GarthBox

If you know me, you know I love to throw things away. I don’t hang onto much for long, especially if it doesn’t get used within a year.

But scraps… scraps are different.

Scraps are important to hold onto for a few reasons.

The first is that they provide a creative outlet for your brain as you continue on creating something to spec. There’s no constraints to what you can create with the scraps. They are outside the project you’re working on now. It’s all up to your imagination.

The second is that you don’t always need to borrow something from the scrap pile to keep your main project on track, but it will happen at some point. Perhaps it’s just used as a supporting tool and then tossed. Perhaps it’s actually integrated in permanently because the spec was off to begin with. It pays to have scraps around to use when you need to (because you will need to).

The third is fluffy but it’s still real: at the end of the project you get to toss the scraps. It’s like putting a bow on a present. The present is complete but putting a bow on it makes it feel finished.

Stay Positive & Find A Spot To Put The Scraps (You’ll Thank Yourself Later)

It’s pretty damn hard to change a culture or to sell a product into an account or connect with a person until you understand both 1. the way it is around there and 2. why it is the way it is around there.

Once you know that, everything else becomes easier.

Stay Positive & Empathetic

For the sake of this post, let’s assume everything is a game.

The question then is what kind of game?

Is it a finite one or infinite one?

In other words; is it the one we play for the sake of playing or is it one we play to win.

Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with the game…rather there’s something wrong with the kind of game we think we’re playing.

Stay Positive & Pick And Choose

if it’s not one thing; it’s another.

Always.

It’s pointless to complain about it. It’s a law as real as gravity.

Stay Positive & Focus On Moving Forward

I’ve never seen a small treasure. Treasures are always large.

Which is funny then how we fail in sizing out the action of treasuring something.

“Treasure the moments you have with them.”

And yet there’s very little acknowledgement or time toward that.

All to say, if you’re going to treasure something, let’s truly treasure it. In largess. In bulk. In heft and intention.

Stay Positive & Did You Give Hugs Or Bear Hugs Yesterday?

When you post something to a Slack group; it’s hard not to want a reaction.

When you tell someone you’re grateful for them; it’s hard not to want a response.

When you’ve written more than 4,500 blog posts; it’s hard not to want some acknowledgement.

The list goes on in the scenarios that we hope for a reaction or response.

It’s worth reminding ourselves (regularly) that the response and reaction was never the point, never the goal. It’s an afterthought we have that eats at the pride we can have in doing or saying what we did.

When you say “thank you,” Seth is right that it’s a full sentence. It’s also one that needs nothing in return.

Stay Positive & Remember Your Why

The best time is always now.

To say it was in the past is just a good story hook.

To say it is in the future is just your lizard brain speaking up.

The reality is that time doesn’t actually have anything to do with the action being the best.

We create the best; we’re responsible for putting the “best” in the “best time.”

So, yea. The best time really is now.

Stay Positive & Get At It

p.s. might you have to pivot and strategize around the “timing” piece. Sure. That doesn’t make it any less of a best time to start. That’s like saying “this is hard so it’s not the best time to do it.”