Author: Garth Beyer

What Comeback Success Stories Forget

Garth Beyer

We have all heard the good stories. Someone who starts with nothing ends up becoming successful. Someone who starts with something, but loses it ends up working smart enough to earn what they lost plus some. Someone who grew up in poverty broke the family tradition. Someone who had nothing growing up, started a successful business and now gives back to the community where they struggled.

The stories are all remarkable, but each person I’ve heard tell their comeback story forgets to note the most important factor.

You don’t need to fall down to make a comeback.

To be as successful as these people, you don’t need to make the same mistakes.

 

Stay Positive & Make New Mistakes To Talk About

What’s Your Sign Say

Garth Beyer

Signs are brilliant. Truly, truly brilliant.

Don’t signs feel like a life saver when you’ve got to go to the bathroom, but don’t know where it is?

Or when your flight leaves in 10 minutes. The beauty of being able to look down at your ticket, look up and know where you need to go in a matter of seconds.

Anyone can make a sign, but the key is making the right sign. I want to type a list here of signs I’ve seen that didn’t matter to me, but that’s just the thing! I can’t remember the signs that didn’t matter. (nor does anyone else)

If you can, take a moment now and think what signs people who you work with are actually looking for from you or your business. Are the signs you have now answering the questions they have (or haven’t) thought of asking? If you’re hiring, why not hang a sign from the receptionist desk that reads “willingness to learn trumps talent.” Or hang a sign from your backpack that says “aspiring traveller.” Very rarely do signs go unread. At least give a shot at having them read what passersby, friends, clients want. Whether they know they want it or not.

 

Stay Positive & This Is A Sign

 

The Brand Formula

Garth Beyer

Seth Godin said a brand is the product of two things: prediction of what to expect times the emotional power of that expectation.

Where does the emotional power come from? That too is the product of two things: the relief in getting what you expect times the joy of getting more than you expected.

Earning trust isn’t about meeting expectations. More importantly, it’s not about lowering expectations so you can exceed them upon delivery. No. The good stuff, the brand, the trust; all of that comes from setting high expectations to begin with, but always finding a new way to surpass them.

Johnny Cupcakes, yet again, is my go-to. You get everything you expect (high quality content and packing), and inside the box I find something I didn’t expect, something goofy and special, something that brings me joy.

Relief and joy, two seemingly opposites actually make a perfect duo.

 

Stay Positive & Branding Is Making Bold Promises, But Always Over Delivering

Doing Something A Thousand Times

Garth Beyer

Many of us get ourselves stuck in a situation requiring repetition, monotony and banal movement. Think about something you’ve had to do a thousand times or even a hundred times. Data entry. Licking envelopes. Picking four-leaf clovers. Opening every e-mail to make sure you don’t mistake something important for junk.

What do you get out of it in the end? Is it just a task completed and you move on to something new? Or do you look back at a job well done and consider how it can be better done next time.

Often times you’ll realize it can be better done next time by not being done at all.

 

Stay Positive & Cut The Quantity

That’s Nice, Isn’t It?

Garth Beyer

1) Think of a moment of pure celebration, a moment you achieved something you had worked hard to achieve. That’s nice, isn’t it?

2) Go through your friends on Facebook and write on their walls a memory, a compliment, or an observation of their character that might not regularly be pointed out to them. That’s nice, isn’t it?

3) Dig through old boxes to find something you wrote when you were younger. A school paper, a journal, a love letter, a poem. That’s nice, isn’t it?

4) Write down the name of an idol or a mentor and then write one or two things you learned from them. Hand that note to someone and tell them how the person whose name you have written down made your life better. That’s nice, isn’t it?

5) Start a gratitude list by writing three things you’re thankful for each day. Start now. That’s nice, isn’t it?

6) Close your eyes. Take three deep breaths… taking in as much air as you can and pushing out as much air as you can. That’s nice, isn’t it?

7) Visit a past teacher with whom you were close to. That’s nice, isn’t it?

8) Say to yourself aloud that you love yourself. Squeeze or kiss yourself. That’s weird. But nice, isn’t it?

9) Go do something you did as a kid, something you haven’t done in years. That’s nice, isn’t it?

The list was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to the young, “If this Isn’t Nice, What Is?” Not just something worth reading, but something worth acting on after reading.

 

Stay Positive & If These Aren’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is

Things That Dishearten Me

Garth Beyer
  • business as usual
  • hearing someone has “tried everything”
  • when the boss says no to a new idea
  • cutting corners
  • people keeping their muse to themselves
  • saving networking for last
  • standing still
  • when someone says they don’t know what they want 
  • fear of success
  • giving up on unsure ideas
  • letting cereal get soggy
  • seeking perfection
  • coloring inside the lines
  • not allowing time for reflection

 

Stay Positive & Not Trying Disheartens Me Too

Where Do You And Those In Your Life Stand On The Line

Garth Beyer

I have a fairly strong motto: keep moving forward. I consider myself a shark when it comes to business and lifestyle; I die if I stop moving. (We. all. do.)

On my pursuit of moving forward in life, who do you think I ask for advice? My family? Friends? Old professors?

More importantly, who do you ask for advice when your pursuing success or trying to move forward in life or work or academia?

If you put yourself on a line where failure is behind you somewhere and success is in front of you somewhere, where are those in your life who you are asking for advice stand? It’s not judging, it’s assessing. If you want to be successful, you have to assess your team.

A likely response is that they are right beside you. The people next to you on the line are the people you are asking for advice on pursing success. One question for you: if they knew how to move forward on the line, don’t you think they would already be forward on the line?

I not only ask where on the line those in your life stand, but also ask where you stand on the line. If you want to pursue success, it’s best to take advice from those who are ahead of you on the line, not beside or behind. Knowing where you and everyone else is on the line (and what success actually means to you) are the roots of learning how to become successful with the help of others.

Quick note: It’s not that good advice never comes from those beside you or behind you, from family members or enemies; it’s simply better not to take the chance when so many people in front of you are ready and willing to help you keep moving forward.

Lastly, remember you don’t need to leave anyone behind. Simply move forward and then extend back a helping hand.

 

Stay Positive & Please Don’t Die Standing Still (Or Asking Advice From Those Who Are)