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

Our Online Opportunity

Our Online Opportunity

Garth Beyer

When we spend hours on Imgur, spend days watching kittens grow up, spend weeks reading blog posts, but never commenting on them or sharing them, we waste our online opportunity.

The Internet was built as a hub for connection. Sure people have profited from the information age and the ability to produce, seek and share knowledge, but the real kicker, the real opportunity is connecting the unconnected.

Instead of sending a chain email pronouncing imminent death if not forwarded in the next 10 seconds, you could use those ten seconds to send an email connecting two friends, you could start a FB group or an online book club or get a group message going of 5 people who you deem influential and build a master mind group.

Connecting people — that gives you the silver. Getting the connected to create something, to be something in their entirety, to do something remarkable — that gives you the gold.

  • Sell the time of the mastermind group. It’s now a consulting group.
  • Start an online book club and flash mob a book store dressed up as your favorite fictional characters.
  • Connect those two friends and see what they learned from one another. You’ll learn something too.

There’s no shortage of people who can benefit from being connected. You can’t even call it a risk. So, what’s stopping you?

 

Stay Positive & Everyone Is Connected, But We Need You To Point It Out

Who Matters

Who Matters

Garth Beyer

Failure doesn’t always mean your product, service, work or art sucks. In fact, most of the time failure means you’re trying to make it appeal to the wrong tribe, you’re trying to get it approved by the wrong people, you’re trying to please the wrong market.

It’s why you hear “that’s really poor marketing/advertising” more often than you hear “that’s a really sucky product/blog post/service.”

Who matters matters greatly.

Don’t scrap what you’ve worked hard to build, scrap who you’ve worked hard to build it for and seek someone new, maybe someone less famous. You’ll be surprised how far re-targeting gets you.

 

Stay Positive & Try Someone New Before You Try Something New

Ebb And Flow Of Information For Creativity’s Sake

Ebb And Flow Of Information For Creativity’s Sake

Garth Beyer

I used to visit 20 websites, watch five or so videos and listen to at least two podcast episodes a day. I would say, on average, I spent about 2.5 to 3 hours taking in information for creativity’s sake. Heck, I needed more blog post ideas. Or so I thought.

For the start of 2015, I took all my online information sources, put them in a single Evernote, and haven’t really touched them since. To my surprise, it hasn’t been my downfall.

I still show up and blog every day. I still have thought-provoking conversations with friends and colleagues. I still have a steady flow of creative ideas that I document or ship. I still manage to hear and learn about the latest trends.

I’ve ignored the signals in my brain pressuring me to read more, digest more, learn more, absorb more. Instead, I realized by doing more, I’m learning just as much, but also have creative work to show for it.

Information only gets you so far. Sometimes it doesn’t get you anywhere.

 

Stay Positive & Doing Might Give You All The Info You Need

In The Box Podcast

Episode 5: Stealing At The Bookstore, Being Vulnerable, Planning Ahead And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we dove into some big ideas and a lot about books.

We chatted about scarcity still being an issue and why it always will be, the advantages and disadvantages of planning ahead, how to handle agents (book, music, etc,.), unique things to add in a book, if it’s stealing to read a book at a bookstore, and why vulnerability makes you beautiful. This is a packed episode. Enjoy.

Episode 5: Stealing At The Bookstore, Being Vulnerable, Planning Ahead And More

Scarcity – Is scarcity (food, clothing, shelter) still an issue in 2015? if so, why?

Plans – What are the advantages and disadvantages of planning ahead?

Agents – If you have an agent, how do you handle them not understanding your value?

New uses for book – What’s something new you can do with a book?

Vulnerability – What Does being vulnerable mean? Does vulnerability make you beautiful?

Is it stealing? – Is reading a book at a bookstore stealing?

 

Stay Positive & Share Your Thoughts In The Comments Section Below

Work From Home

Garth Beyer

A lot of people desire it, say they want it, and seek out jobs that offer the chance.

But do you really want to work from home? Or do you want to work where you don’t have to deal with face-to-face feedback? Or because no one can sneak up behind you and catch you escaping from the duties of your job to watch another cat video? Or you want to sleep in longer because you’re really not that excited about what you do?

Home might not be where you want to work it might be an excuse to a larger problem.

If you figure out why you want to work from home, you’ll have found the requirements a job away from home will need to offer for you to work happily there. Then go do that instead.

 

Stay Positive & Best To Work Where You Can Learn From Others Anyway