Life Lesson

Three Lists To Always Have

Garth Beyer

These lists are very cut and dry. You don’t need me to tell you why you should have them. It matters not even where you have them or how often you read them, as long as you have written completely out.

1. A list of sources of inspiration. It can be in the form of bullet points, a collage, or the real thing. Regardless, still write down everything that you draw inspiration from because if you don’t feel inspired just writing it down, it’s not strong enough. If it’s not strong enough, go find something that is. Write it down.

2. A list of places you want to go. Pull out a map or a globe if you have to, Google odd places to travel, pick locations that a typical tourist would go to, or be weird and write that you want to travel to the lake where they filmed The Notebook or where the tomb of Oscar Wilde is. If you broke up the world into square feet, it leaves you with almost 5-1/2 quadrillion square feet to choose from.

“Nothing beats travel to expand your knowledge, your palette, and your empathy for your fellow men and women.” – Debbie Berne

3. A list of ways you can contribute, volunteer, and give.

 

Stay Positive & Write Then Animate Your Lists

Garth E. Beyer

Re: A Manual For Daily Adventure

Garth Beyer

You’re in rut. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t care. But you are.

I can’t say that I am or was in a rut, but I could ALWAYS use more adventure in my life. Lucky for me, and now you, Michelle Welsch created a list of 80 ways to get started. She calls it her manual for daily adventure.

I was not going to accept the challenge at first, but after fighting the lizard brain, I said “What the hell? Let’s do it!”

I’ve done four out of the eighty ways to get started. I’ll keep you posted later in the week with more accomplishments.

62. Visit a farmers market (Madison, WI farmers market on the square)
64. Buy yourself flowers (got them from farmers market)
14. Ride a bike (I have one but I rented the B cycle because I never have before and always wondered how they worked)
66. Style your hair differently (angled fohawk)

 

This wasn’t one but I got excited to try new things so I told the Smoothie Crafters to make me a surprise – it was a win!

Stay Positive & Adventurous

Garth E. Beyer

Going After Growth

Going After Growth

Garth Beyer

Plants are better than us. They grow taller, they accrue width, they are in the sunlight more than us, they stand stronger and admit it, when they lose a leaf or a branch they grow it back quicker too. Actually, I once wrote a haiku that went like this,

If A Tree Stays Standing in the Forest, And No One Is Around to Hear It

they sway in the wind

never break from much pressure

we must stand like trees

Trees or plants in general go after growth. They don’t wait for the sun to shine on them, or for it to rain, or for something to be thrown near it to feed off its nutrients. It goes after it!

The plant spawns its roots as far as it can to get as much carbon dioxide and nutrients as possible. It extends its leaves as far out as possible. It builds itself to acclimate, whether that means growing a thick strong stem that nothing can bring down or one that sways with the wind.

 

It’s in their genes, their programming, their ancestry – it’s what plants do.                                                                                            Us on the other hand, were given a tragic gift.

We can choose to live like a plant or not. And that choice makes all the difference.

 

So let me ask you, are you a Bonsai Tree or a General Sherman?

 

Stay Positive & Unlike Plants, You Have The Ability To Grow ANY Direction You Want

Garth E. Beyer

Coming To Terms

Garth Beyer

We all know what we need to do at any given time, during the rough patches and the smooth. No number of people we ask “what should I do” is going to help.

It’s the doing part that causes us to stop, makes us question what we are actually supposed to do, and search for the easy way out.

The thing about the doing is that it’s what you have to do. Not anyone else. You can question people what you should do all you want, but you can’t ask someone to do something only you can do.

The quicker you come to terms with it, the quicker you quit ignoring the action you need to take, the quicker you get in the habit of just doing what you need to do right away, the greater the acceleration of the quality of life you will have.

 

Stay Positive & The Only Direction Is Forward

Garth E. Beyer

 

W. Clement Stone, who built a hundred million dollar  insurance company empire, would make all his employees recite the phrase, “Do it now!” over and over at the start of each workday. W. Clement himself would repeat it fifty times each morning when he would wake up and fifty times before he would go to sleep. Go with Nike or go with Stone, whatever it is, Just Do It and Just Do It Now.

Are You Encouraging Or Discouraging?

Garth Beyer

Right now, you are doing one or the other. 20 minutes from now, you will be doing one or the other. Five years from now, you will be doing one or the other.

There is no middle ground, there is no hideout or escape from it.

It is very simple; if you are not using your highest potential, if you are not trying your hardest, then you are discouraging others. When people look at you, they may judge you and stereotype you, but at the same time, they are either encouraged by you or discouraged.

“Either they draw inspiration and want to do likewise or they draw discouragement because they see us not doing the most with our ability that we can be doing with that ability” – Zig Ziglar

If you’re not discouraging, then your encouraging. Simple as that.

 

Stay Positive & If You Can, They Can

Garth E. Beyer

Busy? Get Excited

Garth Beyer

You’re busy. I’m busy. Other readers are busy. Your neighbor is busy. So is your boss, your parents, your friends, your co-workers, and the customer service agents you try to reach when one bad thing happens after the other.

(after all, haste makes waste)

I’m surprised you have time to read this, but I will be even more surprised if you take action after reading.

Clearly, everyone is busy. The world is filled with busy people. But don’t you think it’s odd that I don’t say that they are energetic people, or excited people, or people on their venture for success? Nope. Just busy, with “busy” feeling dull, tasteless and a lot like a job you hate.

Becoming a success isn’t about being busy, staying busy, or having been busy. When you ask a successful person what they did, what they are doing, or what they will do, they are ecstatic to share it with you. Every bit of their story, their plans, their to-do’s are drenched in excitement.

(get excited in a haste, it’s the only action that doesn’t make waste)

I see a trend in successful people; they maintain the quality of a child who is always excited and applies it to their schedule. Are they busy? They have a lot to do, but the excitement counters the daft emotions that cling to the idea of being “busy”.

Don’t be busy, be excited. And be excited more often than you are busy.

 

Stay Positive & Titillated (yea, it’s a word)

Garth E. Beyer