Life Lesson

The Three Whales

Garth Beyer

Twitter Whale

The killer whale and the serial whale are always out to get you.

The killer whale is that large weight holding you back from completing your project (or for some, starting it). The killer whale, well, kills. It kills your passion, your motivation, your hope, and eventually your art (or for some, just the idea of it).

The serial whale is the whale that you actually come face to face with while you’re doing the hard work of making your art. The serial whale doesn’t communicate through loud screeches and cries. No. The serial whale has a voice that it uses to tell you you’re not good enough, that your goal can’t be reached, that you should just give up. (Who knew the little voice syndrome was actually a whale talking to you. Things get more and more weird.)

Then you have the fail whale (pictured above).

The fact the whale is smiling says more than words can right now.

 

Stay Positive & The Fail Whale Is Okay, It’s The Other Two That Need To Be Poached

Garth E. Beyer

Are Your Clothes Too Tight?

Garth Beyer

I’ve found the answer to the fitting in clothes vs standing out in them argument.

Think of it this way. If it fits, it also makes you stand out.

Maybe this post isn’t about clothes, though.

 

Stay Positive & Turns Out To Be A Team, Not A Battle

Garth E. Beyer

Business Meets Soggy Cereal

Garth Beyer

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A friend of mine purposefully waits for her cereal to get soggy. Now, the way my mind works, I couldn’t help but relate it to businesses. Sure, some people love their cereal soggy, they love that a business is still there even after it gets drowned (e.g., by the economy, by critics, by amazon reviews).

This is fine, I don’t judge her for enjoying her soggy cereal or when people buy clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch. Nor do I judge those who only want the crisp, new; the top of the line crunch and taste of just-poured cereal or fresh creative clothing.

The real problem (aside from milk pouring down your chin when you take a bite) is that cereal gets soggy. Cereal will always get soggy.

You can fight it by putting less milk in the bowl, by dividing the cereal inside the bowl, or by eating the cereal fast, but always, every cereal gets soggy.

Or you can leave your business to run itself and go create a new type of cereal.

 

Stay Positive & I’ve Never Seen Cereal Get Unsoggy

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

Turn Them On

Garth Beyer

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The most basic reason we read is to find out what happens next.

The same works in the world of creativity, art, and design. It’s this basic reason that artists who try to create the next big thing and then quit are unsuccessful. Once the next big thing is made and the creator backs off, there’s no anticipation, there’s no urgency or curiosity – everything that encompasses “what happens next” is gone.

To turn your clients on, you have to get them expecting, desiring, practically dying to find out what happens next.

 

Stay Positive & Seriously, Though, What’s Next?

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

How Often

Garth Beyer

Frequency matters in advertising. It’s measured and calculated out to reach the largest number of people as often as possible. Advertising may take skill, style, and creativity, but advertising to the mass isn’t art.

I don’t like to say to be a successful, writer, composer, businessman, saleswoman, or any type of artist means that you have to ship something with frequency.

An author can write two books a year or 20, but the fact is very few write one.

To reach success, you have to ship, and ship often. How often doesn’t matter.

 

Stay Positive & It Helps To Be Consistent, But Not Necessary

Garth E. Beyer

Life Is Short, But…

Garth Beyer

While it was an odd way to come across this quote, it’s very much worth sharing.

“Simply that life is short, but art is even shorter.”

This sums up a good third of what I write and preach. Our life expectancy as humans can be measured, it even has an average of 78 years. The life expectancy of any kind of art… much more difficult to measure.

In fact, you can’t measure it. Which is why artists need continuously make more art. As far as I know, there has only been one Hamlet and one Van Gogh. Meaning, very few artists have created timeless art.

But I guarantee, you’re chances of having created something timeless increases with the more art you make.

 

Stay Positive & Not Mentioning People Expect You To Create More

Garth E. Beyer