Issue 32 / Master Of Motivation: Humble The Poet's New Book Sets The Foundation For Living Life Deeper

by Daniel Pillai

Master Of Motivation: Humble The Poet’s New Book Sets The Foundation For Living Life Deeper

Dec 29, 2015

Spoken word artist, actor, rapper and author Humble The Poet is a jack of all trades — and the master of them all. With a new book in tow, he's ready to prove his motivational mastery once more.

In just a few short years, Kanwer Singh, also known as Humble The Poet, has garnered a huge amount of success. With a loyal fan following around the world, a dedicated YouTube viewership and oodles of talent, one would think that Singh has been well positioned to enter this phase in his career. Right and wrong!

While the many talents of Singh are known to those who admire his work, his poised entrance into success doesn't come from a viral video, the tides of which many ride in the online space today. He's a teacher by profession, a lifelong student by nature and one to admire simply because of who he is and what he represents.

So it comes as no surprise that his books, videos and sayings are often revered as self-help bibles, publications and words designed to teach and encourage action for a life meant to be lived with great pride. His first novel, Unlearn 101: 101 Simple Truths For A Better Life was, simply put, a life manual. A list of to do's to inspire individuals to gain momentum toward a life filled with gratitude and happiness but simple in nature. However, his latest offering, Unlearn Beneath The Surface: 101 Honest Truths To Take Life Deeper goes more than just surface-deep as the title suggests. The book includes its fair dose of inspiration, but focuses more on ignition — moving individual thoughts into purposeful action while relating it all to his life experiences.

^{Cover of Humble The Poet's new book, Unlearn: Beneath The Surface: 101 Honest Truths To Take Life Deeper.

Photo Credit: www.amazon.com}

Singh held an intimate launch event for his new book in downtown Toronto's Kensington Market area to an enthusiastic crowd which identified with the words he spoke and the experiences he relayed. Being part of that crowd, I witnessed the strength and power behind his words and how that translated into words of importance and inspiration to those watching and listening, myself included. But before he hit the stage, I had a chance to speak to Singh, exclusively for ANOKHI to chat about his new book and what fuelled its purpose.

So what is the fuel that drives the purpose of his second book? The answer may seem simple, but for Singh its deeply rooted in his experience as a teacher and the human ability to learn and interact with others. "Being a teacher taught me how to take ideas and present them to people in an easy way so they could digest it. If you can explain it to an eight year old, you can explain it to anybody. I came out with the first book, Unlearn 101: 101 Simple Truths For A Better Life two years ago and I was chatting about a transition in that book. A lot of the lessons I learned came from being a school teacher, having a government job, having a salary every two weeks and leaving all of that to come to entertainment, which is a dog eat dog world — a field that doesn't really celebrate authenticity. So the book chronicled those lessons and experiences and the wisdom I gained from them," Singh said.

^{Humble The Poet flipping through the pages of his first book, Unlearn 101.

Photo Credit: Digitology}

"The feedback I got from the first book is that readers liked the material, but they didn't learn anything about me. That was my initial purpose, to make the book about the ideas and not about me, but I did this not realizing that the value of the conversation increases tenfold when you connect with each other. So the purpose of Unlearn Beneath The Surface: 101 Honest Truths To Take Life Deeper is to share the stories behind the lessons I learned and shared the first time and connect deeper with readers," Singh continued.

What are some of those stories and lessons Singh refers to? In the second book, "I talk about the time I got jumped and robbed in New York, my experience as a child watching my father get attacked, losing family members, getting my heart broken — all the different things we all go through in life," said Singh.

Sharing such intimate details can surely bring about various different emotions, but with Singh there is always a purpose. Having successfully published one book, and now releasing the next, one wonders what the purpose is for Singh to share these specific personal experiences as a way to contextualize his life lessons. When quizzed on it, Singh's intent becomes clear, delving deep into his personal life isn't just a way to be authentic with those that support his work, but a way to share perspective. His perspective.

"I want someone to read these experiences of mine and say, hey, I've been through this too but I liked the way he looked at it, how he handled it; I liked his perception of things versus the actual events that happened in his life."

^{Humble The Poet

Photo Credit: Infinite Films}

But these honest and wonderful efforts to shed insightful truths to readers and connect with them through authentic experiences must be teaching Singh a thing or two by sheer virtue. "One of the big reasons I got into teaching was because of the romanticized idea of inspiring others and creating a positive impact through teaching. But I realized that a teacher is not there to fill a kid's head with knowledge, but they are there in fact to ignite a fire deep inside of them," Singh said.

"I don't want people to see me as someone who is smarter than them or wise. I want them to see me and say, hey, he's really good with words, he gets my experiences, and he gets me energized and inspired. There's no test at the end of anything I say, I just want people to absorb it, go off and live and do it," Singh added.

"The minute people think I am special, then we've disconnected already and I want people to see me as just an ordinary person gifted with some wonderful life opportunities. Ones I took advantage of."

Amen to that!

^{Main Image Photo Credit: Digitology}

Daniel Pillai

Author

Daniel is the Digital Media Manager for ANOKHI MEDIA and the host for ANOKHI's entertainment channel, PULSE TV. As part of the dream team, Daniel manages all multiple channels under ANOKHI’s portfolio, while also training new on-air talent, and showing budding p...