Chip Gaines

Whenever you're at a poker table - and you're betting all of your chips - you're worried, you're scared. Is it the right play? Have I thought through all the angles? That's what stinks about life and business in general. If I had to calculate 100% certainty on every deal I did, I literally would do zero deals. ”

I've lived a real charmed life. I'm just one of those knuckleheads who literally can't remember a season of his life that he didn't enjoy. I was a happy kid. ”

A job is something you do for money. Your life's work is done for a bigger purpose... And when you manage to find that work - that's when it starts feeling like play. ”

As much as I love Twitter, Twitter feuds aren't going to work. Actually connecting requires true face-to-face time. I believe with all my heart that it's only after working side by side with another person that you earn the right to speak into that person's life. ”

Some advice from a beginner: never judge your full potential based on your first run. ”

When I was supposed to go to a certified kindergarten that's supposed to teach you actual things like how to read, I went to a daycare that my parents thought was a kindergarten. I was Crayola-ing inside the lines with no fundamental education at all. So I walked into the first grade with no formal education at all. ”

I don't listen to music when I run; I like the quiet. It gives me time to think about my family, our businesses, the farm - there's not much I don't think about, to be honest. ”

Capital was always the struggle. I always had these amazing visions. Had this amazing work ethic. Had this amazing work partner in my wife. But I was always struggling for capital. I owe a lot to local banks who were willing to take chances on Jo and I early in our career. ”

If you're talented and hardworking, great - good for you. You're gonna make it; you're gonna go places. But if you're talented and don't have the work element behind it, the guy that works harder is going to eventually outpace you and outrun you. ”

Though farm chores and construction work are the most physically demanding jobs that I currently do, they feel like recess to me. And there's something really beautiful about work that feels like play. ”