Book Regurgitation

Garth’s Style of Living the 4-Hour Body and Becoming Superhuman

Garth Beyer

Reading Time:  6 min

“How do you become more productive?”

“Richard Branson leaned back and thought for a second…Twenty people sat around him at rapt attention, wondering what a billionaire’s answer would be to one of the big questions — perhaps the biggest question — of business…Then he broke the silence: ‘Work Out.'”

Tim Ferriss has become a hero of mine after I heard his name mentioned at a business workshop. I read the 4 hour work week and if you recall my post for my first Toastmasters speech, I mentioned he was one of the top 5 influencers in my life. Recently, I have been recalling tips and strategies from the 4-Hour Body “An Uncommon Guide To Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman”. Only after taking Tim’s challenge of making myself the experiment, did I learn a few more things that will help you on your way through incorporating the advice in the book, in your life. I call it the 4.5-Hour Body since the lessons will add on some time to the experiment, but will also add on the results.

Cracking The Harajuku Moment

Tim starts by saying there is no point in following the advice in his book until you have your Harajuku Moment: The epiphany that turns a nice-to-have into a must-have.

I am positive that I have not been the only one to start following Tim’s tips without a Harajuku moment. So how did I follow through when so many others failed to receive results for lack of their Harajuku moment?

The Harajuku Moment[s]

Ever since I had mononucleosis in 5th grade when I lost all my baby fat and plenty more of  my muscle, I have been called skinny by almost everyone I meet.

In middle school, I lost nearly every arm wrestling match I had with my friends.

During high school basketball, I never wanted to take my shirt off because of my paleness, skinniness and bacne.

After meeting a girl, I couldn’t have any other guy able to ‘take me’.

So far, these are the biggest moments that have motivated me to truly follow Tim’s advice in his book the 4-hour Body to become super human. The reason why I could follow through while so few others without a Harajuku moment could was that I had Harajuku moment[s] throughout my life.

However, I agree that having a Harajuku moment will amp up the results tenfold. Nothing could have gotten me as motivated to make larger improvements then when

Someone once important to me said she would like me to gain some more weight and lean muscle.

While she meant it in a positive way, in my mind I could only think “She thinks I’m skinny and weak.” This alone may not have gotten me to make vast changes, but it was the cherry on top of all the other layers of degradation I have received throughout the years.

To crack the Harajuku moment, write a list of all the past smaller moments.

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories

Photos

The more you begin to do things after your Harajuku Moment(s), the more you will wish you had taken photos. Tim says, “The fastest way to correct a behavior is to be aware of it in real-time, not after-the-fact.”

Reminder: Take direct photos in the same light and same area every time. You will have an incredibly hard time seeing the relationship between your photos if you do not follow this advice. There is a reason I don’t have before and after pictures.

What Tim failed to mention was the mental battle that goes along with it (both in real-time AND after-the-fact). When taking picture, you have to keep seeing what you want, instead of focusing in on what is. Especially when “what is”, is a lack of results or even a backtrack. The reason I pushed through was that I looked at the photo process the same as the Slow-Carb diet/binge day process. During the diet, it’s typical to gain up to 5 pounds after binge day but it will go back down even further than when it spiked up. I had to take this mental attitude toward the photos. If I did not see progress or saw my body showing the opposite direction I wanted, I had to remind myself that this was a process and my body is going to have its ups and downs – it’s the end result that matters and that is what you need to continuously focus on.

And the results after only two weeks are incredible.

Measurement + A Bit of Competition = Motivation

By the time you view this post, I am going to expect that you know that what can’t be measured, can’t be managed.

Beginning Estimate:

16% body-fat according to the reference pictures in the book.

Neck: 14 inches

Chest: 35.5 inches

Waist: 31.5 inches

Hips: 37 inches

Thighs: 21.5 inches

Calves: 15 inches

Biceps: 11 inches.

Weight: 165 pounds.

My most recent measurement will be found at the end.

Like the majority of people, I feel that I have an average amount of competition adrenaline. Competition streams in all of our veins, some more than others because they have learned to harness it to become Superhuman. While I had the competition of wanting to be bigger and better than my friends, my biggest challenge was that my roommate was also doing the diet and I knew that she was going after pure and noticeable results. I found my real competition. My point: When you don’t have competition, make it.

The Slow-Carb Diet

is only hard if you don’t like to cook (like me). Realize that I said “don’t like”, not “don’t know how”. Lucky for me, I left it up to my roommate to control the Slow-Carb diet and cook the majority of the meals.

The fact that there are so few things you can eat makes cooking and making meals easy. Actually, the diet might even add an extra hour a day to your schedule. While you have to be creative when you cook, you don’t have to spend so much time cooking. The meals required for the Slow-Carb diet can be made for a week in one day.

A Precaution to Air-Squats

Stretch before you do them.

I went into the bathroom at work to perform my squats and slightly pulled my hamstring because I had been sitting for most of the morning. Just because air-squats are a very light form of exercise, stretching beforehand is still vital. (Clearly).

How To Cheat Out Of Ice Baths

If you are like me, you won’t take ice baths. A quick tip to avoid them but still get the results – take up the 4 Hour Body challenge during the winter.

Instead of ice baths, I wore less layers and let my body feel the cold without tipping the point of getting the flu – which the Slow-Carb diet and exercise will work to prevent anyways. Want to lose weight and save money? Leave the heat off in your home, make your body work to keep itself warm by burning fat. These two steps take care of the outside of your body. Now, add only drinking ice water to the list and you have yourself roughly the same results as taking an ice bath if not better results.

The Caliber Test

My roommate surprised me by ordering a Caliber device off  the internet so that we could more accurately know our body fat percentage. You will recall that I was at an estimated 16% body fat according to the reference pictures Tim provided in his book. She got the Caliber around a week and a half  after we began the diet. Did I get from 16% to the 8.3% that the Caliber said I was at? We will never know for certain. Given that I could have been off by 5% in my beginning estimations and the fact that the Calibers can be off by much higher than 5% who knows the true improvement.

The reason I bring this up is to suggest to you to not measure your body fat percentage unless you want to do it for fun or expect to make drastic results. I was often referenced as skinny, so you can expect that I did not have much body fat to lose. When I mentioned the importance of measurements, it is best to know that it is even more important to have very accurate measurements.

Kettle-Ball Swing

is much more of a workout than you will first expect. Start off with a light weight and work your way up slowly.

Dead-lifts Suck For Some

Mainly people with past back problems. If you have had any previous back issues, start doing dead-lifts without any weights. To prepare yourself for the intensity and the extreme results of dead-lifts you can try these real simple back exercises and really focus on your core strength. In addition, kettle ball swings are perfect for preparing every muscle in your body for dead-lifts.

The Vertical Jump

I increased my jump by almost 5 inches by following the tips. The advice also allowed me to almost jump onto a 5 foot high box at Gymfinity during Parkour training.

Sleep Is For The Weak, Sleep is For The Strong

I always say sleep is for the weak because I am up late every night writing, researching, working and living the success journey. It’s sad that there are more people out there that want sleep more than they want to be successful. Thanks to the 4-Hour Body, I am now able to sleep even less and have more energy. I now understand my REM cycle and the other sleeping lessons Tim shared. As a result, I would like to revert my statement. Sleep is not for the weak, Sleep is for the strong. It is for the strong because I know that those who get the most done and accomplish the most each day sleep the best without the need to sleep the longest and they will be more successful than everyone else.

The Best way to predict the future is to invent it – Alan Kay

Beginning Measurements>>>> Most Recent Measurements

16% body-fat according to the reference pictures in the book.   >>>> 7% body-fat according to caliber

Neck: 14 inches  >>>> 14 inches

Chest: 35.5 inches   >>>> 36 inches

Waist: 31.5 inches   >>>> 31.5 inches

Hips: 37 inches    >>>> 38 inches

Thighs: 21.5 inches   >>>> 21.5 inches

Calves: 15 inches   >>>>> 15 inches

Biceps 11 inches.    >>>>> 11 inches

Weight 165 pounds.    >>>> 154 pounds

Notice how almost all of my measurements stayed the same, but I lost 11 pounds. The 4 Hour Body technique allows you to cut the fat but keep the muscle. Uniquely for me, my loss of fat was at a equal relationship with the gain of muscle. Now it’s time to really kick up the muscle gain.

Stay Positive and Experimental

Garth E. Beyer

The Tipping Point

Garth Beyer

The world has always been right – little things can make a big difference. But it wasn’t until Malcolm Gladwell gave us the book The Tipping Point to teach is HOW little things can make a big difference. (Thank you to my mom for recommending and lending me the book)

I have to say that this is the longest period I have gone without writing a blog, the main reason is that I have been reading The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve also been researching and working on my next Toastmasters speech which you can look forward to later this week. But I would like to say that I finished The Tipping Point today and want to give you a Book Regurgitation post. If you are unfamiliar to this, I take notes whenever I read a book and mark the most important points along with making my own ideas and thoughts based off of what I read. You can click the “Book Regurgitation” category to see a couple of my other posts on books I have read.

What is most exciting is that if you like this post than you can really look forward to my future posts since I have a goal to read 25+ books this year, including all of the books on my book shelf that I have not made time to read. Before you continue, I will give you a heads up that I do not give a clear summary or a critique of the book, if you would like a summary version before you continue you can find it here. Better yet, you have already read the book and are wondering if I have similar thoughts or ideas related to it. Read on and let’s find out. As always, I hope to connect with you, so leave a comment about what you think (and pardon the pun of connect). Actually that’s a great place to start.

I am not a connector. Connectors, being one of the few that usher trends into epidemics of popularity. Or at least, I wasn’t. What I came to find is that I, you, everyone, holds the power to BECOME a connector. You should note that Gladwell never said that connectors were born the way they are, or mavens are raised a particular way to grow up to become a maven. They simply became what was at their core, but that does not mean that someone who is not a connector can’t become one or that someone who is a not a salesman can’t become one or, better yet, someone who is a maven can’t become a salesman too. “…the New Economy is going to lead us to rely more and more on very primitive kinds of social contacts. Relying on the Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen in our life is the way we deal with the complexity of the modern world.” I say, in addition to entering the social circle of Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen — BECOME a bit of each one. As Gladwell stated, we are currently relying on these connections, and will continue to rely on them more and more as the New Economy progresses. Since I am a person who likes to take care of all the tasks instead of assigning someone else, because I know I can do it better – I had to figure out how to become a Connector, a Maven and a Salesman. I do not want to rely on others to take each role. Here are three steps to become each one of the few.

Becoming A Super-Human Vector Of Popularity

Becoming a Connector

  • Open an excel spreadsheet and start inserting everyone you meet. Every business card you get, every teacher you have, every friend you are introduced to, and so on – put their names, contact info, and a description of how you can connect with them (how you met, how you know them, have a similarity). This is where the rule of 150 does not appear.
  • Remember, its the small things that count. Become a connector by getting out and interacting with people. When you are at the bookstore, observe what books people are reading and if you can make a connection. When you purchase something, use the clerk’s name and have them remember you. It is as much getting people to remember you, as it is remembering them. To become a connector, you have to put in two times the effort.
  • Life Optimizer created a fantastic list of how to become a master connector. The first two bullet points are the two biggest factors that I focus on, Life Optimizer hits everything else. View the 106 tips to Become a Master Connector

Becoming a Maven

  • Having a focus and a passion is only detailing the face value of a Maven. In order to truly become one, you have to become detailed. You have to narrow down your focus into one small subject and then expand on it. It’s like going up a family tree, taking one branch that does not make any other branches, and then making a tree from it.  You need to exploit every thought and idea and put them into your focus. If Mavens were Experts, they would call them that, but an Expert is the foster child to a Maven.
  • Book recommendation, Tribes by Seth Godin. In order to become a Maven, you have to have a following in each of your focuses; a select group of people that are connectors and salesmen.
  • Life Optimizer does it again here, How To Become a Maven (Mr. Know Everything)

Becoming a Salesman

  • Read, Listen, Write, Act. I constantly read books on selling, on success, on business, etc. Then I constantly listen to cd’s related to sales like Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Jim Rohn, and so many others. Let’s just say I have more sales/motivation audio files than I do music on my iPod. I then write out my thoughts, new ideas, actions, reviews, etc in my blog or in my journal as I read and listen. Lastly, I go back and I act on all of the lessons I taught. No better way to become a better salesman then reading, listening, writing, and acting.
  • Actually there is, failing.
  • Yet again, I have to pull a resource from Seth Godin, check out some lens’ on Salesmanship at Squidoo

Reflections, Reactions and Tips

Other than coming up with ideas of how to become each one of the few, the chapters regarding the Law of The Few was much more stimulating to me. Although, It made me feel slightly dumb that I had not thought of categorizing the types of tippers into three small groups. Too often we believe that there are a thousand factors to a business’s success, when really, its tipping point is a matter of one or two small changes. From here on I am going to expand on the points that I noted while I read the book. I did my best to give you a little taste of everything in the book, my views, and the ability to comment on it.

  • I took the surname test and got a score of approx 41. Which was the average score of the test Gladwell gave to his friends and acquaintances, mostly journalists and professionals. He also gave the test to a group of health educators and academics at conference in Princeton, New Jersey and that group scored an average score of 39. It truly surprised me that I ended up knowing this many people, during the first 10-12 lines of names I scored very little. You can try this exercise yourself without getting the book by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.
  • “Gosh darn it,” Gau said, “if you don’t try, you’ll never succeed.” I noted this because of the tattoo on my back,”If you don’t try, you fail”.  I also love to think that I am similar to Tom Gau in the sense that I create a persuasive conversational dance with everyone I meet. It is for this reason that I feel I would make a great salesman. Despite my actions you can take to become each one of the few, it puzzles me what made Gau a perfect Salesman. What actions, thoughts, behaviors did he express throughout his life that pushed him in this direction. What was the Tipping Point for him in becoming One of The Few?

The next chapter regarded the stickiness factor, which refers to the unique quality that propels the phenomenon to become “stuck” in the minds of the general public and by collateral, influence their behaviors.

  • Gladwell uses the success of the TV shows, Sesame Street and Blues Clues to define all angles of the stickiness factor. It’s clear that a lot of his focus in explaining the factor is related to children and their TV shows. At the end of the book, Gladwell says to “use the thinking in this book to create something new” and I feel that the following will be my research into the stickiness factor. What makes self-development/motivational/inspirational/self-help/ videos sticky for adults? What would the distractor be? What do adults typically focus on? If it could be done on a larger level, having a 30 minutes motivational boot camp TV series, what are the small additions that would need to be to make it stick? Once I acquire more financial freedom, you can bet you will see a post that provides these answers – just as well as you will see me on my 30 minute motivational boot camp TV series each week. Do you have any ideas?
  • All the more interesting, a factor that is used in children’s TV shows would best be applied to the motivational boot camp series — repetition. Gladwell explains that the repetition that Blues Clues uses giving the children a sense of affirmation and self-worth. Two of the most powerfully positive stimulants one could experience. I personally never looked at repetition in this view, thank you Gladwell for bringing me into the light.

Which brings me to one of the biggest points of the book which is summarized in one sentence and not truly expanded on, so if you missed it here it is.

The tipping point is all about selling one idea at a time.

And the greatest part is that if you use the perfect “little things that make a big difference”, you only have to sell a total of a few ideas.

Now, while the Law of the Few and the stickiness factor were simple, straightforward and packed with specific evidence, Gladwell throws you a broad rule of the epidemic called The Power of Context. In these two chapters he establishes the fact that if the trend is not introduced at the right time, it is unlikely that the tipping point will occur.

  • The infinitely positive attitude I have, provided a nice lens when reading about the fact the minor seemingly insignificant quality-of-life crimes were the tipping points for violent crimes in the sense that if people saw broken windows and graffiti-stricken walls and trains, then they feel that they are less likely to get caught or be the one at blame. To make it positive, I saw it as the same for extreme success. It’s created by cleaning up the few negative behaviors you have, it is the smallest things that count. Just a reminder to not focus so much on creating progression of success and focus instead, on eliminating the few actions that are preventing you from reaching your goals.
  • Earlier I said that Gladwell stated that he wanted us to think of how the Tipping Point could apply to a situation in our lives. It keeps on coming up! This morning I was talking with my coworkers about the increase in heroin transactions in Madison, WI. If you have read some earlier posts of mine, you know that I live on the east side (the ghetto side), but you will also know that I found a diamond in the rough apartment complex and are actually a good 5 blocks away from all the bad areas of town. I felt a tad special at work when I brought up Gladwell’s example of the van that carried new needles to exchange with used ones. I will definitely keep some attention at the increase of heroin addicts in the city.
  • The second application of the Tipping Point’s take on the broken window theory happened when I saw someone litter – threw a wrapper out of the window. A smoker – who could have guessed? It was most likely the plastic wrapper that encased his pack of death sentences. The idea that if a town were to put into action a group of weekly garbage pickup volunteers, we would Tip the epidemic in the opposite direction. A perfect example is Earth Day, when thousands upon thousands of people volunteer their time to do street side cleanup. Do you notice that after Earth Day each year, the time it takes for garbage to accumulate takes longer. The more garbage there is, the more likely people will be okay with littering. It is like the rule of 72 in reverse, quickly multiplying the amount of garbage being littered. When you look at areas that have organizations that constantly pick up trash, they steadily have less trash to pick up. As much as I support the idea of prevention over clean-up, it was not until I read the Tipping Point that I understood that clean-up is a form of prevention.

  • As I have hopes to run for President in 2028, I was fascinated on the excerpt study on the fact the people voted more republican because the reporter smiled more when talking about the republican. Aside from the fact (which Gladwell explains further in his book) that people mimic motions of the body and facial movements of the person they are having a conversation with, people take it on an emotional level.
  • I tested the first factor of mimicking expressions a couple ways. The first was that I smiled more when my roommate came home or walked into the room. It was immediately reflected. No wonder they say smiling is contagious, but they forgot to expand it — every facial movement is contagious. In addition to smiling each time she walked in the room, I would also have a puzzled look, a weird look, a sweet luck, a mad look, all of them reflected. I also tested it out while walking up the street on the way home from my bus stop. Another person was walking on the sidewalk coming at me and we both put on a flat, tough, apprehensive looking face. We mimicked the expression of the other person.
  • One of the  most interesting points was when Gladwell took a look at “character” and “the mistake we make in thinking of character as something unified and all-encompassing”. This tendency is termed the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is a “fancy way of saying that when it comes to interpreting other people’s behavior, human beings invariably make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context.” A way he goes about explaining this is in a test of cheating on a test. (What an oxymoron).
  • Why this test caught my attention was that I am working on a blog post about the difference between being smart and bullshitting a paper and being dumb and bullshitting a paper. I have had friends get upset that I received an A on a smartly bullshitted paper and have even had them call me a cheater for it. I wont lie, what they called me can be the truth sometimes. I have cheated on school work before — I can recall a time in World Geography class when I wrote the capital of each state on a piece of paper so that I only had to memorize where all the 50 states were and not their capitols. What would my peers say about my character? They would call me a cheater. But that is false. —

—“Character, then, isn’t what we think it is or, rather, what we want it to be. It isn’t a stable, easily identifiable set of closely related traits, and it only seems that way because of a glitch in the way our brains are organized. Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context. The reason that most of us seem to have a consistent character is that most of us are really good at controlling our environment. I have a lot of fun at dinner parties. As a result, I throw a lot of dinner parties and my friends see me there an think that I’m fun. But if I couldn’t have lots of dinner parties, if my friends instead tended to see me in lots of different situations over which I had little or no control — like, say, faced with four hostile youths in a  filthy, broken-down subway — they probably wouldn’t think of me as fun anymore”

So yes, I am a cheater in the environment and context of 9th grade world geography class during a test on all the states and capitols. I am not, however, a cheater in environmental science class, or at the workplace or at home. Thus, calling me a cheater falls under the Fundamental Attribution Error.  This is the reason why people can do terrible in school, but miraculous at the work place. It is why people may be dumb as hell, but are the greatest boxers in the world. You would call them neither, poorly educated or workaholics, nor would you say that a person has the brain capacity of a jellyfish or is a fitness expert. They are both, all of the above, and a whole lot of other things too. It is all a matter of context.

  • The second chapter on the law of context explains a 150 personal connection rule. I found it fascinating that a number could be pinned and as social as I am, I found that in each area of my interests, I can’t really connect with more than 150 people on a personal level. The concept also sparked an idea for my public speaking events. I will have networking before the event, but it will be divided into groups of a 125. Instead of having seats lined up in rows and all 2,000 people together, it would be broken up into sections. And since I plan on having two to three day seminars, the people would keep their same seats because they can feel comfortable with their group. If a person is too worried about what the other people around them are thinking about them, they wont be able to pay attention to the lessons I am speaking on. I am not only benefiting myself by breaking up groups into less than 150, but also benefiting the people themselves. In the sense, we are all the same, we cannot connect with more than 150 people in a the same group at once… it can’t reach that point of connection which is important in inspirational public speaking engagements.
  • To continue, the groups I would be speaking to, Gladwell would call the revolutionaries or innovators and early adopters. The ones willing to try it out and test it, to take the risk. These people would receive revolutionary changing ideas from me. The problem that Gladwell expands on is the chasm between the early adopters and the attitude of the early majority – they are incompatible. An idea or invention cannot spread easily between the two, and this is what I fear most. I am currently focused on connecting  with the revolutionaries instead of the early majority. It’s similar to a business plan, a person can have a plan to be successful in business, but they forget to plan their removal of the business equation – give someone else the hard work to do while you reap the profits and start on some new idea.

  • In the two matters of memory – rumors and mental capacity – I found the capacity factor the most interesting. It explains one person in a relationship does not need to maintain certain memories, because their partner will. I thought of my roommate and how much information I purposefully ignore because I know she will remember it, leaving me with more capacity to recall what I really want. A beautiful observation that I was unclear of until I read this book.
  • Something else that caught my attention –but I can’t read my handwriting to indicate the page number it was on– was the act of piggyback riding. It had to do with the AirWalk shoes. They used their marketing to target each upcoming epidemic. Now I want to bring an idea up with you that relates to this. Recently I have been offered a Financial Advising position and am going to turn it down. Despite their persuasions that all of the baby boomers are not turning 65+ and they are in desperate need to receive financial guidance, I disagree. This particular time of need is quickly declining as the baby boomers are soon beginning to die and the fact that they have never had any financial direction, and are very unlikely to take advice even though they need it. I will be turning down the offer in order to prepare for the next epidemic – when the 75+ trillion dollars of money that is being transferred from the elders to their young. It is these people that need the financial guidance and have the time and attention to handle the knowledge. I am going to piggyback ride the epidemic of wealth transfer as a way to promote and succeed in the world of financial advising.

The End of The Tipping Point (Or rather, the beginning of all the Tipping Points)

“She changed the context of her message. She changed the messenger, and she changed the message itself. She focused her efforts. This is the first lesson of the Tipping Point. Starting epidemics requires concentrating resources on a few key areas. “ — “The theory of Tipping points requires, however, that we re-frame the way we think about the world.” — “All of these things are expressions of the peculiarities of the human mind and heart, a refutation of the notion that the way we function and communicate and process information is straightforward and transparent. it is not. it is messy and opaque” — “The Ivory soap 800 number is what I call a Maven trap”

These are brief statements I highlighted, from the conclusion onto the forward of the Tipping Point where Gladwell unleashes himself. The ideas, points, references, case studies that he shares at the end the book are truly remarkable. If you do not want to read the whole book, let this be your cheat – read the conclusion and forward.

Wanting to know if you are a connector? Or want to know about Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point and his other writings? You can visit his website here.

The book broken into my reactions –> Hmm, interesting, very interesting, wow, interesting, so true, hmm, seriously? Why didn’t I think of that before, interesting, so true, WOW…… it pretty much goes on from there and repeats. Saying this book is worth a read is an understatement.

Stay Positive and Three Cheers For The Law Of The Few – To the Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen

Garth E. Beyer

Long-Term Legacy and Short-Term Impact of a Writer

Garth Beyer

 My quick addition of Ch. 8 of “The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way” by Jeffrey Gitomer.

You are a fantastic writer. Well, maybe not. BUT I know you are a lot better than when you began writing. When I started writing, I was awful. My first story was about how my brother gave me a nickel for Christmas. There was not even a point to the story; I made it seem that the nickel was all I wanted to receive for the holidays. I was six years old and I definitely wanted more than a nickel. I fight myself to not burn the essay every time I take it out. Why don’t I set it to flames? Because you can always find something new to learn or notice when you review an earlier piece of writing. Although I do not burn it, I do “RIP” it.

A Gravestone Story

Gitomer touches on the necessity to use strong examples to get your reader shaking their heads in agreement. I have a bunch of stories and examples to share about particular life lessons, but when I type them; while the story may be strong to me, it would not be to someone else. You not only need to put on the audience members shoes when using an example of a personal story, but you have to wear their shirt, pants, and even the underwear with their name sewn into it. Understand your readers.

On the top of my essay about the Christmas gift of a nickel, I wrote “R.I.P.” When you are writing, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

1. Recognize – Are you winning over your readers? Make sure that you have them shaking their heads in agreement with your side.

2. Impact – Is every sentence pushing a lesson or feeling into the reader? Check again to see if you are persuading them to act, or simply telling them to do something because you said so.

3. Point – You may have heard that “math is everything, the rest is just fluff.” In the case of writing, “significance” is everything, and information is just the fluff. As you review your writing, are you learning more statistics than understanding the real message?

You Would Have Thought I Wrote In Red – I Didn’t

At first glance you would think that my essay was simply a white page of paper with red marker all over it. With further investigation, you will find actual words inside the red. When I edited my essay, I highlighted in pen everything that I knew was not leaving an impact. The less red, the more loved it will be by your readers.

NOTE: While in sociology class and studying on the topic of “education”, I read an article that was persuading schools to BAN the use of red pens in elementary schools. The author declared that using red pen to correct papers left too much of a negative impact on younger students. The sociologist concluded that the color of red is too harsh, powerful, oppressive, and negative. See for yourself by googling “the significance of the color red”. You do not have to click on a link, it will state right under the link how it relates to violence and warfare. While red can also signify “love”, it is less of an impact and does not support the imaginations of younger people as much as violence does.

I stated that editing in red was troublesome for the youth, but not for you, not for people who honestly want to be writers. The negative impact is all the more reason to grade yourself with red, because you need to be rough with yourself. No one else is there to watch over your shoulder, otherwise they would be writing for you. Let the red ink sink into your writing abilities.

4.5 Extra Steps to Writing Better

1. We all know that a persuasive piece of writing is to compel the reader to act! What we continuously fail to do is define what we want our readers to act on before we write. We figure on that if we write the article, we will just add the call to action at the end and it’s a done deal. NOPE.

2. I often read that the best way to market is to write, act, read, invest, spend, as if you were the prospect of the product. The same goes with writing a persuasive article, you must consistently remind yourself that you are not only the writer, but you are the reader as well. Would you share your paper or throw it away? Forward it in an email to a friend, or skip over it?
3. During Dale Suslicks last un-workshop, one gentleman stated how difficult it was to write. He believed it was so much easier to speak because it flowed better than writing. I began to tell him how I have the same problem, but it depends on who your audience is. Do you want them to read it as if you were speaking directly to them? Then check yourself by reading your own written work aloud for a conclusion. Similarly, you can read your work out loud to see how “speaky” it sounds to make improvements. Remember, keep that red pen near!

4. I am coming to find more and more that when an idea pops in your mind, it does not like to stay. Write it out. Do not just take a note, or think you will remember it. You won’t. But I also added that you should not write on a small note because when you go back to it, the feelings behind the idea are not as powerful and you will have a much harder time to write out a full article of complete thoughts. By writing less to begin with, you limit yourself when you go back to it. That does not mean you need to write pages upon pages about an idea, but enough so that YOU get just as inspired as your readers when you read.

4. 5 On the other hand, it is fortunate for you to keep notes of small ideas that may not have manifested immediately in your mind. You can use these when you are coming near a deadline, want to free-write, or when an opportunity arises for you to test some of the ideas.

Empower Yourself

Launch yourself into learning everything you need to know to get what you want, when you want it. Read up on blogs and articles of successful people in your area of interest daily. I hope that whether you have read “The Little Green Book to Getting Your Way” or not, that you have understood more of how to create a long-term legacy and a short-term impact with your writing and life. Gitomer says, “Writing leads to wealth.” Where is yours leading you?

 

Stay Positive and Write On

Garth E. Beyer

Tribes: We Need YOU to Lead Us

Garth Beyer

Tribes, by Seth Godin. Bestselling author of Purple Cow and The Dip.

Here are some short snippets of his book that I wanted to share. Enjoy.

1. “We’re embracing a factory instead of a tribe. The irony is that all of this fear used to be useful. Fear of change is built into most organisms, because change is the first sign of risk. Fear of change in a huge factory is appropriate when efficiency is the order of the day. Today, though, the fear that used to protect us at work is now our enemy; it’s now the thing standing in the way.”

– Even knowing this, I still have fear throughout my work day. I fear bumping into other employees in an awkward moment, I fear discussing the idea of receiving a raise, I fear being turned down and frowned upon when I ask for more duties since I am getting my one task done too quickly. We are nothing without fear, but only if we use the fear. Imagining what you would do if you did not fear the result is the best first step. The next step is breaking it down so you do not overwhelm yourself. You are in control, find a way to use your fear. And let’s face it head on; you may lose out, you may get pushed back, you may get fired, but there will ALWAYS be another spot to be filled! Always. And the next spot you fill, might just be the perfect one. Remember, challenging fears involves other people, and other people have fears too. Persistence and Patience.

2. “‘How was your day?’ is a question that matters a lot more than it seems. It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who are doing the best work, making the greatest impact, and changing the most. Changing the way they see the world, sure, but also changing the world. By challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person, just one, can make a huge difference”

– This is why I want to open a College of Passions. (Will be explained in a later blog post)

3. “‘Good Enough’ stopped being good enough a long time ago. So why not be great?”

4. Life’s too short to fight the forces of change. Life’s too short to hate what you do all day. Life’s way too short to make mediocre stuff. And almost everything that’s standard is now viewed as mediocre.”

5. “What people are afraid of isn’t failure. It’s blame. Criticism. We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism. We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a menu that makes dinners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it”.

– I only have one thing I want to say; Just because you think no one else is acting does not mean you shouldn’t. The absolute best way to become a leader is to be the first to TRY SOMETHING. Because when it’s a success, you begin leading. You bring out the best in others and this is something our globe needs. People to toss away their fear and start acting on their ideas and passions. Be the ignition!

6. “A fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to his religion before he explores it. As opposed to a curious person who explores first then considers whether or not he wants to accept the ramifications. A curious person embraces the tension between his religion and something new, wrestles with it and through it, then decides whether to embrace the new idea or reject it. Curious is the key word. It has nothing to do with income, nothing to do with education, and certainly nothing to do with organized religion. It has to do with a desire to understand, a desire to try, a desire to push whatever envelope is interesting. Leaders are curious because they can’t wait to find out what the group is going to do next. The changes in the tribe are what are interesting, and curiosity drives them.”

– “If you don’t try, you fail.” is part of the tattoo I have on my back.. And it stands true for every “curious” person in the world. Can you recall a time that you tried something because you didn’t want to be the only one not trying it? (I don’t recommend falling your friends if they jump off a cliff) But, now all you need to do is take that same emotion and change the scenario where no one has tried it. Be the first, and be the best.

7. “Faith is critical to all innovation. Without faith, it’s suicidal to be a leader, to act like a heretic. Religion, on the other hand, represents a strict set of rules that our fellow humans have overlaid on top of our faith. Religion supports the status quo and encourages us to fit in, not to stand out.”

– What a new look at faith. LOVE it.

8. “A couple walks by, obviously on their way to bed, having pushed the idea of vacation a little too hard. The woman looks over to me , in a harsh whisper a little quieter than a yell, says to her friend, ‘Isn’t that sad? that guy comes here on vacation and he’s stuck checking his e-mail. He can’t even enjoy his two weeks off.’ I think the real question–the one they probably wouldn’t want to answer–was, ‘Isn’t it sad that we have a job where we spend two weeks avoiding the stuff we have to do fifty weeks a year?”

– What a remarkable view of the event. Overall, wonderful book. It is not something I would push to the top of your reading priorities, but it’s definitely near the top. I got my notes here so I will be sharing this book now with someone else. Exciting. Hope you enjoyed what I posted and check the book out. I’m always here to talk about it if you want.

Stay Positive and Embrace Fear

Garth E. Beyer