Chip Gaines

I believe we are built to have thriving personal lives, and I think we're built to have thriving professional lives. Where the error occurs is when one becomes secondary to the other.

We do the impossible when we tell ourselves we can.

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.

The gratification you feel from making tangible progress while running is just about unparalleled, so I understand why people love it. But it's also hard, grueling work. Those feel-good benefits have to be earned four to five times a week.

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

I've learned that if I can convince myself to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, then I can run as far as I want to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I've got Peter Pan syndrome. It's not that I refuse to grow up - I love building businesses; I want to be a good husband, a good father. But I don't want to be boring. I don't want to be normal.

Without God, for me, I'm not the best version of myself.

I feel a little bit like a drill sergeant sometimes. Some elements of my personality, as a parent, I'm not real crazy about.

I want my kids to date; I want them to go out. I just remember great experiences as a kid, you know? Driving your car for the first time, picking up a young lady on a date for the first time. All those were little milestones to some extent.

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.

In my junior high and high school days, I would just pick up a mower and go mow the neighbor's grass and make an extra 30 bucks.

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.

Obviously, Jo and I, as a couple, we just don't want to redline. You know, we don't want to run so hard after some dream or some goal only to find out that we've neglected the thing that means the very most to us, which is our marriage and our relationship.

I've gotten a little bit pompous. When I get out in public, I really notice myself looking at my reflections as a I walk though. New York is not a great place for me.

Do what you love. Do what is important to you and your family. I just want to encourage people to just go for it and do what makes sense to you.

I'm extremely easy to watch. I think I'm generally handsome, charming.

For me, I do everything all the way. When I love my wife, I love her all the way. This isn't a sales pitch; this isn't a tagline. You'll see us in our 80s, and we'll be sitting together on a rocking chair. That's how it is. That's how it ends for us.

I have learned very quickly where my strengths are, and color coordination of particular things is not a strong suit.

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.

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.