GarthBox

To be the one who has to rally toward a goal … It’s stressful, taxing, and draining. We rally when there’s a deadline in front of us or when we don’t want to lose.

It’s equally not fun for those on your team. It’s an uncomfortable spot to see that you’re behind and know anything we do might not help you successfully rally.

For spectators, though, they love a rally.

Consider the 4-point comeback of the Sharks the other night or watching mini sail boat races on the water or a new business opening up down the street.

It’s fun to watch someone need to rally if they’re going to make it. The wind has to align, the team needs to be in lock-step, the business needs to care – it’s like a movie.

But your mission isn’t to produce spectators, your mission is to build a team and succeed in your own goals. And to do that, we have to thrash early so we don’t have to rally in the final hour.

Thrashing is energizing, uplifting and collaborative. Very different than rallying.

Stay Positive & Thrash Early, Thrash Often

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If you’re passionate about something, you’re bound to get too far into it.

And it’ll happen in either one or two ways.

Either the creativity will take precedence, you’ll be dreaming way outside of the realm of feasibility, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure by promising too much and you’ll break the borders of practicality and familiarity.

Or… or… you’ll have built your box, created too small of a promise, set risk aside and followed a simple recipe and everything is there to meet spec rather than to surprise and delight.

When we’re too far in, either we’re overly rational or overly irrational.

The hard work is to dance on both sides when pursuing a passion.

Do what works, sure, but also do what might not.

Stay Positive & Back And Forth, Art And Science, Yin And Yang

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Here’s why new is better.

New pushes you into areas you’ve never experienced before, places you may excel and places you may fail (but have the opportunity to learn from).

New means you’ll never have to rest on your mistakes and you can get out while you’re up.

New is better because it undoubtedly connects you with other people and trains you to empathize.

New is better because better is better.

Stay Positive & What’s New?

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We can be quick to say that we’ve got the wrong rock.

Or get frustrated because we’re the only one pushing it.

Or that we might have the wrong hill.

But more often than not …

It’s the right rock. The right hill. And we’ve got the right power to accomplish the task.

All we need to do is keep pushing.

Stay Positive & Keep Pushing

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People don’t want just a cup of coffee.

They don’t want just a streaming service.

They don’t want just a car wash.

It’s the same for those serving, too.

They don’t want to just serve a cup of coffee.

They don’t want to just support a streaming service.

They don’t want to give just wash a car.

Everyone wants meaning, and meaning comes through a sense of place and connection.

A heartfelt “hello” goes a long way for both parties.

A meaningful extra touch and a genuine interest in another’s story also goes a long way.

Stay Positive & More Meaning, Please

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No matter how much faster than the speed limit you go, you won’t possibly save that much time. Not only that, it’s a huge safety risk for a little bit of a time saving.

A chair you build for five cents cheaper might break 3 x as often as the original. Not only that, the customers who bought it won’t be back.

The irony is that the small costs often have the biggest savings.

Paying a little bit more for the better tasting ingredients.

Taking a breathe before you hit send on the email.

Sending a birthday card rather than a text.

Stay Positive & The Little Costs Matter

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There’s a bagel shop opening downtown. And they only need 100 transactions per day to pay for their operations–to exist.

It’s not 100 transactions from anyone, though, it’s from the devotees, the bagel lovers who love to share their love for bagels, who buy batches at once.

If they only got the average Joe who comes in once a year or the newbie who heard they just opened and wants to see what it’s about-their transaction helps in the moment, but it doesn’t set the bagel shop up for long term success.

In order for them to be successful with average Joe’s, they would need 1,000 of them every day. Achievable, maybe, but likely far more stressful.

Then again, it depends on what sort of business you’re trying to build.

Are you a non-profit fueled by 10,000 people donating $2 or by two people donating $10,000?

Are you a crafty mom in search of 100,000 followers who like your content or 100 followers who buy it?

Once we know, once we decide, we can lean into it.

The only losing battle is one wherein we try to be both.

Stay Positive & Choosers Are Winners

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