GarthBox

It’s not necessarily the business plan that matters to your work, but it certainly helps.

Same with mentorship, a good social presence and a tribe that has followed you since day one.

But, what truly matters most in your work is you.

Without you, we can find a different restaurant, a different shirt, a different phone.

We know what we would do if what you offer went away, but the brands that remain remarkable are the ones that get us to wonder how we can carry on without them.

A phone without Jobs isn’t as meaningful. A shirt brand without Johnny isn’t as remarkable. A montessori class without that one teacher? Can you imagine Tesla without Elon or Amazon without Jeff?

Better to boldly stand in front of a brand than to hide behind it.

It’s scarier, but worth it.

Stay Positive & We Choose You Because Of You

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The problem with being average isn’t that people don’t remember you.

It’s that they do.

The restaurant that has a server who goes through the formalities, the shoe company who accepts your return through an automated customer service voice system, the bowling alley that has clearly labeled signs for where to return your shoes are all instances of mediocrity and we remember not to go to them.

Instead, we seek out the ever more remarkable.

The restaurant with the server who instills a new sensory experience with our food, the shoe company that accepts the shoes and seeks out what else it can provide unrelated to the shoe exchange, the bowling alley that has a carnival-esque conveyor belt for you to hook your shoes when you’re done are all instances of remarkability and we remember to talk about them.

And that’s the difference between average and above average. One you remember, one you talk to others about.

Stay Positive & Which Are You?

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Are you curious enough to ask (and answer) what would the world be like if you kept doing something regularly, daily maybe, for six straight months?

What if you kept putting all your advertising dollars toward that shiny object?

What if you created content for only one target?

What if you kept eating cookies for breakfast?

What if you hugged your partner every day before bed?

While the things that are often worth doing are worth doing for the long haul, we don’t realize a habit is good or bad for quite some time.

But that’s not to say we can’t make a prediction regarding its quality.

It’s worth the gut check now. If you kept doing X for six months, will you be reaching and supporting your goal or working against it?

Stay Positive & Sometimes All You Have To Do Is Ask To Know

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There’s never really one purpose to a meeting. Always two.

An internal and an external purpose.

To build relationships and to leave with a stronger, better, more understood list of goals or tasks.

Interestingly, the quality of the external purpose is strongly connected to the quality of the internal purpose.

Ice breakers are magic. So are Q&As. So is an environment everyone is seen, heard and given permission (maybe even an expectation) to speak up.

Stay Positive & More Meetings Isn’t Necessary, Better Is

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The first little bit isn’t always indicative of how the rest of it will be.

A beer can change as the temperature of the liquid fluctuates.

The coffee shop might be doing splendid from its grand opening, but profits can swing for better or worse once the glamour of “new” wears off.

Someone might act passive aggressive to you, but have your back when the moment matters most.

We’re often worse off when we make assumptions based off the first little bit of anything.

Stay Positive & Start, Keep Going, Then Go More Until You Know

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You’ve likely heard the expression “reach into the cookie jar” as it relates to basketball. But reaching into the cookie jar has no impact on the ball. The ball has already left your finger tips.

So why the expression?

The action you take after the shot is indicative of how well the action before it was.

That’s why golfers are told to follow through. Why editors are told to read aloud. Why motorcyclists are told to look where they want to go. Why weightlifters are told to exhale.

To not do any of those is to slow down or incorrectly perform the action which has the most impact.

Don’t miss the bucket because you thought you could skip reaching into the cookie jar.

Stay Positive & Follow Through, Whatever Your Art Is

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Feeling scared? Fearful? Uncertain?

Even the pro-est of pros feel scared when they share their craft and make themselves vulnerable.

In that sense, fear is no different than happiness or sadness.

There’s no stopping it. All there is to do is notice it and work with it.

Maybe even dance with it.

That’s what the pros do.

Stay Positive & Make Every Day Pro Day

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