How To Become Wise

Garth Beyer

While at the polling place to vote, the chap before me completed his ballot and stuck it in the nearest machine that looked like you stick ballots in. A woman rushed over to him (by this time I was waiting in line behind him) and stated that particular box was not the tabulator. She directed him to the correct box and I, nonchalantly, removed myself from the line and headed toward the correct box to submit my ballot.

“Thanks for making the mistake first so I knew where to submit my ballot,” I said to him.

To which he replied in a goofy but true way, “That’s how we become wise. We make mistakes.”

 

Stay Positive & Had I Known His Name, I Woulda Voted For Him

Will Your Product Or Service Be Around In Five Years?

Garth Beyer

Does it really matter if you know? Shouldn’t you act on the forethought it might?

Timeless enterprises are never constructed by moving forward on short-term-quick-ROI. Timeless enterprises are constructed by moving forward on short-term-quick-tasks that aim for a long-term ROI.

You can make something work tomorrow, but with the expectations of people these days, you’re better off making something that will still work five years from tomorrow.

 

Stay Positive & A Thought Like The Long Trail

When You’re In It For The Long Run

Garth Beyer

How can you make it more enjoyable, or in most cases, at least more bearable? It’s simple to figure out whether something will take a long time or not. Best case scenario, of course, is it doesn’t take long. You can plan for a short input and quick output, but here’s the thing about plans: they almost never happen the way you plan for them to happen (and certainly never as quickly as you plan).

#ProTip: Think of every long-term effort as if you were running long distance. It’s much more enjoyable when you’re running with a friend, much more bearable if you’re jamming to fresh music, you’ll be more excited to go the distance if you have a new pair of kicks. You can build these variables into your plan before you start.

And that’s the key isn’t it? So many people start as soon as they know where they are going. Fact is, the how matters most. The path ahead will be as smooth or as bumpy as it will be, but you can prepare to enjoy either.

 

Stay Positive & A Few. Little. Tunes. For You. Enjoy Your Run.

 

Hurry To The Edge

Garth Beyer

It’s really difficult to get people to go to the edge. It’s foreign to them, it’s too risky, dangerous, new, uncertain. What I’ve noticed and experienced myself is some of us want to go to the edge, but we don’t want to go there alone. So we try to convince others to go with us, we try to persuade them to visit the edge when we ourselves haven’t yet been to it. I’m writing this to say it’s best to visit the edge yourself, alone, just you. There are so many people on the edge ready to welcome you with open arms. You won’t believe what you can do once you connect with others on the edge.

Hurry, before there are too many people on the edge.

 

Stay Positive & Race There, Perhaps Your Friends Will Follow

Before You Get Clientele

Garth Beyer

You obviously need to know what service you’re providing, what you can offer them and what you will charge them in return.

More importantly, though, you need to know what more you’re going to provide than what they are paying for. How will you manage to go the extra mile with each service you deliver?

It’s a hell of a lot easier to build the extra-mile into your strategy than to figure it out along the way.

 

Stay Positive & Think Of The Extra Mile As What Differentiates Yourself

It’s Not Just About Showing Up

Garth Beyer

You’ve got to check if you’re showing up in the right place. Are you where all the bright-minded people are hanging out? Are you really where the people you want to be like are hanging out? It matters.

I hang out on the 4th floor of the journalism and communications building in Madison. It’s the floor where all the professors and TAs are constantly walking. It’s where you find the students who care most about journalism because they are meeting with the professors and TAs. It’s where all the visiting celebrity journalists check-in. It’s where I’ve made some of the most special connections.

Think of it like dating in college again. The someone you’re interested in is in the same class as you, but it always seems inappropriate to make a move during class. However, you know he/she grabs coffee every Saturday morning at that one coffee shop. Don’t lie. You’re there every Saturday morning. Why? Because it’s not just about showing up (to class), it’s about showing up at the right place (to the coffee shop).

Same goes for getting venture capitalists to invest, for selling your book, for getting a mentor…

 

Stay Positive & It Helps To Have A Pick-Up Line Ready Too

Assorted Links

Garth Beyer

1. 6 keys to breaking into opinion writing (read)

2. 1.5 million balloons (watch)

3. Patatap (interactive)

4. Ad of the day (watch)

5. Watch it, Read it or Tweet it: How Americans View and Share News (read)

5.5 Infograph of the above (click to zoom)