GarthBox

The obvious path of advancement is to do the job, check the boxes and deliver on your promises.

The not-so-obvious, but ultimately the fast-track of advancement is to do the above PLUS lighten the load for others.

It’s likely not often that the buck stops with you (or the final product gets shipped by you), rather you influenced the project with your expertise and now it’s the next person’s turn to keep it moving toward market. (Even as an author, you have an editor and a publisher and maybe a promoter you’re working with, too.)

The real artist thinks through what can be done now to make it easier for the next person. (She hits spellcheck, perhaps.)

Do your work and do it with intention, but then consider how to make it easier for the next person.

Help enough others and you’ll find that you’re also helping yourself advance more quickly.

Stay Positive & Help Another Out

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A side hustle doesn’t have to be an additional source of income, that is, if it’s an additional source of information that helps your main hustle.

If you’re a marketer, it helps you market better by starting your own business – it gives you the edge you need to understand your clients.

If you’re an author, it helps you write better by starting your own publishing business – it gives you the edge you need to understand what writing resonates.

And so on.

Stay Positive & Side Hustle It Up

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Too often we focus on the tool that gets used and how it can get used better.

Or how to make the most out of a meeting.

Or how to make it a remarkable experience for guests during business hours.

It’s all important.

But on the path of remarkability, it’s worth questioning how to make use of the unused.

What can the unused tool be used for?

How can I elevate the experience of team members the other 23 hours, outside of the 1-hour meeting?

What’s the best way to make use of this space outside of business hours?

You may find more growth from the unused than the used.

Stay Positive & Leverage All You’ve Got

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Ideas and decisions.

They are bad… until they are not.

And they’re not once enough others think they’re good.

The flip, of course, is that ideas and decisions are good.

They are good… until they are not.

And they’re not once enough others think they’re bad.

We can spend a lot of time evaluating whether a decision is or was good or not, but too often we jump to a conclusion too soon. A few people think it’s bad, so we quit or a few people think it’s good, so we keep doing it.

Better to keep your focus on doing work that matters than evaluating too soon.

Stay Positive & Marathon It

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The best leaders make decisions. Not just big ones, but many of them.

There’s a lot that goes into making a great leader after a decision has been made.

But there’s no leadership without a decision.

Are you the one making them?

p.s. if you’re in a situation where you’re more in a position of doing what you’re told and checking boxes… you can still decide the how and decide to push the envelope and decide to put your spin on it. And if you’re still stuck, you can decide to take your talents elsewhere. (That’s what a leader would do.)

Stay Positive & Decide Some, Then Decide Some More

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There are two ways to figure out if it’s all just in your head.

The first is if you’re surrounded by empathetic people who know you and can call you out when the stories you’re thinking are truly just stories in your head – not reality.

Example of a story in a head: If I speak up, they’re going to think I’m incapable and that I can’t keep up and they might even consider firing me if they know I’m struggling.

Solution: A friend who hears you talking about your workload and is there to remind you of the team that’s around you ready to support and help you through the influx of work.

Sadly, we don’t all have these empathetic friends near us. (And to be forward, with how many negative stories we think, it would equal a few full-time jobs to combat it.)

So the second way is to write out the story that’s in your head in one column and then the other column is “reality.”

It’s funny how when you write it down on the “in my head” column, you realize it’s not something you can write on the “reality” column.

Just an quick way to keep yourself in check and moving forward.

Stay Positive & Control Your Head, Don’t Let It Control You

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You can do a good job by just tackling projects and tasks as they arrive.

But not only will the projects and tasks be done better when you’re amped to do them – you’ll enjoy doing the emotional labor more, too.

And the best part about the process of getting amped? It doesn’t need to take long.

A deep breath and a reminder of the goal you’re working toward, a short reading of something an idol has written, a fist bump by a friend might be all you need.

The hard part, of course, is being mindful enough to know when you need to get amped up.

Stay Positive & Dial It In

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