Getting That Promotion And Recognition

Garth Beyer

Getting Ahead

You can’t get ahead or become remarkable by asking your boss how. By asking what you can do to get the promotion, to get the recognition, to get the page views, you’re setting their expectations and spoiling the surprise.

I was fortunate the other day when I heard a PR director say they hired someone who wrote weekly posts for the agencies internal blog. That director isn’t going to tell every intern to write those posts. If she did, it wouldn’t be special, wouldn’t be remarkable, wouldn’t be exceeding expectations; it would merely be doing what she suggested.

To get that promotion and recognition you’re striving for, you’ve got to get uncomfortable, you’ve got find ways to do things differently, you’ve got to do the unexpected.

Often times, it doesn’t matter how great what you do is, it’s really just a matter of you doing it. That director never said the blog posts were great. Hell, she might not have even read them. It was the fact the intern did something unexpected (and consistently!) that made her stand out.

 

Stay Positive & What Are You Doing With Your Downtime?

Writing That Matters

Garth Beyer

Keep Moving, Keep Writing

– writing that requires you to emotionally place yourself in the shoes of another

– writing that makes you feel vulnerable

– writing that not everyone will agree with

– writing that’s essentially a brain dump

– writing that someone will provide feedback on

Here are five forms of writing to check off daily. Managing to check off just one a day will make you a better writer, will make a difference for those who read it, and will add to your confidence not only as a writer, but as a thought-leader as well.

 

Stay Positive & Go Write Something

In The Box Podcast

Episode 6: Relationship Marketing, Institutions & Systems, Keeping Memories And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we shared views on memorabilia, discussed if it’s true you need to know someone at a company to get a job there, talked about having a plan B, ranted about academic writing, fashion standards, and institutionalization. Enjoy.

Episode 6: Relationship Marketing, Institutions & Systems, Keeping Memories And More

Memorabilia – Is there a significant point to retaining memories through objects and other memorabilia?

Relationship Marketing – The only way to get a decent job is to know someone who works there. True? False?

No plan B – Are people who resort to Plan B, changing their destination, weak?

Academia – Why do a lot of academics write in a way that is difficult to grasp if you are not a scholar in their field?

Fashion – Can you wear blue with black?

System vs. Individual – Does blaming the system/institution too easily excuse the actions of people within a system/institution?

 

Stay Positive & What’s Something You’ve Saved And Why?

What Are You Doing It For?

Garth Beyer

Core Values

A lot of things get done throughout the work day merely because someone was too scared to say STOP or lacked the confidence to ask why they were assigned to do what they were.

From an employee stand point, every task is an opportunity to reaffirm what you’re doing it for. It’s why company culture, company goals, and, most importantly, the company message is so vital to know and understand.

Often times, when one is doing a task one deems unnecessary, they still have a legitimate purpose for doing it when they know why the company is in existence (its core value).

But not every company shares its why. Not every company inspires their employers to be part of their movement. In fact, not every company is moving.

So we must fall back on our own values. We must ask why. We must understand what we are doing this or that for… and appreciate it.

From a manager’s perspective, if employees aren’t asking why, if they’re not seeking out work that matters, then it’s an indicator of a larger company problem.

Do work that matters or be the company culture changer. They need you.

 

Stay Positive & Ask, Know, Care

Photo credit

Where Does No Fear Get You

Garth Beyer

Batman gets out of the pit because he finally fears death.

Fear can be leveraged. We can dance with fear. We can use the second strongest emotion to our benefit.

Or, we can shun fear and rely on the first strongest emotion: love.

Perks to both.

People without fear aren’t lying to you or themselves, they’re merely taking a different path to the same destination.

Only people who let fear hold them in the pit, wrong themselves.

 

Stay Positive & Rise

Reasons You’re Not Doing Creative Work That Matters

Garth Beyer
  • Your boss says no
  • You think you need more information, more knowledge, more experience
  • You have no time
  • There’s no step-by-step guide
  • It’s a low priority
  • You need more sleep
  • You’re unsure what your passion is
  • Work comes first
  • You work all day and want to relax in the evening
  • No clue where to start

All the above are real because they are my reasons for not doing creative work.

Interestingly enough, I write this to remind us we are in control of changing any one of these, but we’re afraid. The list above is a list of excuses.

The real reason for not being creative, not doing work that matters, not building something remarkable is fear.

 

Stay Positive & Where Will You Put The Fear?

Making It Better

Garth Beyer

“How can we make this better?”

Well, you can add a widget here, add another layer of code here, we can compile feedback from 100 friends and make all the necessary tweaks and add-ons too.

Making better might mean making it more complicated and, thus, less likely to be adopted, purchased, fan-boy-loved.

To make something better, we have to start with a better question.

“How can we make this more simple?”

Now you’ve got me hooked.

Easy to adopt, easy to use, easy to share doesn’t mean that something isn’t remarkable.

 

Stay Positive & It Means Quite The Opposite