4 Steps To Success (Wisdom From Cambodian Monks)

4 Steps To Success (Wisdom From Cambodian Monks)

Garth Beyer

Steve Jobs Meditation

While in Cambodia at the POP House (meditation resort) a handful of monks taught me a lot about buddhism, life, and success. After a 20 minute meditation session, one monk began to tell us the four steps to success in life. Now I’m sharing them with you.

1) Affection – Show affection to your friends, to your enemies, to strangers. Find ways to show your love of people, of plants, of the world, of life. Care, not only about others, but your self as well.

2) Try – The likelihood of success is connected to the amount of experience you have. The more you try, the more successful you will be. Not only try things you’ve never tried before, but try things you don’t think you could overcome, don’t think you’ll complete, don’t think will change you. Just try.

3) Comment (on yourself) – You are your own judge of whether something worked or didn’t. You must evaluate your actions to confirm what you’ve done has moved you in the direction you want.  Criticism is pointless, especially when given to others. The monks were firm about concerning yourself only with yourself.

4) Experiment – Put things together that you’ve never imagined combining. Try new designs, interfaces, systems, plans, diets. Success is often the result of experimentations, not well-thought out intentions

Bonus: Be like Steve Jobs. Every monk that taught had told me about Steve Jobs and how he followed these four steps. And he meditated often if you didn’t know.

 

Stay Positive & Your Time Is Limited

5 Don’ts Of Business Success

5 Don’ts Of Business Success

Garth Beyer

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1) Don’t ask a group of people to do something you won’t ask your friend to do. Make better surveys. Target the right tribes. Create evaluations people get something from.

2) Don’t think the conversations others have are the ones you want to have. Not everyone cares about what you care about.

3) Don’t start with the product then come up with a story for it. If you don’t have a story to start from, then go out and experience more.

4) Don’t stand in front of your product. Get behind it, engage in the conversation that’s happening, be part of the avant-garde users.

5) Don’t put the spotlight on those who dislike you, your business or your product. Instead, put and keep the spotlight on your best customers.

 

Stay Positive & Simple, But Easily Forgotten

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10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)

10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)

Garth Beyer

Cambodia

1) Smile at people until they smile back. Not much is more universal than a smile. And nothing so simple can change the day for someone.

2) Provide the most selfless service you can when you can. It’s one of the beauties about Cambodia. Unlike here where we have to work to be selfless, there it comes natural. Surely it’s something we can work toward and achieve.

3) Observe the little ways you can make the life of another easier. Sometimes carrying the luggage of someone else is all you need to do. It’s difficult to change someone’s life in a huge way. It’s quite easy to make a lot of people’s lives a bit easier. Let’s face it, we can all use a break with this or that.

4) Always suggest the scenic route. You won’t ever regret it. I mean that. They say let the fear of not doing something scare you more than it not going as planned.

5) Put yourself in a location where others are making a difference. It’s sometimes difficult to make a difference on your own, but if you go where the movers and shakers are, there’s no doubt you’ll make the impact you’ve dreamed of.

6) When in doubt, play. (Particularly with children) There’s not much explaining to this one. You’ll experience and learn why this is a way you can make a difference once you do it.

7) Give thanks to three things a day. If you’re thankful for something that involves someone else, let them know directly. Gratitude is the dictator of attitude.

8) Travel. Period. When you go out into the world, doors to making a difference open every minute.

9) Teach someone how to do something or fail at something new together. The deepest impact you can make with someone or yourself involves learning.

10) Keep an open mind while observing ways to give and receive love. Corny, yes, but ultimately underrated. Also, emphasis on the “receive” end of it. Those who only give and never receive deprive others the satisfaction of sharing an experience, of making a difference.

 

Stay Positive & Impact Others To Improve The World (And Your Own)

Out Of Place, But Interesting

Garth Beyer

Something remarkable about Cambodia is that there are a lot of broken objects lying around.

What was once broken, has since been integrated into the environment. Plots of land, homes, playgrounds all have objects that seem so out-of-place, but they make the space interesting. They make the land. It’s a perfect photo for an I Spy book.

The objects show the history, the humanity, and offer perspective on the progress people have made in the last ten years there.

It made me think how hard we all try to hide our pasts, to cast a shadow over our failures, to paint over bad memories with new ones instead of letting them make our lives more interesting.

When we let our failures stay in our box, they may seem out-of-place, but to others they are interesting, they tell your story, they show you’re human.

It’s a step toward happiness. A leap toward success.

 

Stay Positive & If It’s Broken, Let It Be Part Of Your Story

 

Simple, Quick, Cheap Way To Get More Attention

Garth Beyer

Write letters to 10 influential followers, past client or old friends you know are working on something new.

The $10 it will cost in stamps and envelopes will certainly be better than the $10 you could spend on Facebook advertising.

“Hey, I know your wildly busy and striving for success. Is there anyway I can pitch in? Let me know. *phone* *email*”

You’ll either come out remarkable or memorable to the recipient, and even to those that don’t respond.

 

Stay Positive & Let Me Know How It Goes

8 Habits That Make Successful People Remarkable

8 Habits That Make Successful People Remarkable

Garth Beyer

How To Be Remarkable

1) No plan B: They choose not to have an alternative, a backup, a second choice. When the only way is forward, what choice do you have?

2) They don’t just wake up early. They wake up early and get shit done: That might be time to meditate and reflect or set up the game plan for the day or to exercise. As weird as it is, people are still amazed how early successful people wake up and start their day.

3) Shun the naysayers: They ignore the critics, avoid the crowds and shun the naysayers. They become successful and remarkable because they don’t let anyone in their circle that would stop them from it.

4) Proud, but humble: They cheer on their own victories within. They may celebrate with others, but pride stays inside.

5) Surprise: Successful people continue to give more, add more value to what they create before they ship and surprise those with the unexpected. They take the extra time between “done” and “shipped” to add unexpected value.

6) Along with surprise, they remain interesting: This is my favorite example.

7) Unconventional: They do what others might not in a way they wouldn’t. Essentially, they accentuate the weird.

8) Bring Engagement: In all they do, all they create, they engage in conversation, build interaction, and involve others.

 

Bonus

What they don’t do: Seek perfection, wait to be chosen, settle, follow status quo, listen to their lizard brain, gossip, define success with money, accept information without questioning it.

 

Stay Positive & Go Be Remarkable, Success Will Follow

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Hated Truth Of Creating Something Remarkable

Hated Truth Of Creating Something Remarkable

Garth Beyer

Railroad Workers Long Haul

It’s going to take more than a day to create something remarkable. Whatever you can do in one day, someone else has already done in one day. No one is impressed anymore. Expectations can’t be exceeded in one day. Maybe they can in one week, but even that gap is closing.

It takes time to develop your own process, to walk a distance long enough that you’ve left the main path.

I want to create something remarkable in one day as much as you. I want a single blog post I write in the morning to go viral. I want to come up with an idea, call a friend, build it in the afternoon, push it out in the evening and find out it was a true overnight success.

Sure, there are outliers and a .0005 chance the one-day thing can happen, but are you willing to spend all of your energy and creative scope on that?

It’s likely the one-day work you’re doing now isn’t making you feel uncomfortable.

Instead of writing another blog post, start writing an article to be published on 99U or PRdaily or some other niche platform that coincides with your focus.

Instead of recording another five-minute talk about the industry you’re in, plan out a 30 minute segment that digs deep, makes you uncomfortable, and goes where few have been (or no one).

We can hate the truth that it’s unlikely we won’t create something remarkable in a short time period, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

 

Stay Positive & You’ve Got To Leverage The Long Haul

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