GarthBox

You probably could have done the same work. Though, it would have required a few things.

Doing the same would have required you to put everything on the line to make that work your only work. It would have required you to do the work 1,345 times before this particular project. It would have required you to learn negotiation skills and become friends with people who own a studio that are now happy to let you show and sell your work there.

It would have required you to go through the emotional challenge of hearing your family say that it’s no way to make a living. It would have required you to work while you put so much pressure on yourself. It would have required sacrificing time with friends to do the work. It would have required hundreds of hours studying the craft and the path others have taken.

So, sure.

You could have played that song, painted that artwork, wrote that book, signed that deal.

But let’s not forget all that you would have had to go through to get there.

Stay Positive & Maybe It’s More Like “I’d Never Do What It Takes To Get Where You Are Now, This Is Amazing”

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Whenever you hear someone say – or think to yourself – “it’s easier said than done.” They’re right. You’re right.

It will always be easier to say what needs to be done. Easier to try to convince others to do it than to do it ourselves, too. Easier to talk about it endlessly and speak about all the possibilities and probabilities instead of doing the work.

However.

It will always be more beneficial to do than to say. We’re more likely to make the change we seek to make and build a tribe and inspire others and get closer to our goals when we do more than we say.

In reality, the words we remember were from people who spoke them as part of or after they took action. That’s when saying has an impact – by helping people remember the work that has been done.

Alas. It requires the doing part first.

Stay Positive & Do More Than Say

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Looking back at the progress you’ve made, projects you launched, impacts you had on the culture – does it inspire you?

What you’re doing now – is it invigorating?

Looking ahead at the work you’ll touch and the people you’ll connect with – are you in awe?

Questions worth answering.

And the hack to ensure the past and future answers are positive ones is to focus on what you’re doing now. In doing so, the answer to the present question also becomes positive.

Stay Positive & Entertain The Trifecta

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After all the expected is handled, the process is executed, the work is fine-tuned – it’s worth incorporating the unexpected.

Movies do it best.

Consider Santa Clause. There’s a moment when it pans the hallway of the North Pole and there are two doors with a sign “Ballroom” above it – beyond the doors you see massive bouncing balls. Hilarious.

Or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when the aunt is blown up like a balloon. Moments later when Harry is walking down the street, in the distance in the sky you can see his aunt still floating away. A wonderfully clever touch.

These are moments that might fly under the radar of the many. But those who witness it would miss them if they were gone.

Stay Positive & Surprise And Delight

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You probably don’t have enough resources. You probably misinterpreted a communication. You’re probably missing a key piece of information.

Probably.

The other reality is that if you haven’t figured it out yet, then the fastest way to discovery as to why you might be wrong is to take action, ship the project, act on the knowledge you have.

Best case scenario you were right.

The other best case scenario is that you learn why you were wrong and then pivot with the knowledge.

Stay Positive & Win Win

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Even when wearing pads, we don’t push it too hard, we don’t risk too much, we don’t go too far out on the edge.

And if you think what you’re about to do something that would truly requires pads, it might be time to recalculate the risk.

Better to move toward the edge, inch by inch.

No doubt you’ll tumble here and there, but it won’t be major. If anything, you’ll find the edge faster than with pads because there won’t be the constant buffer between where you are and where you want to be.

Stay Positive & Calculate Then Risk, Inch By Inch

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Rollerblading and ice skating are same same, but completely different once you start.

Pitching podcasts and pitching news outlets are same same, but completely different once you hop on the phone.

Elevating a guest experience at a coffee shop and doing so at a beer bar is same same, but vastly different once you start interacting with the guest.

Finding the familiar helps us find comfort and a starting place; but it must be treated as just that – a starting place.

We have to treat different projects differently, different people differently, different experiences differently.

Stay Positive & Figurative Copy & Paste Is A Recipe For A Fumble

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