GarthBox

First days are usually a blur, and there’s something wrong with that.

First days are so quickly forgotten. They’re not memorable. They’re almost always about onboarding or process or sit and wait.

Yet we have happy hours for last days. We celebrate. We reflect on the great work we’ve done. It’s almost always about fun and freedom.

Not that they should be flipped, but shouldn’t the first day be a little more like the last? Something worth remembering, celebrating and fun?

Might be time to rethink the experience we have for those interested in choosing us.

Stay Positive & Can’t Have A First Impression Without Impressing

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The whole idea around needing to ship something every day, behind giving every day and with not resting on your laurels is that so few will give you credit for what you did yesterday.

What matters are the signals you send about the change you seek to make today.

That’s why repetition is key no matter how long you’ve been going at it. It’s why it’s worth choosing a mission that you can energize yourself with tomorrow and the day after and the day after.

Those who try to attach themselves with actions they’ve taken in the past become it.

Stay Positive & What Will You Do Today?

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Every interview I’ve watched with celebrity comedians and entrepreneurs and actresses; Every conversation I’ve had with role models and freelancers and people who have been in a trade for 20+ years–they all express that they have fears each time they get up to do their work.

As someone who is in the process of opening up a craft beer bar, there’s no shortage of fears. Here’s the list I’ve kept so far:

• Fuck this is scary.
• What if people hate what it stands for.
• No one reads it.
• Everyone reads it.
• If I ruin the business before it starts. 
• I’m hiding again.
• I put myself out there. It was exhausting. 
• I don’t know a fucking thing.
• I’m not gonna have enough money. It’s not the right time. The wrong people will show up.
• Other bars have huge groups backing them.
• I’m going to ruin my relationships. 
• There’s no way I’m going to be able to handle everything.
• I’m in way over my head. The fear is crippling. 
• It’s the wrong fucking name.

I wish I could tell you I was joking about having felt these things at one point or another.

But I’m not.

The real joke is telling ourselves we don’t feel these things or that it’s wrong when we do or that no one else feels them and we shouldn’t.

The real joke is when people let their list of fears stop them from making an impact.

It’s a problem when we treat every day like it’s April 1st.

Stay Positive & Today Is A Great Day To Stop Hiding

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Busy doesn’t belong in that two-hour window within your calendar for Thursday.

It doesn’t belong in the final-stretch of a project.

Busy ought not to replace the time you had planned for meaningful work.

It doesn’t need to be put in front of you at night or the early morning.

The only place to put the busy is behind you.

You have more important work to be doing, change to be seeking, impact worth making.

Stay Positive & We Don’t Need More Busy

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Everyone has a breaking point.

And, at some time, we’ll all reach it in the work we do, the people we connect with, and the hobbies we participate in.

The difference maker, of course, is whether or not we recognize the why of what we do and who we do it with, and if it’s significant enough to keep moving forward beyond the breaking point.

Most of us have so much more in us to use than we think, especially once we recognize why it is there in the first place.

Stay Positive & Put The Breaking Point In The Rear View

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The words we use can make or break a brand.

They can carry a relationship and they can tumble a partnership.

They can make you a friend or an enemy.

They can build trust with customers or lose it.

The words we use can ignite emotion or promote apathy.

Most importantly, though, the words we use should not be the words we use. For them to have a meaningful impact, the words need to be the ones our target uses.

It doesn’t start with speaking and seeing what resonates. It starts with listening and reciprocating messages in a way that they know you have heard them.

You can write about how you have made a jar that’s easy-to-open, but saying you have a jar that allows you to keep your independence and only ask for help for more important things is a lot different “easy-to-open.”

Stay Positive & The Right Words Require Insight

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It’s insanely easy to pull one over on someone.

To discreetly up sell or lock someone in to a subscription or focus their attention on the benefits and not the consequences.

But more and more people are becoming aware of having one pulled over them. They’ve had it done too many times already.

It makes you feel like an idiot, like you’re not good enough for a business, like you’re not cared for.

Better to be a brand that gives one over (and to purchase from brands that do). For us to tip the scale, we have to put our attention on giving so much that there’s not a doubt in a consumer’s mindset that they’re secretly being swindled.

Telling others, “Because I see you. Because I know what it’s like to buy from a brand that doesn’t care,” goes a long way in earning their loyalty.

And sticking to that promise goes even longer.

Stay Positive & Place Your Loyalty In Those Who Give

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