Author: Garth Beyer

If someone is engaged in conversation with you, chances are good that the most impactful statement you can make is advising them on how they can level up.

If they’re talking with you – and this might sound bad – they want something out of it. Sure, address the concern or question or topic they’ve brought up, but bolt a leveling up suggestion on with it.

“I appreciate the recommendation, and next time it would be stronger if you shared two alternatives you vetted against it” is a load more helpful than simply, “I appreciate the recommendation.”

Great leaders and mentors treat every engagement as a chance to lead and mentor; the opportunity is always there if you lean in for it.

Stay Positive & It’s Awesome You Read This, But You’d Benefit More If You Started Your Own Blog Too

Then there’s no point in handing off a project. No point in asking them to do something.

The only reason you ought to be talking to them right now is to discover what makes them tick.

Finding out their love language is a great place to start.

Once you know that, proceed with all the asks, projects, feedback, and so on.

The results will amaze you.

Stay Positive & It Works Just The Same To Tell Others What Your Love Language Is, Too

One of the responses I frequently get when I riff about figuring out how to gift something in every connection you have with another is that there’s not always something to gift.

I still call b.s.

Another way to consider what to give is what to give back.

Ending a meeting early when it doesn’t need to go any longer is a gift.

So is giving the same level of energy and attention the leader of your project gave you when they kicked it off.

Refunds are considered credits for a reason.

Stay Positive & There’s Always Something You Can Give

Those are the two options when something you’re doing isn’t going the way you want.

One is obviously way easier, though it comes with a lot of emotional weight.

The other takes an open-mind, curiosity, collaboration, ideation, and a strong willpower.

Sort of obvious which is more fulfilling to take, isn’t it?

Stay Positive & The Best Part Of Pivoting? You Can Always Pivot Again

The concept of not liking a job really isn’t a thing for the curious.

The idea that you wouldn’t like a book genre doesn’t apply to the curious, either.

Nor does the type of people you’ll interact with throughout the day.

The curious seek out lessons and value in whatever is in front of them.

Stay Positive & Good Thing Curiosity Is A Choice, Huh?

If you wait until the end of the party to tell your kid it’s time to leave, you’re bound to get tears.

It might be better to tell them when you’re leaving as soon as you get there.

It might actually be better to tell them about it that morning.

If you wait until the end of year review to tell your new hire your expectations for the year, they’re bound to have fallen short of them.

It might be better to tell them after a few months; once they’ve onboarded enough and learned the ropes.

It might actually be better to tell them all the clear expectations during the interview.

Just about every relationship you could imagine does better (via less friction, that is) when you’re quick to communicating expectations.

Stay Positive & Early Is Better (Might As Well Throw “Often” Into That Too)

At the core of most situations that people remark about is difficulty; whether they acknowledge it was hard or not.

I just stepped out of a bar that had a retro theme this week. They had their cocktail menu designed as a CD booklet and placed in a CD disc case. It was beautiful. Nostalgic. Remarkable.

Right now we’re planning a tiki-themed week at Garth’s Brew Bar. I couldn’t help but empathize with the person (or more likely people) who had to design, source, fold, and stock that menu on top of sourcing actual retro CDs [and not just what they could find in their parents basements].

Just the same, I couldn’t help but think of all the ways they could have cut corners (make it a single page, use a friend’s printer, tape it in the disc, get whatever…and so on).

At the core of it: difficulty.

Without knowing exactly the steps they took or had to take …rather, chose to take; I knew it was difficult to execute. That’s what made it remarkable.

Makes you relook at things you call hard, doesn’t it? Because to someone else, it’s remarkable.

Stay Positive & Make More Magic