GarthBox

When Tony Horton is directing an exercise and asks you to do 25 v-up roll-ups, he says, “imagine if you had to do a hundred.”

Of course, 100 would kill you. (Not really, but it feels like it.)

There are two mentalities you can run with when faced with the fear of shipping.

You can settle your fear by saying at least you’re not doing 100, at least you’re not presenting in front of 2,000 people, at least you’re not posting a blog a day. Or…or…

You can do the 100 v-up roll-ups and realize you didn’t die. You can present in to 2,000 people and realize it’s easier than presenting to 20 because when looking out at the audience you see a blob of people and the light’s in your eyes and it’s as if there’s no one out there. You can post a blog a day and realize not as many people read your blog as you thought would.

When it comes to shipping, it doesn’t matter if you ship once or 1,000 times, you’re making yourself open to criticism – both from others and from yourself. (How dare you think your work is good enough? Ha, look at how much money you wasted on a website redesign and no  one even looks at it!)

It just so happens, when you go in for the long run, when you do the more fearful action, it’s easier to put the fear behind you. When you deal with small increments, the fear is always in your face.

I saw a great sticker to put on the side mirrors of vehicles. It says, “objects in mirror are losing.”

The more miles you put in, the more true the statement is, but instead of objects, it’s your fears.

 

Stay Positive & Do More. Fear Doesn’t Deserve To Win

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Business development is not so much what more can you do that resonates with your core mission. Business development is less about what dots you connect originating from the centerpiece, rather what dots are you connecting parallel to your core.

The most successful businesses you can think of right now (Sbux, Apple, Netflix, Twitter) aren’t as successful as they are because of the service you think they provide. There are a ton of parallel paths of business development.

Go to the app store and look at all the apps Twitter Inc. is the maker of. Look at how many Netflix originals with unique actors. Think of Nike integrating Apple iPod device in shoes. Look at all the iscream Sbux doesn’t actually make, but has their name on.

Business development is about doing things differently. It’s about having the guts to try something new, something different, yet still runs parallel to the core truth.

Why most businesses don’t think about partnerships, acquisitions, licensing and such like considerations is because their so focused on the center of their business that they don’t realize the potential of a parallel path.

 

Stay Positive & Use That Source To Create A New One

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There are a handful of extremely smart, talented, quick, avant-garde people I work with, who I read, who I listen to, who I walk by each day. I often wonder, how did they get there?

Simply being mystified is a cop-out from answering the question. So here’s the answer.

They made similar mistakes to what we’ll make. In fact, many of them will be the same.

I was trained by an exceptional receptionist once (because I love to know what people do from top to bottom on the totem pole). She said something very comforting to me.

“There’s nothing you will do that I haven’t done myself.”

She’s made all the mistakes in the book, that’s how she got so good. Same goes for marketers, musicians, and magicians.

Don’t let yourself believe that incredible people were born that incredible, that things just came easy, that they’ve always done their work flawlessly. It’s not true.

There’s nothing you will do wrong that they haven’t done, and, if there in fact is something you do that they haven’t, then you ought to consider yourself lucky and one step ahead of them.

 

Stay Positive & Mistakes Are Special

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I labelled 2015 the year of Transformation. After listening to Matt & Kim’s song “Now” I was inspired to declare 2016 the year of Now. Instead of thinking about doing things I’ll just do them right away. This will help me fail fast, stop the lizard brain, and eliminate the consequences of procrastination.

 

Thinking on it, though, it’s counter intuitive to wait until next year.

 

So with that. It begins now. With this exact blog post. We’ll see what comes of it. At least I’ll try it for 30 days.

 

Stay Positive & No Time For Being In A Rut

It’s awfully easy to tell when someone is lying if you’re focused on their responses to your questions. This goes for interviewing, talking to coworkers, and asking friends what they think about your shirt.

What I love is when people respond with “I don’t know.”

Their response and what they do after it says more than a piece of truth or a lie ever would. “Not knowing” falls under two categories.

The first is simply because no one told them. They haven’t read it online. They haven’t sought out a teacher for it. This is fixable thanks to Google and the connection economy. If you want to find someone to teach you the guitar, you’re just a Google search or FB status away.

The second response is the “I don’t know”…”and I don’t care to find out.”

At first it may sound rude of them, but ask yourself what’s the reason they don’t want to find out. What are they afraid of? Why don’t they care? Would it be your job to motivate them? Because that’s your job as a marketer, to practice motivating people to overcome their fears.

While it may be best practice to hand-pick the talented, perhaps you yourself can become a bit more skillful by providing the pressure, the support, the care to get your friends, your coworkers, your candidates to turn their “I don’t knows” into “I cans,” I wills,” and maybe even “I now knows…thank you.”

 

Stay Positive & Beggars Can’t Be Choosers, But They Can Be Teachers

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If marketers tell the right stories… If the stories resonate with the right people: the target, the boss, the friend, the client, then we consider our work a success. What is the story you’re telling yourself about yourself?

I’ve read so many times how the most successful people have something they’re working toward. I’ve talked to successful marketers and what has stood out most is the story they have about themselves.

This isn’t to say it’s easy. In fact, telling stories about others will get a lot easier once you take the time to craft your story about yourself. However, you’ve learned so many tactics as a marketer, why not use them on yourself?

 

Stay Positive & Make It A Story You Look Forward To Listening To Each Day

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