GarthBox

Getting reassurance takes a long time.

And for some reason, we’re still never satisfied.

We can talk to a hundred experts and still not know if what we’re about to tackle will work.

Turns out the fastest way to know is to do it.

And more often than not, you don’t need a board to review or a thousand participants or a call from a family member to tell you it worked or didn’t.

That’s the beauty about action.

Immediately after taking it, we know if it’s working or not. We can feel it.

Sure, there’s plenty you risk when doing so, but don’t you think you risk more by waiting until you have a guarantee (that may never come)?

Stay Positive & To Know, To Really Know, We Must Leap

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When someone answers a question you have or gut checks your work or refers your business to a friend, they’re not necessarily doing it to help.

They are, however, doing it to feel.

To feel helpful. To feel like a leader. To feel like they belong. To feel like they have authority. To feel like they can be counted on. To feel like an activist. To feel trusted. To feel affectionate. To feel gracious. To feel on the same level. To feel part of something bigger than themselves.

The only desire they have to do anything is when the doing is attached to a meaningful emotion.

Stay Positive & Which Strings Are You Pulling On?

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In an effort to make things better, here’s the math homework we have to do.

What can we add to the product or service to make it better or to appeal to more people or to be able to charge more or to create more value? What can we add?

Equally as important is analyzing what we can remove from the product or service to make it better or build greater loyalty or create more value? What can we subtract?

Success can be attained either way, but blindly running after “more” isn’t always the answer. (Namely because most brands are doing it.)

If there were ever a time to subtract, it might be now.

Thankfully we can show our work and see if the numbers add up in the end.

Stay Positive & It’s A Learning Game (But We’ve Gotta Play To Win)

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When we try to correct someone, we take on the responsibility of teaching and them learning.

Yet, each time we do so (whatever the reason for it), we end up frustrated at the other person.

It’s worth pausing to think about how you’ve learned all you’ve learned.

You might have had a guide, watched someone do something one way and someone else do it another, but for the most part, you’ve done it yourself and learned.

If you cared about it enough, you did it more often, learning more and getting better each time.

Unless you’re striving to become a teacher, correcting others can be a waste of time.

Then again, even if you’re becoming a teacher …

Stay Positive & We’re Better Off Course Correcting Ourselves

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The scheming that gets us further in our work (and life) is grand scheming.

It’s the action of plotting where we are to where we want to be and could be across a longer timeline than a week or month or calendar year.

It’s considering all of the challenges and decisions we’ll face over the long run.

In doing so, we realize that what we’re doing now or what we’re faced with completing later today isn’t as big as we thought it was.

We tend to exaggerate effort and time of actions in order to rationalize not taking them.

But those thoughts lose their footing in the grand scheme of things.

Stay Positive & Maintain Perspective

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Some things are better when they are personal.

A handshake. An apology. A gift.

Other things – more often, the things we pay for – make us feel part of something.

A community. A surprise. A newsletter.

Business owners can strive to be personal, and for some, it works. But being personal isn’t a business, it’s simply being human.

So what that leaves is a mission for your brand to make every person that interacts with it feel as if they are a part of something.

Stay Positive & The How Is Up To you

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We spend a lot of time asking, earning and abusing permission.

We spend very little time giving permission.

Even less time giving permission to ourselves.

To try. To fail. To stretch. To dream. To apologize. To forgive. To lead.

Stay Positive & Permission’s A Two-Way Street

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