GarthBox

There’s a narrative that each of us is walking around with. The narrative about the shop we just passed up, why we haven’t responded to that one text yet and why we’re heading to the destination we’re heading to.

But within it, it’s multiple stories.

And once we realize the complexity that everyone is walking around with, it gets easier to connect. To appeal in various ways to the multiple stories. To listen more deeply and respond appropriately, more often.

To change culture, entice someone to make a specific decision or to spread an idea, we have to do more than hit the mark on one story. We have to keep swinging and swinging differently to hit on all the mini stories.

Stay Positive & Keep Swinging

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The best action you can take is to simply do it.

The worst action you can take is to not do it.

The worst of the worst action you can take is to try to wiggle your way out of it, shortcut it, pass it off or downplay it.

Here’s to those who take the best action.

Stay Positive & Get it Done And Get It On

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On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it to you? The higher opinion takes priority in a disagreement.

If you were a battery, what charge are you at right now? If the charge is low, it’s time to do something about it.

On a ranked scale of grasshopper to master, how much of the reading in your industry have you done?

You gotta know where you are to know where to go – and to prioritize how to get there.

Stay Positive & Perfect Ten? Then What?

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Right about now is the time of year that folks start to feel more frustrated with the habits they’ve formed (or didn’t form) with the new year.

For whatever reason, we feel more exposed to external reasons to start a new, healthy habit of some sort.

Places are beginning to open up again. The weather is turning. School is in full swing. A new relationship has started or we’re gung-ho on starting one soon. We have an upcoming trip planned. We just feel the need to change something up and have some control in our lives.

The list can go on.

Personally, I don’t like to think of new habits as life changes, I think of them as 30 days of discomfort because it takes that long for a new habit to be formed.

And just like there is an endless list of stories we can tell about why we want to incorporate the new habit into our lives, we sure come up with a lot of stories about why it’s hard during those first 30 days.

But after the 30?

It’s not discomfort anymore. It’s normal.

Stay Positive & 30 Days To A Better You

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A challenge: For the rest of the year, write down one new habit per month that you want to develop. Nine 30-day stretches to absolutely shape your life in new was.

First, there’s no reason not to reach out to every relevant podcast and pitch yourself. Reach out to blogs and influencers and brands and pitch yourself.

By all means, give getting picked a chance.

Best case scenario you get selected and you refine the story you’re telling through all of your pitching.

Worst case scenario is you get to choose yourself and you already have your story refined from telling it through all of your pitching.

When the podcasts don’t pick you up. Start one.

When the blogs, influencers and brands don’t choose you. Choose yourself by creating one, becoming one, building one.

Stay Positive & Choose Yourself

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People know what you did to. It’s part of your story. It’s tangible; they can see what you did.

But they often forget what you didn’t do – and knowing what you didn’t do makes your story stronger.

It’s a list you have to intentionally share.

Who are you not targeting? Why didn’t you do it X way instead? What shortcut was available to you that you skipped in lieu of being in it for the long haul?

What you are is as important to share is what you’re not.

Stay Positive & Keep Sharing

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There’s a quick way to gauge whether you’re personally making an impact somewhere, and it’s to answer one question: Would you be missed if you were gone?

It’s different than “could they still do what needs to be done without you?” because that answer should be yes. Rather, missing you if you were gone hints at the value you’re adding and the legacy you’re creating.

But what about gauging the impact of the work itself? Well that’s a similar question: Is it remarkable?

Remarkable as in the the guarantee that people will talk about it once you ship it? Remarkable as in is it designed to be shared? Remarkable as in is it worth remarking about?

If you wouldn’t be missed if you were gone, then it’s time to step it up.

If the work won’t be talked about once it’s out in the world, then it’s time to step it up.

Stay Positive & Step By Step, Really

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