Name: Things No One Else Can Teach Us
Rating: 4.6 (646 reviews)
Author: Humble the Poet

What’s in it for me? Learn to live life on your own terms.

Humble the Poet has experienced plenty of setbacks.

As a Sikh spoken word artist who wears a turban, he’s no stranger to racism and discrimination. He’s also had to put up with fierce criticism from members of his community, who felt he was disrespecting his culture and faith.

To follow his dreams, he quit his day job as a teacher and went into debt. Along the way, he’s been lonely and full of self-doubt. He’s put his trust in scam artists and had lousy performances. He’s also had his heart broken numerous times.

You could say that he’s an expert in adversity. But today, he wears each of those setbacks and failures on his sleeve, because he knows that none of the triumphs in his career could have existed without those difficult times.

Humble’s wise and raw revelations about living an authentic life on your own terms have inspired his millions of fans. In this Blink, you’ll get insight into six key teachings from his book Things No One Else Can Teach Us.

In this Blink, you’ll learn

why accepting death is the key to living a fulfilling life;
how ping-pong can save you from yourself; and
why indulging in self-pity is like eating at McDonald’s.

Life is finite, so guzzle all the joy you can while you can.

When you’re born, you’re born with a finite number of breaths. That’s right. You have, in a sense, an “expiration date.” Does that sound terrifying?

Well, death scares most people. Hearing that you, too, will die could make you want to hide under the covers and refuse to come out.

But pretending you’ll be here forever can be even worse. The truth is that as soon as you accept that everything is finite – even your life – you’ll be able to value what you actually have in the moment. Everything is temporary.

But you’re here right now.

Here to love and connect and hold your grandmother’s hands in your own, eat delicious food, drink in the faces of your children, and feel sand under your feet or the swish of your skirt as you walk down the street. You’re here to admire that tiny flower growing through the cracks in the pavement and to swoon as you listen to a beautiful song. The fact that it won’t last doesn’t make it less special. It makes it even more special.

So, right this moment, take some time to think about what’s important to you. Let your life flash before your eyes. Which parts of it light you up? Who really matters? What really matters?

Throw away the map and follow your internal compass.

Charting a new future for yourself can sometimes feel like being stuck in the middle of a fierce storm. Visibility is poor and you don’t know where you’re going. The map that you’ve been following doesn’t apply anymore. So you’ve thrown it away.

That means you’re free.

Get back in touch with the delight of doing something for its own sake.

Living in Los Angeles, Humble the Poet had bought into the city’s hustle culture. Everyone was ambitious and hard-working. He admired their grit and was determined to emulate it. So he forced himself to write every day, make music, post on social media to try and grow his audience, and try to get meetings with important people.

As he became more successful, he also became more strung out. He kept track of how many times his songs were downloaded; how many people liked his posts. He compared himself to even more successful and established artists, like Pharrell. He was desperate to have a massive hit and everything in his life became about working toward that goal. In the process, he lost sight of why he’d set out to become an artist in the first place. He stopped having fun.

Self-pity should be an occasional treat, not a default mode.

Are you familiar with the character of Eeyore in the story of Winnie the Pooh? Eeyore is the sad donkey who always looks on the dark side of life. No matter how much everyone tries to cheer him up, he always sees the glass half empty. Eeyore is convinced that nothing will work out for him. And guess what: it doesn’t!

We all have an inner Eeyore.

Key ideas in Things No One Else Can Teach Us