Author: Garth Beyer

It doesn’t pay to invest in someone to help you develop a budget. The main reason? A budget is meant to be done again and again and again. Revisited. Edited. Updated with life and goals. It actually pays more to get good at it yourself.

Doing the flower arrangement for your wedding yourself? It’s simply not worth it. (Okay exception being if you actually LOVE flower arrangements and can already tell me you know the difference between buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots in the Ranuculus family…)

I had to go through this analysis recently regarding editing a novel. I’ll probably write another one or two in my lifetime but it will be awhile before I would even get to editing it again. Editing a novel, specifically, is an incredible skill. It’s one – after trying to do it myself, and doing meh – that fits in the “only once” category for me… meaning, I’ve hired a professional.

Visiting Thessaloniki once? Hire a guide. Crafting a newsletter for your business? Do it yourself.

Where to draw the line is pretty clear. It’s the drawing it part that takes guts.

Stay Positive & Know When To Invest

There are leaders who make an impact and then there are those that make a continuous impact.

The continuous ones established processes, culture, and camaraderie.

Of course we need single-impact leaders: someone to rebrand an organization or host an inaugural user conference.

The important part is knowing which leader we are. Perhaps even more important, is it the kind we want to be?

Stay Positive & What Kind Of Impact Are You Making?

There’s not nearly a better word or sentence to get to the root of a cause or idea.

What conditions produce the best version of you?  

It’s a good question, but asking (and answering) why after it is much more insightful.

What type of people annoy you the most? …. and Why?

The bonus “why” element says a lot more about you than the type of people who annoy you the most.

There are very few statements that can’t become more powerful by asking and answering why.

See how many times you ask why today…

Stay Positive & Why Not?

A few options…

You can just forget thinking about the worth of the work you’re doing and just do the work to do it. It gets the job done, but it’s not all that fulfilling.

You can tell yourself about the value your work is providing. It’s sort of a guess, really, as there’s no proof. You’re just telling yourself it to tell yourself it … and perhaps make the work feel easier. This, too, gets the job done, but it’s not all that fulfilling.

You can be present with those who are getting the value of the work you’re doing and hear it from them. This is hard because it requires time, attention, and sometimes incentive, but it’s far more fulfilling.

Stay Positive & Feel The Value

For some reason, the concept of going deep on something sounds and feels difficult, long, and maybe not worth it.

That’s a myth.

It doesn’t take long to go deep on anything if you’re defining deep as having more knowledge or understanding about a subject than most.

AI can help you. Four hours of reading can be your advantage. Reaching out and having coffee with an SME will put you over the competition.

Stay Positive & It Really Doesn’t Take Much

Tell more people about your goals.

Enjoy the support and encouragement you get, but tell more and more people until you’ve got a handful that tell you the goal is dumb or that it’s fat chances you achieve it or they go on a listicle of the struggles you’ll face (ultimately persuading you to drop the pursuit).

It’s amazing fuel to say in your head “Fuck you. I’m proving myself right.”

Stay Positive & Use The Frustration To Your Advantage

When you’re interacting with someone, it’s tough to learn how they operate when it comes to the project you’re interacting with them about.

Except… it’s not.

It’s not if you learn how they operate in other areas of their life. What kind of parenting lifestyle do they have if they have kids? How do they invest in their hobby? How did they spend their weekend free time? What’s the project they’ve worked on in their career that they are most proud of?

It’s not a smart move to simply think “It’s going to take time to understand how they operate with this project.”

It’s a cop out and it actually increases the chance of the project failing or taking significantly longer to complete.

Most are not so different in their operation, worldview, and way of creating in one space of their live than another: in fact, that consistency is actually what makes them them.

Stay Positive & Get To Know Them Sooner, Faster