Author: Garth Beyer

The basketball hoop had finally broke. It wouldn’t raise or lower the rim any longer. So I kept practicing my shots.

Though I was nailing them, no one would say that I was ready to play in league. They knew the hoop was a solid 7 inches higher than what I’ve shot at.

It took a new hoop that forced me to have higher expectations of both my personal excellence and my goal of being one of the most valuable players on my league team.

The funny thing about most of our pursuits is that we’re not playing with a broken hoop. We have the power to raise expectations for ourselves and others.

It required no additional incentive. No pep talk. No additional training outside my normal commitment.

Sometimes setting higher expectations is literally all it takes.

Stay Positive & What Does A Slight Rise Look Like For You?

One of the best ways to get a toddler to learn how to skate is to have them learn how to walk with skates on before putting them on the ice.

If you want to give a standing ovation-worthy presentation, it pays to present in front of your friends first.

On the path to greatness, there needs to be an environment in which its safe to practice, train, and trial. Multiple times on the path, actually.

The more opportunities to make an attempt, the more an attempt because a show and a show becomes a legacy.

Stay Positive & Practice Area, Next Exit

There’s value in asking someone to connect. More often than not, it works and is a win-win, assuming there’s effort put in.

But there’s even more value out of creating an opportunity for others to connect with each other.

If given the chance of a single connection or a network – choose the network.

Stay Positive & When The Next Opportunity

First – hopefully you’re the one that catches you complaining.

No one has ever said they liked a coworker because they complained or a smart idea got expertly executed because someone complained.

Squeeky wheels get grease but they don’t get promoted, valued, partnered with… They get minimally corrected and then discounted.

Second – observing that there’s complaining means action has to follow.

Complaining about the job? Create a new one. Complaining about a coworker? Drown them with kindness. Complaining about your weight? Well… I could keep going but all these are obvious.

And that’s where the real pain of complaining comes from when it’s shared with others.

Actions are obvious to those that hear you complaining (and when you address it to yourself, it’s obvious too).

It’s not easy to go from feeling the need to complain to feeling the power to do something about it; but it’s necessary.

Stay Positive & Take Action

If you’re faced with a challenge you’re struggling with, it’s entirely fair to ask someone for insight, help, or – my personal favorite – to react to a solution idea (rather than asking them to come up with one from scratch).

The issue I see with some who agree that this is a great move is they don’t know who to ask. So they stall.

Mainly because they don’t like the answer to the question: who can I ask?

Anyone.

Over the years of running businesses, every quarter or so I’ll get an email from someone I’ve never met asking for advice. The question is almost always ill thought out and sometimes it even answers itself as they ramble on, but I love these more than any other questions I get because what’s indicative of a leader in the making isn’t the answer I give them, it’s the fact they asked someone. Anyone.

Stay Positive & Ask Anyone… But Do Ask

The friends we know and love. They don’t have more time than us, but they do carve time for us.

If you want to inspire your sales team, you need to carve think space into your work day in which you study some other industry and how they sell. Anything inside your day-to-day is either known or easily predicted by them – they’re living it just as you are.

To stand out from a group, you need to carve out time to practice that art daily, consistently, vulnerably.

Leaders don’t wait until they have time. They carve it.

Stay Positive & Sharpen Your Timepiece

Then it’s always another.

The question to ask isn’t what will fill the void. We know the answer. Something challenging. That’s what voids attract.

The question to ask is what you’ll do about it? And the next challenge. And the next challenge. And the next challenge.

The talented don’t avoid it, they make the most out of it. Each challenge calls for a unique solution. A solution that may just bring you more joy than actually solving the challenge. And certainly – without an ounce of doubt – will bring you more joy than avoiding overcoming what’s in front of you for fear of what will fill the void next.

Stay Positive & You’re Up… Again (And That’s Not A Bad Thing)