My road to success (Moving Update 2) 8 8

[uchiha101]

A few pages back, you mentioned pursuing 'natural' remedies vs pills for some of your potential mental or emotional issues.

 

A very common piece of therapy for a lot of 'ailments' is to get into a regular exercise routine and to eat much, much healthier. This usually leads to better sleep, more energy, better moods, and an improved life. Additionally, gradually improving and setting and meeting short term goals can improve confidence and your mental state as well.

 

You can start out small, buy cutting out fast foods, alcohol, smoking, sodas, candy, chips. Just drink water and tea (no added sugar). Eat more fruits and veggies.

 

And start with light exercise, a little jogging, some pushups and sit ups each day, etc. Then build to longer running distances and do more pushups, pull ups, situps, squats, and burpees. All of these exercises can be done basically for free and with little supervision, you can watch youtube for demonstrations.

 

Of course, just like anything else, it will take some discipline and sacrifice, but I've seen this type of transformation save the life of some people.

 

I've said it here before, as have others. ALL of your time and money should be spent making yourself better in some way, whether its getting healthier, getting smarter, working to make money, educating yourself, learning a USEFUL skill, improving a USEFUL skill, getting stronger, getting faster, helping someone else. The library and youtube can be awesome free resources for this.

 

For fun (maybe 1 hr per day), if you're SERIOUS about comics, you should READ them when you have time, and practice writing out and orally describing what you like or don't like about what you read, or spend time finding out how the business works, BY READING OR TALKING TO PEOPLE, not spending money.

 

 

 

 

Making money is what I like to do and I know already I don't like the art or story lines I've seen in comics modern comics for the majority of it. I don't drink smoke or do drugs so that's a plus and about exercise the last time I seriously worked out was about 7 years ago. Other the spending money on comics what should I start with? I'm not sure what to do first there are lots of choices.

 

If you don't like comics, and you like making money, why did you decide to sell comics which you're not very good at?

 

I do like comics but not moderns ones or ones with bad writing in it that although I don't like how Thor talks likes Shakespeare and I do like comics I like: x-men, amazing spider-man, archie, batman, doctor strange, four color comics with the ducks and bugs bunny characters, justice league of america, Super-man is pretty good in the gold and silver age oh and I love aquaman and namor.

[uchiha101]

General update

 

Since so many people post and don't see or miss my updates you will now be able to go to my first page and see them instead of wondering where the update is.

[Logan510]

Oh that I have but their schedules are busy and I always get cut short because I talk too much. I do have both a life coach and a psychiatrist that I work with.

 

Gabe, I've noticed you bring this up several times in your journal, so I feel intrigued (and able) to ask you about it. Obviously, this is a sensitive issue for anyone to discuss .. if you don't want to answer it on a public forum, I'll completely understand and I apologise for asking, but ...

 

.. you have a learning disability, I'm sure that having a psychiatrist is not needed to help you with that, so .. what is it? What else are you holding back-on that you need a psyche?? If you do answer the question as to why, it may give us a clearer picture why you make the decisions that you do.

 

I have no problem answering that question. A psychiatrist because they don't know what my learning disability is but realize what symptoms I have, so the more I know about the things I do the more I can tell them and have them give me ways to cope with it. Also as a emotional person I'm more prone to being depressed and doing things on impulse and while I can't change who I am I can change what I do. If you guys have any questions about why I do what I do just ask I'm not afraid to talk about it. The thing about the psychiatrist that scares me is they keep offering me medicine and I refuse to take it because 1. They don't know what I have 2) Those pills are dangerous and have seriously messed people up permanently.

 

I know my situation isn't the best but I don't want it to be worse so I ask what natural ways they have of coping with people that have similar symptoms to mine.

 

This is the problem. You don't want to change what you do because it's too much work for you. You don't like your current situation but you've done very little to change it. You've known for over a year that you have bad hygiene but you've admitted that you haven't done anything to correct it. A shrink can't clean you up, you have to make the effort and stop grasping for reasons for why you're not succeeding in life, you made the decisions to put you where you are at.

 

You're 100% right I do make all the decisions that place me where I am in life and I have started to follow through with some of the advice given here.

 

This is a refreshing post Gabe. You're taking responsibility for your life and not making excuses.

 

Actions speak louder than words.

 

I thought that as I made the post but at least he didn't make excuses or blame someone else. Can only hope his post reflects a change in attitude and he's becoming a better person - something I think we should all strive to be.

 

I agree 100% and I'm rooting for him to succeed. I'd like to see him say less things like " I can't memorize things well, but I know some books to look for" turn into something like " I've taken people's advice and I've begun making a list of books to look for". To me it seems like such a simple thing, especially if you know your limitations, but maybe I take basic skills like that for granted.

 

Maybe I should explain what I see. When I look at the threads I get overwhelmed by trying to memorize it and I can't and I've tried writing it down and it's not clear enough so when I come back to it I don't even know why I wrote what I did. I do have some comics memorized but it's all the keys and what happens when I go to the LCS is pictures blur in my mind if it looks too similar and I think I'm getting a key it turns out it's not. Believe me I'm not making this up but one thing that has gone right is my keeping track of what I bought and sold.

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

[jcjames]

That's not how I interpreted the post he wrote I see it as he realized what my problem is and he's helping me by giving me solutions and guidelines to follow. He also said that others call it "lazy" when that's the easiest thing to say to say to someone and leave it alone because either they don't know better or because they're ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I saw it.

Looks like you're catching on. Keep yourself pointed in the right direction now and move one step at a time.Focus on improving your most valuable asset you have, yourself.

 

 

[jsilverjanet]

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

 

one day I'll show you my list

[joeypost]

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

 

one day I'll show you my list

 

Subpar Daredevil #1's?

[jsilverjanet]

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

 

one day I'll show you my list

 

Subpar Daredevil #1's?

 

 

Please add subpar Hulk 181s to that last

[Foley]

General update

 

Since so many people post and don't see or miss my updates you will now be able to go to my first page and see them instead of wondering where the update is.

 

I don't think people will do this

 

I'm pretty sure we all see your updates.

[uchiha101]

Oh that I have but their schedules are busy and I always get cut short because I talk too much. I do have both a life coach and a psychiatrist that I work with.

 

Gabe, I've noticed you bring this up several times in your journal, so I feel intrigued (and able) to ask you about it. Obviously, this is a sensitive issue for anyone to discuss .. if you don't want to answer it on a public forum, I'll completely understand and I apologise for asking, but ...

 

.. you have a learning disability, I'm sure that having a psychiatrist is not needed to help you with that, so .. what is it? What else are you holding back-on that you need a psyche?? If you do answer the question as to why, it may give us a clearer picture why you make the decisions that you do.

 

I have no problem answering that question. A psychiatrist because they don't know what my learning disability is but realize what symptoms I have, so the more I know about the things I do the more I can tell them and have them give me ways to cope with it. Also as a emotional person I'm more prone to being depressed and doing things on impulse and while I can't change who I am I can change what I do. If you guys have any questions about why I do what I do just ask I'm not afraid to talk about it. The thing about the psychiatrist that scares me is they keep offering me medicine and I refuse to take it because 1. They don't know what I have 2) Those pills are dangerous and have seriously messed people up permanently.

 

I know my situation isn't the best but I don't want it to be worse so I ask what natural ways they have of coping with people that have similar symptoms to mine.

 

This is the problem. You don't want to change what you do because it's too much work for you. You don't like your current situation but you've done very little to change it. You've known for over a year that you have bad hygiene but you've admitted that you haven't done anything to correct it. A shrink can't clean you up, you have to make the effort and stop grasping for reasons for why you're not succeeding in life, you made the decisions to put you where you are at.

 

You're 100% right I do make all the decisions that place me where I am in life and I have started to follow through with some of the advice given here.

 

This is a refreshing post Gabe. You're taking responsibility for your life and not making excuses.

 

Actions speak louder than words.

 

I thought that as I made the post but at least he didn't make excuses or blame someone else. Can only hope his post reflects a change in attitude and he's becoming a better person - something I think we should all strive to be.

 

I agree 100% and I'm rooting for him to succeed. I'd like to see him say less things like " I can't memorize things well, but I know some books to look for" turn into something like " I've taken people's advice and I've begun making a list of books to look for". To me it seems like such a simple thing, especially if you know your limitations, but maybe I take basic skills like that for granted.

 

Maybe I should explain what I see. When I look at the threads I get overwhelmed by trying to memorize it and I can't and I've tried writing it down and it's not clear enough so when I come back to it I don't even know why I wrote what I did. I do have some comics memorized but it's all the keys and what happens when I go to the LCS is pictures blur in my mind if it looks too similar and I think I'm getting a key it turns out it's not. Believe me I'm not making this up but one thing that has gone right is my keeping track of what I bought and sold.

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

 

That ties in with my lack of common sense like I said before but you're right I'll take a look at some flippable comics and make a list from there.

[uchiha101]

That's not how I interpreted the post he wrote I see it as he realized what my problem is and he's helping me by giving me solutions and guidelines to follow. He also said that others call it "lazy" when that's the easiest thing to say to say to someone and leave it alone because either they don't know better or because they're ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I saw it.

Looks like you're catching on. Keep yourself pointed in the right direction now and move one step at a time.Focus on improving your most valuable asset you have, yourself.

 

 

Yes that's going to be a lot of work and I already do budgeting so learning self-control and discipline with spending will be good for me. Your method is much better then mine and I'll follow it as it will get me results faster and guess what? Thanks to taking a longer period to accumulate money means I can focus on selling what I still have left over.

[uchiha101]

General update

 

Since so many people post and don't see or miss my updates you will now be able to go to my first page and see them instead of wondering where the update is.

 

I don't think people will do this

 

I'm pretty sure we all see your updates.

 

I've had people before tell me they couldn't see it

[Turtle]

He doesn't have an addiction.

 

He's just a millennial who wants to make it big doing as little work to get there as possible. He "can't" do things because he's lazy and doesn't want to put in hard work. He "cant" follow the heating up threads because he has a learning disability. All he needs to do is put in the time and effort and write stuff down. He doesn't want to work - he wants everyone to do the work for him. You see threads spring up all the time - "what books are hot that no one knows about yet" - because kids like Gabe don't want to put in the work. It's all about instant gratification.

 

Stop saying he has an addiction because it's insulting to people who actually do have an addiction.

He openly admits he can't control his emotions and impulses when it comes to spending money on comics.

 

I'd never thought I'd see the day where you stood up for me like that... Thank you. I don't like how people dismiss addictions or mental problems as something as being "lazy" because they don't understand it and that's the simplest way to get rid of people.

 

I admitted that I have a problem and I'm doing things to fix that do you truly think someone that's lazy would do this?

 

Gabe, you may want to read that again. No one is standing up for you in this exchange. Those two are discussing semantics. One says you're an addict, the other says you're a lazy millennial. If you genuinely think he's standing up for you, you're essentially admitting to being a lazy millennial who wants to avoid hard work and only desires instant gratification.

 

And I've got to agree with JCJames in regards to where your focus should lie. It seems that 99% of your effort is spent trying to improve your ability to buy and sell comics and the other 1% is spent trying to improve other aspects of your life. That ratio should be flipped. In fact, if you dropped your effort spent on comics for even a year and devoted all your effort to investing in yourself and improving other aspects of your life that matter in far more substantial ways (job performance, business knowledge, math skill, hygiene, etc.), I GUARANTEE that when you resumed your comic practices in a year's time you'd be far better at it then than you are now.

 

That's a big reason my last few posts have ignored the comics side of things and have focused on trying to nudge you in the right direction in your working life. Fix that, and other things will fall into place. Please re-read my posts and put serious thought into them.

 

That's not how I interpreted the post he wrote I see it as he realized what my problem is and he's helping me by giving me solutions and guidelines to follow. He also said that others call it "lazy" when that's the easiest thing to say to say to someone and leave it alone because either they don't know better or because they're ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I saw it.

 

Please read it again. I've bolded the relevant portion. Read each sentence word by word and tell me where you see something that casts you in a positive light.

 

I didn't say what you said was positive I was talking about what James posted and you want to know something? Having a learning disability isn't a cakewalk and please don't make it out to be. I struggle with the simplest concepts that other people grasp easily, I lack common sense that most have, I forget things easily it's not "Lazy" it's my reality, I would trade you any day you wanted because you take for granted what you have and how you respond to me is proof of that. I'm trying to better myself and I'm being put down for it, this is the exact reason I feel like there's no point to it because I feel like regardless of what I do my mistakes get pointed out despite the positive things I've done but you know what? I'm going to continue because I can't succeed if I give up I will do my best to overcome these obstacles

 

I want you to ask yourself honestly if you had these problems would it be easy?

 

Forgetting things within seconds

Losing your train of thought

Having trouble with math and following maps

Trouble with mental clarity and explaining things

Trouble with doing simple tasks and common sense

 

 

I deal with these problems every day of my life so please do not make light of it I would glad have chosen to be born normal if I could. I also know that I need to face these problems head on to grow.

 

 

Gabe,

 

What I said wasn't in itself positive or negative. All I've tried to do was provide some objective advice relevant to your situation. Your lashing out just now tells me that maybe you're starting to see that what the above poster was doing wasn't "standing up for you", though I think you may be a bit misdirected as you thanked the person who insulted you (Harvey) and are getting snippy with the person who was clarifying his post as you seemed to misinterpret it (me).

 

Most people in this thread are just trying to help, despite your reluctance to follow most of the incredibly good advice listed.

 

Additionally, I'm no medical doctor, but I tend to buy into the statement that many people in your generation are over-diagnosed with different physical/mental afflictions that may or may not actually exist. I've met plenty of people in my life who would get a clean mental bill of health but still have trouble remembering things, reading maps, or doing math problems. These people I've met can't recall what they had for breakfast, but they can remember the most inane stats in football for the past few years or know every bit of lore from the Harry Potter series or any other number of things. There is nothing mentally wrong with these people, they simply remember what truly interests them and figure out a way to store that information. Everything else is too hard (uninteresting) to them, so they don't bother.

 

Conversely, I've met some people that when diagnosed with legitimate learning disabilities, they didn't let it defeat them. Sure, they have to work harder just to stand on level ground with everyone else when it comes to recall, math, etc., but they do it. They made a conscious decision to not let their learning disability define them. They chose to be who they are not because of their diagnosis, but in spite of it.

 

So you don't have a diagnosis, but you seem to know the symptoms. What are you doing to address these? In your free time, are you reading maps? Do you use them when you walk places, even when you know where you're going? Do you practice math problems? Do you ever practice the simple tasks you have trouble with? These things don't always come naturally to people. Even someone with no learning disability has to practice these things before they get them right.

 

Finally, you say you're overwhelmed by long threads about comics because you try to memorize them and can't. Since you enjoy quotes, I'll leave you with one.

 

"Never memorize something you can look up" -Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

[Ryan.]

These people I've met can't recall what they had for breakfast, but they can remember the most inane stats in football for the past few years or know every bit of lore from the Harry Potter series or any other number of things. There is nothing mentally wrong with these people, they simply remember what truly interests them and figure out a way to store that information. Everything else is too hard (uninteresting) to them, so they don't bother.

 

The Kelly Bundy method.

[Turtle]

 

Your age is showing with that reference.

[uchiha101]

 

Your age is showing with that reference.

 

I think it's a awesome show Al and his comebacks make me laugh.

[uchiha101]

These people I've met can't recall what they had for breakfast, but they can remember the most inane stats in football for the past few years or know every bit of lore from the Harry Potter series or any other number of things. There is nothing mentally wrong with these people, they simply remember what truly interests them and figure out a way to store that information. Everything else is too hard (uninteresting) to them, so they don't bother.

 

The Kelly Bundy method.

 

I love Harry Potter it was my childhood and that sounds about right it's easier to remember things that I like compared to things I don't.

[uchiha101]

He doesn't have an addiction.

 

He's just a millennial who wants to make it big doing as little work to get there as possible. He "can't" do things because he's lazy and doesn't want to put in hard work. He "cant" follow the heating up threads because he has a learning disability. All he needs to do is put in the time and effort and write stuff down. He doesn't want to work - he wants everyone to do the work for him. You see threads spring up all the time - "what books are hot that no one knows about yet" - because kids like Gabe don't want to put in the work. It's all about instant gratification.

 

Stop saying he has an addiction because it's insulting to people who actually do have an addiction.

He openly admits he can't control his emotions and impulses when it comes to spending money on comics.

 

I'd never thought I'd see the day where you stood up for me like that... Thank you. I don't like how people dismiss addictions or mental problems as something as being "lazy" because they don't understand it and that's the simplest way to get rid of people.

 

I admitted that I have a problem and I'm doing things to fix that do you truly think someone that's lazy would do this?

 

Gabe, you may want to read that again. No one is standing up for you in this exchange. Those two are discussing semantics. One says you're an addict, the other says you're a lazy millennial. If you genuinely think he's standing up for you, you're essentially admitting to being a lazy millennial who wants to avoid hard work and only desires instant gratification.

 

And I've got to agree with JCJames in regards to where your focus should lie. It seems that 99% of your effort is spent trying to improve your ability to buy and sell comics and the other 1% is spent trying to improve other aspects of your life. That ratio should be flipped. In fact, if you dropped your effort spent on comics for even a year and devoted all your effort to investing in yourself and improving other aspects of your life that matter in far more substantial ways (job performance, business knowledge, math skill, hygiene, etc.), I GUARANTEE that when you resumed your comic practices in a year's time you'd be far better at it then than you are now.

 

That's a big reason my last few posts have ignored the comics side of things and have focused on trying to nudge you in the right direction in your working life. Fix that, and other things will fall into place. Please re-read my posts and put serious thought into them.

 

That's not how I interpreted the post he wrote I see it as he realized what my problem is and he's helping me by giving me solutions and guidelines to follow. He also said that others call it "lazy" when that's the easiest thing to say to say to someone and leave it alone because either they don't know better or because they're ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I saw it.

 

Please read it again. I've bolded the relevant portion. Read each sentence word by word and tell me where you see something that casts you in a positive light.

 

I didn't say what you said was positive I was talking about what James posted and you want to know something? Having a learning disability isn't a cakewalk and please don't make it out to be. I struggle with the simplest concepts that other people grasp easily, I lack common sense that most have, I forget things easily it's not "Lazy" it's my reality, I would trade you any day you wanted because you take for granted what you have and how you respond to me is proof of that. I'm trying to better myself and I'm being put down for it, this is the exact reason I feel like there's no point to it because I feel like regardless of what I do my mistakes get pointed out despite the positive things I've done but you know what? I'm going to continue because I can't succeed if I give up I will do my best to overcome these obstacles

 

I want you to ask yourself honestly if you had these problems would it be easy?

 

Forgetting things within seconds

Losing your train of thought

Having trouble with math and following maps

Trouble with mental clarity and explaining things

Trouble with doing simple tasks and common sense

 

 

I deal with these problems every day of my life so please do not make light of it I would glad have chosen to be born normal if I could. I also know that I need to face these problems head on to grow.

 

 

Gabe,

 

What I said wasn't in itself positive or negative. All I've tried to do was provide some objective advice relevant to your situation. Your lashing out just now tells me that maybe you're starting to see that what the above poster was doing wasn't "standing up for you", though I think you may be a bit misdirected as you thanked the person who insulted you (Harvey) and are getting snippy with the person who was clarifying his post as you seemed to misinterpret it (me).

 

Most people in this thread are just trying to help, despite your reluctance to follow most of the incredibly good advice listed.

 

Additionally, I'm no medical doctor, but I tend to buy into the statement that many people in your generation are over-diagnosed with different physical/mental afflictions that may or may not actually exist. I've met plenty of people in my life who would get a clean mental bill of health but still have trouble remembering things, reading maps, or doing math problems. These people I've met can't recall what they had for breakfast, but they can remember the most inane stats in football for the past few years or know every bit of lore from the Harry Potter series or any other number of things. There is nothing mentally wrong with these people, they simply remember what truly interests them and figure out a way to store that information. Everything else is too hard (uninteresting) to them, so they don't bother.

 

Conversely, I've met some people that when diagnosed with legitimate learning disabilities, they didn't let it defeat them. Sure, they have to work harder just to stand on level ground with everyone else when it comes to recall, math, etc., but they do it. They made a conscious decision to not let their learning disability define them. They chose to be who they are not because of their diagnosis, but in spite of it.

 

So you don't have a diagnosis, but you seem to know the symptoms. What are you doing to address these? In your free time, are you reading maps? Do you use them when you walk places, even when you know where you're going? Do you practice math problems? Do you ever practice the simple tasks you have trouble with? These things don't always come naturally to people. Even someone with no learning disability has to practice these things before they get them right.

 

Finally, you say you're overwhelmed by long threads about comics because you try to memorize them and can't. Since you enjoy quotes, I'll leave you with one.

 

"Never memorize something you can look up" -Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

Then I apologize I didn't read who quoted it as I remembered it wrong I do get snippy for the simple reason that people think they can just call learning disabilities "being lazy" and be happy with what they've said.

 

Yes how it worked is couldn't figure out exactly what my learning disability is which more then pissed me off because as a paid professional I would expect results and a diagnosis not vague description because I may have the symptoms but without people knowing what it is they can't fully help me so it's like a catch 22.

 

I'm scared to use maps I can follow simple ones but when there are too many streets I get lost because how I remember places is remembering landmarks. I practice basic math problems and learn how to look at percentages. As for the simple tasks do you mean I repeat them to get better? Sometimes yes but my parents get angry at me for not being able to do it and tell me "a baby can do better then you" That's terrible to hear but yes I do try when I get the chance. So when you dealers and spec people see hot comics do you write down a list of like top 50 comics and buy them? Do you use a picture reference with what the comic is or just the title of what it is?

[G.A.tor]

gabe, if you have a smart phone, you don't need lists, or memorizing or any of that...the information is accessible almost instantly these days thanks to technology...

 

that said, I've read a good bit of the thread and the one underlying advice a multitude (almost 100%) of boardies have given you, you refuse to follow...

 

now, I don't know you much, but I do gather you enjoy the business of comics... that said, if you don't have the aptitude for it (whether a ld or not), you are destined to continue making the same mistakes ... trying harder or taking other advice, won't likely change that

 

however, I can't and won't give you specific advice, as I am not qualified to relative to your situation... but I will offer this general piece of advice...

"if at first you don't succeed...try, try again...if you still don't succeed, try something else"....

[revat]

He doesn't have an addiction.

 

He's just a millennial who wants to make it big doing as little work to get there as possible. He "can't" do things because he's lazy and doesn't want to put in hard work. He "cant" follow the heating up threads because he has a learning disability. All he needs to do is put in the time and effort and write stuff down. He doesn't want to work - he wants everyone to do the work for him. You see threads spring up all the time - "what books are hot that no one knows about yet" - because kids like Gabe don't want to put in the work. It's all about instant gratification.

 

Stop saying he has an addiction because it's insulting to people who actually do have an addiction.

He openly admits he can't control his emotions and impulses when it comes to spending money on comics.

 

I'd never thought I'd see the day where you stood up for me like that... Thank you. I don't like how people dismiss addictions or mental problems as something as being "lazy" because they don't understand it and that's the simplest way to get rid of people.

 

I admitted that I have a problem and I'm doing things to fix that do you truly think someone that's lazy would do this?

 

Gabe, you may want to read that again. No one is standing up for you in this exchange. Those two are discussing semantics. One says you're an addict, the other says you're a lazy millennial. If you genuinely think he's standing up for you, you're essentially admitting to being a lazy millennial who wants to avoid hard work and only desires instant gratification.

 

And I've got to agree with JCJames in regards to where your focus should lie. It seems that 99% of your effort is spent trying to improve your ability to buy and sell comics and the other 1% is spent trying to improve other aspects of your life. That ratio should be flipped. In fact, if you dropped your effort spent on comics for even a year and devoted all your effort to investing in yourself and improving other aspects of your life that matter in far more substantial ways (job performance, business knowledge, math skill, hygiene, etc.), I GUARANTEE that when you resumed your comic practices in a year's time you'd be far better at it then than you are now.

 

That's a big reason my last few posts have ignored the comics side of things and have focused on trying to nudge you in the right direction in your working life. Fix that, and other things will fall into place. Please re-read my posts and put serious thought into them.

 

That's not how I interpreted the post he wrote I see it as he realized what my problem is and he's helping me by giving me solutions and guidelines to follow. He also said that others call it "lazy" when that's the easiest thing to say to say to someone and leave it alone because either they don't know better or because they're ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I saw it.

 

Please read it again. I've bolded the relevant portion. Read each sentence word by word and tell me where you see something that casts you in a positive light.

 

I didn't say what you said was positive I was talking about what James posted and you want to know something? Having a learning disability isn't a cakewalk and please don't make it out to be. I struggle with the simplest concepts that other people grasp easily, I lack common sense that most have, I forget things easily it's not "Lazy" it's my reality, I would trade you any day you wanted because you take for granted what you have and how you respond to me is proof of that. I'm trying to better myself and I'm being put down for it, this is the exact reason I feel like there's no point to it because I feel like regardless of what I do my mistakes get pointed out despite the positive things I've done but you know what? I'm going to continue because I can't succeed if I give up I will do my best to overcome these obstacles

 

I want you to ask yourself honestly if you had these problems would it be easy?

 

Forgetting things within seconds

Losing your train of thought

Having trouble with math and following maps

Trouble with mental clarity and explaining things

Trouble with doing simple tasks and common sense

 

 

I deal with these problems every day of my life so please do not make light of it I would glad have chosen to be born normal if I could. I also know that I need to face these problems head on to grow.

 

 

Gabe,

 

What I said wasn't in itself positive or negative. All I've tried to do was provide some objective advice relevant to your situation. Your lashing out just now tells me that maybe you're starting to see that what the above poster was doing wasn't "standing up for you", though I think you may be a bit misdirected as you thanked the person who insulted you (Harvey) and are getting snippy with the person who was clarifying his post as you seemed to misinterpret it (me).

 

Most people in this thread are just trying to help, despite your reluctance to follow most of the incredibly good advice listed.

 

Additionally, I'm no medical doctor, but I tend to buy into the statement that many people in your generation are over-diagnosed with different physical/mental afflictions that may or may not actually exist. I've met plenty of people in my life who would get a clean mental bill of health but still have trouble remembering things, reading maps, or doing math problems. These people I've met can't recall what they had for breakfast, but they can remember the most inane stats in football for the past few years or know every bit of lore from the Harry Potter series or any other number of things. There is nothing mentally wrong with these people, they simply remember what truly interests them and figure out a way to store that information. Everything else is too hard (uninteresting) to them, so they don't bother.

 

Conversely, I've met some people that when diagnosed with legitimate learning disabilities, they didn't let it defeat them. Sure, they have to work harder just to stand on level ground with everyone else when it comes to recall, math, etc., but they do it. They made a conscious decision to not let their learning disability define them. They chose to be who they are not because of their diagnosis, but in spite of it.

 

So you don't have a diagnosis, but you seem to know the symptoms. What are you doing to address these? In your free time, are you reading maps? Do you use them when you walk places, even when you know where you're going? Do you practice math problems? Do you ever practice the simple tasks you have trouble with? These things don't always come naturally to people. Even someone with no learning disability has to practice these things before they get them right.

 

Finally, you say you're overwhelmed by long threads about comics because you try to memorize them and can't. Since you enjoy quotes, I'll leave you with one.

 

"Never memorize something you can look up" -Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

Then I apologize I didn't read who quoted it as I remembered it wrong I do get snippy for the simple reason that people think they can just call learning disabilities "being lazy" and be happy with what they've said.

 

Yes how it worked is couldn't figure out exactly what my learning disability is which more then pissed me off because as a paid professional I would expect results and a diagnosis not vague description because I may have the symptoms but without people knowing what it is they can't fully help me so it's like a catch 22.

 

I'm scared to use maps I can follow simple ones but when there are too many streets I get lost because how I remember places is remembering landmarks. I practice basic math problems and learn how to look at percentages. As for the simple tasks do you mean I repeat them to get better? Sometimes yes but my parents get angry at me for not being able to do it and tell me "a baby can do better then you" That's terrible to hear but yes I do try when I get the chance. So when you dealers and spec people see hot comics do you write down a list of like top 50 comics and buy them? Do you use a picture reference with what the comic is or just the title of what it is?

 

Its ok if you can't remember all the books, and its ok if you can't do all the math on the fly. It will take longer, but you can spend the time looking up EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. you come across, and doing the requisite math to see if profit can be had. It may not be fair, but if you have such a passion for comics that you want to work 10x harder than most people just be on a somewhat even playing field...its not advised, but its not impossible.

 

But if you haven't figured out how/where to look up the books and which math you need to do BY NOW, and how to do the required math on your phone/comp BY NOW, and you're not willing to spend tons of time getting familiar with the right websites and math/accounting, YOU WILL NEVER EVER HAVE A CHANCE AT BEING SUCCESSFUL WITH COMICS. Yes it can be overwhelming, but if it feels like work and you're being forced to do it, then maybe there's a million better things you could be doing with your time. People flip comics on the side because they LIKE to, and enjoy the hunt and finding the rare gem, knowing that THEIR RESEARCH has paid off. You don't have anything serious invested in comics, and yet it feels like we're FORCING you do the hard work you allegedly want to do. If doing all the research and math ISN'T for you at this point in your life, its no big deal, just go find something else to do. Do you even have a passion for comics? Or do you just think everyone is making money easily, and that it doesn't take an obvious extra skillset? Comic dealing isn't for people who don't have a TRUE comic passion, unless they inherited a collection/store or started with a huge collection, or have tons of other resources. A person can generally make more money with a lot less risk with a million other jobs. There are very few dealers (though they definitely exist) living large on dealing comics.

 

It sounds like you have a lot of things that can be improved upon in your day-to-day life, in terms of your learning and your mental and physical well-being. Work on those first. Get a brain-building app for your phone or computer, start running a mile each day, practice reading maps (ask a parent to help you for 10-15 min per day on it), or listen to classic books on tape, you can learn to play mah jong or bridge if you want some fun. Do ONLY things that IMPROVE YOU AS A PERSON, in terms of your health/fitness, your mindset, your intelligence, your employability, your marketability, your financial well being (don't mean flipping comics, just sell or hold the ones you have). The comics business will still be there someday...

[Logan510]

Oh that I have but their schedules are busy and I always get cut short because I talk too much. I do have both a life coach and a psychiatrist that I work with.

 

Gabe, I've noticed you bring this up several times in your journal, so I feel intrigued (and able) to ask you about it. Obviously, this is a sensitive issue for anyone to discuss .. if you don't want to answer it on a public forum, I'll completely understand and I apologise for asking, but ...

 

.. you have a learning disability, I'm sure that having a psychiatrist is not needed to help you with that, so .. what is it? What else are you holding back-on that you need a psyche?? If you do answer the question as to why, it may give us a clearer picture why you make the decisions that you do.

 

I have no problem answering that question. A psychiatrist because they don't know what my learning disability is but realize what symptoms I have, so the more I know about the things I do the more I can tell them and have them give me ways to cope with it. Also as a emotional person I'm more prone to being depressed and doing things on impulse and while I can't change who I am I can change what I do. If you guys have any questions about why I do what I do just ask I'm not afraid to talk about it. The thing about the psychiatrist that scares me is they keep offering me medicine and I refuse to take it because 1. They don't know what I have 2) Those pills are dangerous and have seriously messed people up permanently.

 

I know my situation isn't the best but I don't want it to be worse so I ask what natural ways they have of coping with people that have similar symptoms to mine.

 

This is the problem. You don't want to change what you do because it's too much work for you. You don't like your current situation but you've done very little to change it. You've known for over a year that you have bad hygiene but you've admitted that you haven't done anything to correct it. A shrink can't clean you up, you have to make the effort and stop grasping for reasons for why you're not succeeding in life, you made the decisions to put you where you are at.

 

You're 100% right I do make all the decisions that place me where I am in life and I have started to follow through with some of the advice given here.

 

This is a refreshing post Gabe. You're taking responsibility for your life and not making excuses.

 

Actions speak louder than words.

 

I thought that as I made the post but at least he didn't make excuses or blame someone else. Can only hope his post reflects a change in attitude and he's becoming a better person - something I think we should all strive to be.

 

I agree 100% and I'm rooting for him to succeed. I'd like to see him say less things like " I can't memorize things well, but I know some books to look for" turn into something like " I've taken people's advice and I've begun making a list of books to look for". To me it seems like such a simple thing, especially if you know your limitations, but maybe I take basic skills like that for granted.

 

Maybe I should explain what I see. When I look at the threads I get overwhelmed by trying to memorize it and I can't and I've tried writing it down and it's not clear enough so when I come back to it I don't even know why I wrote what I did. I do have some comics memorized but it's all the keys and what happens when I go to the LCS is pictures blur in my mind if it looks too similar and I think I'm getting a key it turns out it's not. Believe me I'm not making this up but one thing that has gone right is my keeping track of what I bought and sold.

 

How hard is it to make a list? Just do this:

 

Amazing Spider-Man #129

Amazing Spider-Man #361

etc. etc.

 

Take that list with you when you go to a flea market or LCS. Keep the list handy when you look on eBay. I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be.

 

That ties in with my lack of common sense like I said before but you're right I'll take a look at some flippable comics and make a list from there.

 

I would accept that excuse if it weren't for the several people who've mentioned it already as a solution for you saying your memory stinks. This is why people have accused you of being lazy...in case you were wondering why.