I’m not that guy who complains about physical pain unless you’re either my chiropractor, my personal trainer, or my masseuse.

Those three hear every ailment I have. Then between the three of them, they fix my problems.

But when we talk, you’ll hear about a wide variety of subjects because I’m good at a lot of things.

I know the arts very well. I know history very well. I know this stuff because I listen to people when they talk rather than just trying to get my sentences in. I also read books.

I even know the NFL very well. I try to bet on every Super Bowl and I’m almost always right. In fact, I even got the Giants over the Patriots after the 2007 season correct. If I remember correctly, they were 14 point underdogs.

Listeners kick ass

Have you noticed that when you talk to a lot of people, they’re barely listening and they’re more focused on talking? And even when you’re talking, you notice they’re queuing in their next sentences?

Yeah. Conversations with those folks are rarely productive.

That’s also why I never go to the hospital. People who work there rarely listen. That’s probably the main reason why going to a hospital is so dangerous.

“What?”

Yes, I said what I said. I’ll only go to the hospital if it were an absolute emergency nowadays.

Medical errors the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States of America. Medical errors range between 250k and 440k deaths every year. You read that right. Medical errors. That’s not when you’re already dying and you drop dead in the hospital.

That’s when the hospital fucks up and kills you.

Last time I went to a doctor to get my cauliflower ears drained, the nurse said it was cancer and sent me to a specialist. So, I got to see the specialist and he apologized for her. He said “do you box, wrestle, or play football?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“All of them.”

Simple. All she had to do was drain my fucking ear rather than making a mountain out of a molehill.

She never bothered to ask me how I got it and even when I told her, I’m very sure it went in one ear and out the other.

So when I meet a good listener, I end up loving that person. Big time.

A higher purpose

I’m not you and you’re not me. So yours and my higher purpose may or may not be the same.

Mine is to create beauty. Because beauty is one of the highest, most important things on the planet.

For my eyes, there’s nothing more beautiful than a beautiful woman. I’ll add birds, flowers, sunsets, and waves to my paintings. But the core of the painting is always the same – a beautiful woman or two. Sometimes even three.

This all goes back to leaving the world a better place than you found it. I’ll leave behind some beautiful tunes and a lot of beautiful paintings.

Every month, I’m getting better as an artist. I’m taking lessons too because there’s nothing like having a good coach. And that applies to everything. I got a weightlifting coach (my personal trainer), an art coach (my art teacher), and even two language coaches (I’m currently taking Romanian lessons from 2 different people). I hire coaches for everything because that’s how I learn best.