Life Lesson

100th Post

Garth Beyer

In reflection, it has been a long five months full of successful change and improvements. Originally my hopes were to write five blog posts a week. Although some weeks had fewer and other weeks more, the average actually comes out to five  posts a week. Isn’t it incredible how things can manifest, especially when they are not in the way you originally thought or hoped for?

As with any habit, in my case writing, you have the ability to increase and improve that habit. In fact, that is exactly what I plan to do with this blog. Beginning now, I am shooting for a minimum of six posts a week, with a goal of one a day. With this effort I am asking you to push me to write even more and stronger posts, including posts that answer questions you have.

Which leads me to announce a big improvement to GarthBox. In two days I will be creating a separate page for you to contact me with a question and I will write a post answering that question. But this will be unique, there is a trick to it so make sure to check the page out for details.

Back on track, just as the content I provide is meant to hold you accountable to incorporate what you read into your life and to push yourself. The way you can push me to do much more than I say I will do is to post comments, pose questions and give me and everyone else your own thoughts about each post, “like” a post on Facebook, tweet content and simply make a ruckus out of what I write.

By extension, you deserve the credit for anyone who is helped by the posts I write if you are the one who shares it. In fact, all I did was make you aware of your own success and life-improving abilities. You have all the knowledge and power to begin changing and creating the perfect life you want with all the positive relationships, passive income, persistent motivation and much more.

With that being said, I will be retiring the motto that GarthBox is a place for you to find all the resources that will “Get you out of your box one life lesson at a time”. While I fully believe that everyone needs to step out of their comfort zone, including me (that’s how I get my content), I also believe that we all have the tools inside of us. I simply write to make you aware. GarthBox’s motto is now “Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What’s In It?” With this change, it calls upon me to increase the strength and amount of content I provide. Rather than the 80/20 rule, I will push myself for the 90/10 rule, the GarthBox law. Because after all, no one needs (or wants [referring to Occupy movement’s anger toward]) to be in the top 1%, you can be just as happy, maybe happier, to be in the top 10% percent. It also puts the (positive) pressure on you to use what you have been given to get yourself where you want to go.

Besides all the improvements, this 100th post is about giving my thanks. I am extremely grateful for every person that has viewed a post, shared a post and decided to make a change in their life after reading any of my material. If there is one thing I have learned from blogging, it is that people are busy. No. They are overloaded – incapacitated with busy-ness. With my life experience, the one detail to this busy-ness that I have learned is that often people are so busy doing nothing that they don’t have time to read a post that will encourage them to do something to improve their life. So with that, this 100th post is to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and even more thanks if you took more time out of your day to apply what you learned to your life. It is also a reminder to step back from life from time to time, to center yourself, to direct yourself and to fuel yourself to go after what it is you truly want. And of course all of this can be done by simply taking less than 6 minutes a day to view one of my posts.

Stay Positive & Live On

Garth E. Beyer

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Bonus:

I’ve been asked “What do you think we ought to do about education?” and my answers take much more time than a person is capable to stand and listen to. The reason being is that my answer, or rather, answers, incorporate thousands of other students’ responses because I have asked them, I have grown up with them and I am one of them. I have heard every improvement idea and route a student would rather take than what is placed in our education system now. My question to them, to parents, to taxpayers and other ruckus-making educators…”Why don’t we do anything about the way school is taught?”

Instead of waiting for the answer, I am one of few that is standing up and taking action. Anyone who comments below with their email address or likes this post will receive the earliest edition of my eBook “Start Schooling Dreams”.

Stay Positive & Make School Different

Garth E. Beyer

Success Learning Formula

Garth Beyer
Enter Your Knowledge Base

What I learned about people that make time to read and learn everything about how to be successful in their life and their specific life interest (Marketing, Sales, Writing, Blogging, Spartan Racing, etc.), is that they very quickly have no time to study and practice because they suddenly start living the successful life.

It’s only a short (very short) matter of time after you begin applying what you learn that you become a success and begin doing what you love rather than reading about it. Don’t let the extent of information and lessons there are in your area of interest that you think you need to learn prevent you from starting. You won’t get through all the books. You won’t listen to all the success CD’s. You won’t attend all the seminars. All you need to do is access 1/10 of all the information on your muse in order for you to be happy and successfully living it.

Stay Positive & Fill, Apply, And Begin Living Your Passion Before You Realize It

Garth E. Beyer

Challenge vs. Goal

Garth Beyer

A challenge is not something you want to do, that is called a goal. What remains unclear is which provides a better feeling of accomplishment. Do you feel stronger and more fulfilled when you finaly reach a goal or when you overcome a challenge?

Maybe the better question to ask yourself: Are you choosing goals that have challenges you must face in order to complete?

Choose goals wisely. In the sense of life logic, the more goals that require you to overcome challenges, the stronger the feeling of fulfillment and accomplishment will be when a goal is reached.

Stay Positive & Remember To Reach

Garth E. Beyer

 

Emulating The Successful Through Quotes

Garth Beyer

I’ve had a long standing conflict with reading, reciting and tweeting famous quotes. I have always felt that one should be original and make statements that are quotable rather than use someone else’s. It wasn’t until I was reading a book by Jim Rohn that my attitude shifted.

I have always been a living example to the power of emulating other successful people. If you want to become a famous writer, write like Ernest Hemingway or other famous writers. If you want to become a famous Salesman, live the same schedule each day as a famous Salesman. If you want to become a famous marketer and challenger of the status quo, live like Seth Godin. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is non sense. Doing the same thing as someone famous and expecting the same result makes sense.

What Jim Rohn turned the light on to let me see was that quotes are the best of the best thoughts, ideas and teachings by famous people. Quotes are meant to be meditated on and emulated. They are the shortest keys to becoming a successful whatever-you-want. If living the schedule of someone famous does not work out, live the words they left behind. Instead of reading a book, read a quote. Instead of following a step by step process, turn one quote to action each day.

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations” – Winston Churchill

With that being said, here are some of my favorite quotes.

If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive. – Audre Lorde

The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. it’s so easy to make it complex – Yvon Chouinard

The greatest discovery you’ll ever make, is the potential of your own mind. – Jose Silva

Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today. – Will Rogers

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. – Vernon Howard

Education is of no value and talent is worthless – unless you have an unwavering aim. Never find yourself without a compass. – C. Rice

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. – Will Rogers

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. – Jonathan Kozol

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. – Wayne Dyer

Feed your mind with the good, the clean, the pure, the powerful, and the positive – Zig Ziglar

Once you surrender to your vision, success begins to chase you. – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

What I dislike least in my former self are the moments of prayer. – Andre Gide

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. – Marcus Aurelius

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. – George Scialabba

When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. – Sigmund Freud

Success is something you attract by the person you become. – Jim Rohn

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it. – Winston Churchill

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity. – Louis Pasteur

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso

The secret to success in any human endeavor is total concentration. – Kurt Vonnegut

Language learning deserves special mention here. It is, bar none, the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking. – Tim Ferriss

I will study and prepare, and someday my opportunity will come. -Abraham Lincoln

Success is dependent upon the glands – sweat glands. – Zig Ziglar

Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.  – Henry Van Dyke

The way out is through. – Robert Frost

When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. – Lao Tzu

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. – Paulo Coelho

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions. – Benjamin Franklin

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. – Francis Bacon

Success builds character. Failure reveals it. – Dave Checketts

Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late. – Seth Godin

Opportunity: It’s not an opportunity, it’s an obligation – Flynn Berry

Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other – Brian Tracy

Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about. – Dr John F Demartini

I am deliberate and afraid of nothing – Audre Lorde

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. – Scott Adams

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness. – Perl S . Buck

Acknowledge your good fortune by sharing it. – Stephen King

Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. – Arnold Glasow

More Guts-When you expose yourself to the opportunities that scare you, you create something scarce, something others won’t do. – Seth Godin

Awareness, even at a subconscious level, beats fancy checklists without it, track or you will fail. – Tim Ferriss

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. – Ralph Emerson

A great leader will encourage his or her team to not fear failure as it is inevitable – Jason Chatrand

People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It’s as simple as that. – Earl nightingale

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due. – William Ralph Inge

I don’t do drugs. I am drugs. – Dali

Styling your life is all about taking accountability for what exists in your orbit. – Latham Thomas

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. – Soren Aabye Kierkegaard

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. – Jim Rohn

People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find. – O Pioneers!

Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant – Guy Kawasaki

Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it. – Cullen Hightower

What makes success is not your genius idea, but the execution and follow-through around it – Robin Sharma

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. – Frank A. Clark

You don’t have to be great to get started, but you do have to start to be great – Joe Sabah

The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied. – Richard Koch

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. – Mark Twain

Creativity is a muscle that you must use on a regular basis in order for it to function effectively – Keri Smith

Never deny a diagnosis, but do deny the negative verdict that may go with it. – Norman Cousins

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. – Babe Ruth

I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work. – Pearl S. Buck

Those who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try nothing and succeed. – Lloyd Jones

Income is renewable, but some other resources—like attention—are not. – Tim Ferriss

If you want to stand out, don’t be different, be outstanding. – Meredith West

Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision. – Ayn Rand

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react. – George Bernard Shaw

Quit bitching about how tired you are. The world doesn’t care. – Corbett Barr

They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. – Andy Warhol

Optimism, unaccompanied by personal effort, is merely a state of mind, and not fruitful. – Edward L. Curtis

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now. – Alan Watts

Almost everything comes from nothing. – Henri Amiel

No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. – James Allen

If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of. – Bruce Lee

The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won’t work – if you won’t. – Zig Ziglar

Listen to what you know instead of what you fear. – Richard Bach

From wonder into wonder existence opens. – Lao Tzu

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. – Rene Descartes

The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you’re finished. – Ben Franklin

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. – Maya Angelou

Example moves the world more than doctrine. – Henry Miller

So take these doctrines and create examples.

Stay Positive & Emulate

Garth E. Beyer

Rome Was Not Built In A Day, But…

Garth Beyer

Rome was not built in a day,

but the New York Empire State Building was built in 13 months.

I don’t know of a single goal  (in this case, of building something) that does not have a setback – some type of challenge that you have to overcome in order to accomplish it. After all, if there wasn’t a challenge to it, then it wouldn’t be a goal, it would be done.

Nor do I know of a single goal that you haven’t had to work hard for. It could be a small daily goal or a life goal, either way you have to work hard and keep working consistently, day after day, if you want to make something of your goal, yourself and your life.

Another key: The workers who were building Rome had persistence. They never lost faith in their vision even though it took them hundreds of years to “finish”. If anything, each day, each small improvement, gave them more faith despite the fact there was no immediate noticeable and worthy advancement. People lived to work on building Rome and died before it was completed. But,

Living the sutra “Rome was not built in a day” is a trap.

If you know it’s going to take a while to accomplish a certain goal, don’t step in the roman trap. The trap makes it seem okay to post-pone work, to do a little, and to take breaks. To use the excuse that “Rome was not built in a day” to express that you have not yet completed your goal is connerie. It’s the same as saying that you haven’t gotten around to it yet, but when you do, it will be incredible, it will go down in history, and be a milestone to your life. *spits*

To that mindset, I have to say that the New York Empire State Building was built in 13 months because they worked every day possible and always did extra to stay ahead of the weeks quota. They didn’t let time, a budget or mindset kill their goal from completing it that quickly. In fact, the concept of time, budget and mindset is exactly the killer of all goals and the reason the saying “Rome was not built in a day” began. Sorry John Bartlett, Ceaser, John Heywood, or whoever deserves the actual credit for coining the phrase, but you were lazy and did not understand the power of motivation, determination, and leadership. Rome is incredible, but imagine what it would be if the Vatican City was built with the vigor, effort, dedication and willpower that was put into creating the Empire State Building in record time.

Stay Positive & Do As The Romans New Yorkers Do

Garth E. Beyer

 

A Happy Life Written In Stone (The Path You Walk On)

Garth Beyer

After reading a post on Positvely Positive:  6 Tips For Designing Your Own Happiness Commandments  I had to create my own 12 commandments (now of course, you will too). While reading the article I thought of 5 of them and made it a mission to think of what thoughts, actions or feelings truly mattered to me and that I take to heart to finish the goal of writing 12. After reading mine, I encourage you to write your own. (You’ve probably thought of a few already and it’s perfectly okay to use any of mine!) To help you figure out the laws you want to govern your life, here are 50 questions that will free your mind of any uncertainty about your life’s direction. The answers may help you discover a few commandments you believe in with all of your power.

Garth’s 12 Commandments

1. Stay Positive.

It was hard competition to decide which to list first and which to list second. I end every post with a reminder to Stay Positive but I also have a tattoo that holds the saying of my second commandment in it. I chose to have “Stay Positive” first because it is a mental state. The beginning of all the paths we will ever walk. I think, therefore I am. I think therefore I blog. Staying positive is a mental battle, a constant one, and if always winning…well, there is just no greater life than that. Our thoughts create our lives and if we can manage to stay positive even 70% of the time, we will have a life worth lived.

2. If you don’t try, you fail.

Thoughts first, actions second. As mentioned, I have this tattooed on my body and I take tattoo’s quite seriously. The fact I designed my own enforces my need for originality. I have loved this quote ever since the first time I heard it in a song by the band Silverstein and I have lived it ever since I realized that everything in life is a choice. You can choose risk or safety. You can choose to try something new or stick with the old. I feel this quote breaks the security of habit. (Habit:  A conveyor belt in reverse. You think your going somewhere, but you’re only going backward.) There can be no failure as long as you try new things, try old things again, try what you know you may not succeed at (you’ll surprise yourself), try the impossible –  just try. They say showing up is 50% of success in life and you have done that, you are here, you are alive. The other 50% is trying.

3. All you need is good shoes, good bed, good food.

My NaNa (1911 – 2007) engrained this into my brain since I was old enough to know that I got my Irish traits from her. When I look back at my life since knowing this, I realized that the times I was most unhappy (and showed it) was during times that my situation was breaking what I needed (good shoes, good bed, good food). Wearing uncomfortable, non-fitting, wet, worn out, and no-cushion shoes can be the most problematic. We walk in them day after day and if our shoes are bad, well, each negative impact on the ground you make also reverberates in your life. Also, I don’t know about you but I have slept on stone, wood, dirt and rocks and I have slept in a comfy bed. I know the difference in each day depending on whether one sleeps on a good bed or a bad one. If you don’t have a good bed then you wont have a good sleep and if you don’t have a good sleep you wont have a good day and days are what our lives are made of. Lastly, there is the idea that you need good food. If we label countries as 3rd world countries if there are people living starving, impoverished and malnourished lives then by not having good food we are living in 3rd world bodies. There is a saying that you can’t love anyone else until you learn to love yourself, well I’ve altered it: You can’t do anything meaningful until you have good food yourself. All efforts that we make for others requires energy and that comes primarily from the food we eat. Good food, good energy.

4. Forget the past but remember what it taught you. If you can’t remember, don’t try to.

The most leviathan sized problem in the world is that we hold on to the past. Yes we need the past so that we can remember the life lessons we have learned, but we don’t need to remember how we learned them. Imagine if we let go of all the past mistakes, of wrong decisions and regrettable actions. Forgetting the past is like breaking the dam in your brain that is holding back all of your potential and energy to move forward, to create, to make more positive change. All that will remain from the dam is pieces, the lessons the past taught you. Also, you may or may not have experienced this, but at times people try to remember a memory and then wish they hadn’t because it was attached to something negative. To prevent this from ever happening, if you can’t remember something, move on.

5. Be Human.

After discussing the art and skill of public speaking with a friend, we lead ourselves to the epiphany that the greatest speakers are human. “Well of course their human. Humans are the only ones who can really speak.” That may be true but the point of this reminder is that no one can be flawless in everything they do and no one should want to. Great public speakers become great because they connect with us, their audience. How do they connect? By being human. Unfortunately people try to be robots, flawless, perfect and everything in gear but we know this world isn’t ready for that. Take pride in being human. Be nervous, mess up, make mistakes, try new things, make an impact on other people, do whats right because that is who everyone can connect with.

6. Perfect practice makes perfect.

It really does.

7. If your going to do something, do it right. Then do extra.

The most difficult action to take when you have a task you don’t want to do is not to “just do it”, but to do it right. Again, I added on to the statement because if you want to be even an inch of successful then you need to do more than is called on you, more than what is asked and you have to do it right. There is no space for the mediocre, the average, the “good enough” in the top 10%. Look at it like this, if we destroyed all the work that was half-assed in the world we would have little left. But the little we would have would be more than enough, not only because it was done right, but because more was done than was asked.

8. Take time, make time, while time lasts. All time is no time if time is past.

If “YOLO” and “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away” were morphed together and had a baby with Father time, this is the quote you would get.

9. Overcome fear without hesitation.

Conquering a fear is a story worth being told. However, it does more good for the listener than the one who conquered the fear. In a story, you can skip the part where you were filled with anxiety, where you were stressed and hesitant and the part where you nearly backed out of the challenge. But it all happened and it can make conquering fears exhausting and lessen the chances of fears being conquered in the future. From now on, do it without hesitation. You have 90 seconds from the beginning of the idea before it reaches the section of your brain that makes you question it, that reveals your fear of it. 90 seconds. That’s your time frame, anything over, you might as well not waste your energy considering it.

10. You can never be overdressed or over educated.

Don’t you hate it when you are going to a meeting, job interview or dinner and you aren’t sure of the dress code? You can settle for business casual, but maybe you need to dress up for business, just in case. Unless your told face to face from the boss or coordinator of the meeting, you will never feel 100% sure on if what you are wearing will be acceptable. I actually don’t remember the last time I have had that feeling because I overdress for everything. This quote is from Oscar Wilde and why he combined the two, we may never know but I can understand why he chose each of them. You can never ask too many questions, there is always room for improvement. Thus, you can never be over educated. If anything, most promotions in work and life are based off of your appearance (dress + attitude) and your knowledge base.

11. You learn nothing by doing nothing. You learn everything by acting on impulse and wishing you hadn’t.

I created this saying by accident after talking with a friend about sports. We were saying how lame life can be without sports because in them it’s all about acting on impulse and in life you have to be cautious. This is ultimately the basis and reason I had number 4 in the commandments. Humans at our core are led by our intuition and able to make split decisions. It is how we learned to survive and if we make positive impulses we can really thrive in the benefits.

12. A small axe can take down a big tree if there is enough motivation, positivity, and lemonade.

Really, anything can be done with the smallest of resources or even the lack of them. If we have a burning passion and a spirit of motivation, we will find a way. If we remain positive, the way will meet us half way. All the while, it’s nice to have a glass of lemonade. In other words, you can go after anything you want with as little as you have as long as you enjoy the little things, the small successes, the tiny moments of surreal happiness. We are meant to achieve the impossible in life but there would be no point if we couldn’t enjoy ourselves in the process. It’s okay to have some lemonade from time to time.

By writing your own commandments, you are showing that if all else fails around you, you know that you’re still on a solid path.

What ones popped in your mind? Share them now, get accountable and come back with more.

Stay Positive & Write Them On Stone, Prove Them In Life

Garth E. Beyer

Reach For Your Goals

Garth Beyer

Ever realize that just by properly stretching, your able to reach further? But so few stretch.

So many people stop before they reach their goal. More often than not, one easy stretch before they achieve it.

How To Reach Further

There are two types of reachers in this world. Those who don’t reach and those who don’t reach far enough.

And there is a single method that can improve the reach, the possibilities and the rewards of both types of people.

The simple method: make huge ridiculously unreasonable goals.

People Who Don’t Reach

Whoever said to do the hardest thing on your to-do list first, was wrong. Every small goal you complete adds to the length of your reach. The next goal you can reach a bit further and get a bit bigger of an award. The trouble with non-stretchers is that they have the choice to either do small reaches (small goals) or not reach at all (no goals). As it was expressed, it’s in our nature to do the easy thing first. In this case, for a non-stretcher, that would be doing nothing. (Yes, from time to time we may read something and be inspired to tackle the biggest baddest item on the to-do list first, but tomorrow is a new day and a new list and a new BIG thing. Is it rewarding to do the BIG thing first, yes. Does it last, no.) Non-stretchers never try hard, they will reach, but only for the easy things. They do the minimum. As a result,  if you make a non-stretcher create enormous and outrageous goals, their options are to do the BIG goals, or the small goals. And folks, you have to agree with me, small goals are better than no goals.

When you get to that point, if you are not already there, you are considered a person who doesn’t reach far enough.

People Who Don’t Reach Far Enough

 People who don’t reach far enough are those that stop running at 5k when they know they can run another kilometer. They will complete their goals but not take it further. It’s like the story of training fleas. You can put a handful of fleas in a jar and close the lid. They will keep jumping and hitting the lid. Eventually you can remove the lid and they won’t jump out, they will keep stopping at the height that they hit their heads at. People who don’t reach far enough are those fleas.  They reach the goals they set, but stop themselves from jumping any higher.

Don’t get me wrong, people who don’t reach far enough do plenty of good in the world. They get a good education. They get a good job. They get a good home and car. They get a good family and personal relationship. Reasonably, they get a good future.

But “good” is not enough.

When have you ever heard a person getting hired as the new CEO for being good enough? When have you seen a President get chosen just for being good enough? When has the noble peace award been given to someone who was just “good”? What author has gone down into history for just being “good”?

Good, just isn’t enough. You have to do more, go the extra kilometer. The only way to do this is to create massive goals and when you have done all of those goals, make bigger ones. You know the saying there is always someone somewhere better than you or their soon will be? There is always a bigger goal that you can achieve and as you stretch further and further you will end up in a successful life, not one just good enough.

Reach and Take The Universe From My Hand, It Is Yours

Stay Positive & Stretch Every Day In Every Way

Garth E. Beyer