GarthBox

The world is not your oyster, but it is your classroom.

The place you can learn endlessly. The place where curiosity will help you thrive. The place where you’re safe (truly you are) to fail and learn and try and fail again and learn again and so on.

The whole world isn’t filled with customers, it’s filled with students.

People who seek change and want help getting there – help you can provide.

They, too, are learning, trying, adapting and looking for ways to grow in the direction they want.

You’ve got the chance to treat yourself like a student and others.

Stay Positive & The Giver And The Receiver Are More Alike Than We Like To Think

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If you’re going to surprise or delight anyone, then you’re undoubtedly going to disappoint someone at some point.

Your gift won’t meet their expectations or elevate them. And they’ll be disappointed in you.

You might even be disappointed in yourself because what you planned didn’t work.

But the linchpins in this world? They live with disappointment.

It’s not only a byproduct of innovation and imagination in generosity, but it can be fuel to try again and try better.

Stay Positive & Dance With It, Don’t Dispel It

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The seminars that work the best, resonate the most and are sure to be held again are the ones that give remarkable talks… and then hold Q&A time to tackle people’s real problems.

The best training programs are the ones that provide a book … and then hands on, live training.

The quickest way to progress on a project is to study it, ruminate on it, talk to others about it… and then put in the work.

Stay Positive & Ensure You’re Getting Hands On Time

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It’s not the spot that you’re so far out there in “what might be” that no one can be on board and you hold no influence.

And it’s certainly not the spot of continuing to do what has always been done because it is what has always been done.

The edge is where you can be convincing and translate what’s possible on the outside to those on the inside; to hold the trust of those on the inside as you share ideas that are outside tradition.

The edge is a beautiful place of imagination, emotional labor and innovation.

Stay Positive & See You There

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Are you stalling from doing the hard part of figuring out what to do after you quit or even when to quit?

Of course, this is larger than being about a job.

And it’s more than quitting something that is hurting you; it applies to what you might be enjoying or a project that is succeeding, too.

A slot that’s filled with something good or bad is still a slot that’s filled.

There’s no shortage of reasons why we stall thinking about folding or throwing in the towel, but there’s also no shortage of reasons to think it through, plan for it, organize it.

The results are always better than the ones after we wait until we’re forced out or fail or when we get so sucked into the work that we lose sight of what we’ve given up to get there. No need to wait until you hit a wall or until you’re inspired to act spontaneously.

Thinking ahead of when it’s time to let something go is scary, it’s hard and it’s void of any reassurance… but damn does it make the future transition more smooth.

Nothing lasts forever and we can plan for it.

Stay Positive & Set Yourself Up For Transitions (And Of Course, Don’t Forget To Expect Surprises)

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There’s one way to make the journey a little easier.

To make pitching easier. To make the project easier. To make the meaningful work easier.

The key is to expect surprises.

Surprising challenges and hiccups. Surprising speed humps and pitfalls. Surprising failures and obstacles.

The more we can expect the surprises, the faster we can move beyond them.

The less we expect, the more we get stuck.

And stuck is no good.

Stay Positive & It Won’t Make It Easy, But It Will Make It Easier

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Really, let’s see the endless list.

The list of what can make your brand better than the others?

The list of what you’re afraid of?

The list of what your target cares about?

When you truly work on the endless list, you’ll discover it’s not really endless at all.

Not only that, you’ll discover the innovations that can make your brand better, you’ll realize the fears you have weren’t many after all, and you’ll realize you don’t know as much about your target as you thought.

It’s an exercise that works on literally anything.

If you’re stuck. Write down your endless list.

It’s the quickest (but emotionally laborious) way to get to the edges of innovation, improvement and release.

Stay Positive & Get Unstuck

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HT to Seth Godin for this idea.