Author: Garth Beyer

When it comes to morality, it pays to consider what others think of your actions.

While we can think rationally about why we shouldn’t litter when on the highway; it’s not nearly as effective as there being a car right behind you that could watch you do it and judge you. In that context, it’s helpful to care what others think.

When it comes to practice performance, however; it pays to ignore what others think of your actions.

If you’re learning to skate, it doesn’t serve you to think about what others on the ice think of how well (or poorly) you’re skating. You’re there to practice. To do you. To perform in the only way that you can perform right now.

It’s a tricky talent, but being able to turn the switch of caring what others think or not is a talent worth acquiring on your journey to excellence in your craft.

Stay Positive & Then It’s About Knowing When To Use It

That’s what most choices are these days.

Even when we don’t think they’re considered.

Nike isn’t what Nike used to be. There’s a lot of competition of choice.

And in the scenarios we think there’s unaided awareness, there’s always that part of your brain that wonders if you made the right choice. One might call that after-choice consideration.

Were the flowers I got from Trader Joe’s the best option I could (should?) have gone with?

Marketing is a balance of awareness tied to validation (after choice) and consideration (before choice).

Marketing is always there.

Stay Positive & In One Sense, There’s No Such Thing As Unaided Awareness (Or At Least It’s A Fool’s Goal)

Gut check: When was the last time you sent a lengthy article or video to someone (that you consumed all the way through, too)?

We can get by with short and sweet, but we get ahead with the long and impactful.

Stay Positive & Send Your Good Read/Watch/Listen My Way thegarthbox@gmail.com

Is a sundae still a sundae without the cherry on top?

At some point, someone looked at a sundae with an interesting angle: let’s add a cherry on top.

That slight adjustment made all the difference.

It’s on us to think of the cherry.

Stay Positive & Look For A Few

There’s the leader (or leadership, really… most of the time it’s a group of people) that look inside the industry, at the balance sheet or merely at the horizon of the company to make decisions.

That works for some models… typically private equity, someone looking to sell quick, or an in-and-out leader. It works in the short run.

The long run, however, requires a leader (and yes, most of the time, it is just a leader and not all the execs) that look outside the industry, beyond the horizon to a point that it requires imagination, and a view of the balance sheet to determine how much of an investment the company can make.

Stay Positive & Which Leader Are You? Which Do You Want To Work Under?

They work well for organizing your kids playroom.

They work well for categorizing your work, too.

My favorite usage, though? Sorting your thoughts and emotions from the day.

Can you categorize them by who they are about? Can you categorize them into thoughts and emotions about the past, present, and future? How about sorting them into containers that are focused on your goals and a container for “everything else?”

It’s hard work to sort them not because sorting them into a container is hard; it’s hard work because of the actions we’ll have to take once we realize the containers our energy is going in.

Stay Positive & The Containers Are Our Choice

Giving with expectations is giving second.

Giving without expectations is giving first.

Giving with the hope of getting something back is giving second.

Giving with the hope they’ll get more out of it than you gave is giving first.

Giving where you both have more is giving first.

Giving where only you have more is giving second.

Giving because it says more about you than about them is giving second.

Giving because it says more about them than about you is giving first.

Stay Positive & That Gift You Wrapped? Is It First Or Second?