Month: November 2012

Fear Grows Old With You

Garth Beyer

Sure, the older you get, the less you fear. Fantastic. Knowing that doesn’t help too much when your young and inspiring to be a journalist or a magazine editor.

It’s been two weeks that I sent an email to a student I met on a PR agency tour, who was interested in writing for a fashion magazine, asking her to submit a work example to me. I know a few people in the magazine industry that would either interview her or point her in the right direction if I referred her to them.

Two weeks and I haven’t received a response. There is no question about it, fear ate her and won’t spit her out. Once she thought of five or six reasons why she shouldn’t respond to me, she deleted my email. Fear got to her.

That’s the harsh reality of those aspiring to be journalists. When this happens, it’s not about being pushed two steps back, you have to start all over again.

If you’ve done something similar to this girl – and sure, you can love writing all you want – but maybe journalism isn’t your passion.

New Years. New Goals. I Don’t Think So.

Garth Beyer

Start now.

There are millions of people around the world, right now, that are thinking about the new years resolutions they will write for themselves at the end of December. Are you one of them? Are you thinking how you are going to finish that book next year, ship that art piece next year, finish your project next year, make a change in your life next year? There are 744 hours left of this year. Have you any clue how much you can do with 744 hours? That new years resolution list you have been thinking about? Make it now.

Then do it before the end of this year.

“The great majority of artists are throwing themselves in with life-preservers around their necks, and more often than not it is the life-preserver which sinks them. Nobody can drown in the ocean of reality who voluntarily gives himself up to the experience.” Henry Miller

Quit holding on to things and ship them. Ship yourself. Strive to make next year a fresh slate. Write a new book next year, build a new non-profit next year, but for right now, finish what you started. Create a blog, finish (not perfectly) all of your next year goals this year, and throw them on your blog. Get them out there. Start again. This next year, is about showing that you can follow through with good ideas and you have so many more on the way that they can’t wait.

By the way, have you ever thought that if you can hold back from sharing something of yours with the world, that it just may not be worth sharing. Or are you telling me that you have held out on something I’ve wanted for more than a year?

The next 744 hours are about delivering everything you thought would be your one-hit-wonder, your  zipline to stardom. You’re better than that, the world (and myself) want more from you than one perfect project that’ll be old news in a week.

Make that new years resolution list now.

Complete it by new years.

 

Stay Positive & Start New

Garth E. Beyer

Sleeping Above Your Dreams

Garth Beyer

I’m getting personal, being human.

A lot of what we read, we see the author as a god, as someone who is abnormal in a positive sense, someone who has been safe, who has been involved with one thing all their life and nothing else matters or bothers them. We can think of Suzanne Collins and think she writes great books and that’s it. I can’t tell you a thing more about Suzanne Collins.  I don’t want that, can’t have that, wouldn’t wish that. I’m too human, too personal. You can read all my content and see one hardened positive guru (feels weird calling myself that) See what I did there? I’m more than that. I’m human.

I talk to friends about life, about love, about goals and challenges and they think im unstoppable, that it all comes easy to me, that living life for me is like Suzanne Collins writing; it’s just what we do. Simple as that. That’s what readers want, that’s why I write to the best of my effort FOR people, not for myself. But that’s not what poetry is for. So this is me, writing one post to show a different side of my life. It’s this post that I’m releasing my book of poetry called Sleeping Above Your Dreams 2007-2011.

Here is the pdf version of Sleeping Above Your Dreams

 

Stay Positive & This Is Me Letting Go Of All Of My Poems

To Start New Again.

Garth E. Beyer

Thanks Zig

Thanks Zig

Garth Beyer

 

Funny how that only two days ago I mentioned Zig. He’s been a part of my life for only one year.

I had just moved to Madison and was hired to do data entry. It’s a very monotonous task that didn’t take any thinking power. Podcasts were getting big at the time, so I decided to listen to a podcast while I was working. I’ve heard the name Zig Ziglar before because I reminded someone of him. Through my search, I found this.

I listened to every single pod cast at least three times, and some of my favorites even more. I still think to myself at times, “kick the cat.” When I began listening to Zig, my eyes were opened – No. My MIND was opened. From that day, when I listened to the first podcast of ol’ Zig talking, my life changed.

I listened, I applied what I listened to and I repeated.

I downloaded his Born to Win seminar and listened to that. I then caught wind that he and his son would be publishing his final book called Born to Win (different than the seminar I downloaded). It was between downloading the seminar and finding out about his new book that I also came across Seth Godin – who happens to look up to Zig as much as me.

Thanks for teaching me how to love a woman – redhead or not.

Thanks for teaching me how to move up in work, in life.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Thanks for all the laughs.

Thanks for making public speaking look easy.

Thanks for teaching me what school, my family, my friends could never.

Thanks for all the conversations you never knew we had.

 

Stay Positive & Rest In Peace Zig

Garth E. Beyer

When Reaching Out

Garth Beyer

Perhaps you are emailing a recruiter at the PR agency you want to work for.

(these suggestions are coming directly from Adi, the head hunter at Edelman)

Make it easy for them to help you.

You will be more successful if you are following your passion.

Tell what you want. Never say that you don’t know.

Don’t just ask to have your résumé reviewed. What do you want? What do you have to offer besides a résumé?