GarthBox

There’s a lot of knowledge out there for the way it is.

Plenty of AMAs that describe what it’s like running a restaurant.

Plenty of books and podcasts that cover how to have a healthy relationship (my recco).

Despite all the resources, many still see various situations as problems. They work to change them. They fight them. They lie saying “that won’t be me” even when all the data shows it will be.

The smartest action you can take is to prepare for the problems rather than try to prevent them because a problem that’s prepared for isn’t a problem at all; it’s just the way it is.

When we can quit hyperventilating about problems we know will happen (because we’re prepared), we focus on the real change we seek to make.

 

Stay Positive & A Problem Can Be A Springboard If You Want It To Be

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When you think about it, it’s insane how much your able to create right now.

All the knowledge and experience you have, you could write books.

Books on relationships, books on art, books on bitcoin and connection and food.

You could paint a portrait every week. You can blog about your passion every day. You can write your autobiography and share the funniest moments of your life.

The internet is an open invitation with an endless audience searching every day for something that moves them.

Alas, it’s this endless creative opportunity that shocks us into inaction.

Do you start a podcast? A blog? YouTube channel? Do you sell your art? Do you use a pseudonym? Do you live stream your art? Do you tell no one? Do you tell everyone?

A lot of questions arise around the simple execution of something creative, so I offer this piece of advice: Create something, share it and then reflect on the questions.

You’ll quickly discover that those questions originally holding you back aren’t as important as you made them out to be.

 

Stay Positive & Now’s A Great Time To Start A Blog

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The A-Team doesn’t feel like the A-Team when a plan doesn’t come together.

Same goes for us.

We feel unfulfilled at the end of a day where things didn’t go the way we wanted.

Fortunately and unfortunately, it’s not that unexpected things happened to ruin it, it’s that we let ourselves off the hook of having the kind of day we wanted by not planning it to begin with.

A simple chronological checklist goes a long way to feeling satisfied at the end of the day.

And that satisfaction, that fulfillment? It’s addictive.

 

Stay Positive & What Do You Want To Have Accomplished Today?

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Not a get together goes by that I don’t get my mind blown with a story someone shares.

A personal story. Something it had taken an hour or so (and maybe a beer or two) for them to be comfortable enough to share.

And time and time again, that story resonated either with me, with others in the group or even someone eavesdropping.

Once you put your story out there, it’s incredible how you can go from thinking you’re isolated, that you’re the only one who thought something or did something a particular way, to connecting with another (or an entire group) who has felt or acted the same.

There are more people out there like you than you think. So, what does this mean for you? Fight the comfort of keeping the truth to yourself.

You’re not only hurting yourself, but you’re doing equal damage to those who fear sharing their feelings in case those around them don’t feel the same. (You remember how good it felt when someone said “Really? Me too!”)

Alas, this has nothing to do with being an extrovert, but everything to do with realizing how easy it is for people to connect once a story is shared.

 

Stay Positive & I Dare You To Prove Me Wrong (Go Ahead, There’s A Comment Section Below)

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Three themes that continue to reoccur and place folks ahead of a project, of expectations, of others:

1) They bring more ideas. Then they refine those ideas, but still add more. No matter the industry, you’re in the idea business. Share them in every meeting and every email. Send ideas to departments you don’t work in, to your boss and to your friends and colleagues.

2) Don’t take anything personally. Don’t use your personality or the fact you put 20 hours into something that someone didn’t like as an excuse to feel terrible. Taking things personally doesn’t help you. In fact, it hurts you, often times so much so that you no longer put yourself out there. We need you out there.

3) Who you know matters. You can be an introvert with a huge network. Connecting with others is a decision, but it’s also an investment with a larger return than you could ever imagine. For every moment, attention, and care you give to someone new, it’s eventually returned two-fold.

 

Stay Positive & Take It Or Leave It

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Acting too soon definitely comes with a sting of pain now and again.

But no pain as great as that which one feels when they knew they should have done something …

but didn’t.

The pain of action is sort of like a pinch. It stays for a moment, but it’s easy to move on because you’ve already created momentum.

But the pain of inaction is a bruise that stays for quite some time and, despite all rationalism, often leads to more inaction.

Better to be too early than too late.

 

Stay Positive & Never Acting At All? Let’s Not Even Go There

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Forward. That’s the direction to go.

Do again that which you’re afraid to do again or that you flubbed at once–don’t backpedal.

Think of doing something once as a checkpoint. You wouldn’t go back to the starting line. The next checkpoint is closer to where you are now than where it would be if you backtracked to the start.

You’ve done what you needed to do, prepped what you needed to prep to get to the point of taking initial action.

The smartest action you take now is to do what you did again, and again, and again.

That’s the practice you need; not more time thinking about it.

 

Stay Positive & Practice Makes Perfect Practice

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