How They Will View It

Garth Beyer

is going to be different from how anyone else will view it, read it or gather from it.

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I’m not one for math, but I am one for numbers and trends. If you have a small group of people saying that your work needs to be restructured or that it’s not good, keep asking more people before you make drastic changes to the way you do things.

In college, a professor put up a picture of a magazine spread and asked people in the class what was the first thing they noticed and then asked the order that they would read the content. Five people answered differently.

Fortunately there was enough people in the class to come to a majority conclusion about the best method to layout the spread.

On a similar note, I’ve written a lot of articles that have been criticized up the kazoo, but by the same token, those stories were remarkable to many readers. Had I not sought out massive feedback, I may not have created such strong content.

Yes, there is the Law of the Few, but there is also the Law of the Many.

 

Stay Positive & The More (Feedback), The Merrier

Garth E. Beyer

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Death Of A Good Idea

Garth Beyer

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Good ideas don’t have that long of a life span. Idea journals are great for keeping an open mind and reviewing concepts to apply to something in the future. But an idea journal doesn’t have too many good ideas so long as those ideas stay in the journal.

Think of a good idea like a freshly inflated helium balloon.

It only takes a few days for it to start deflating.

Unless, of course, you use it before it deflates.

 

Stay Positive & Good Ideas Only Stay Good If You Follow Through With Them

Garth E. Beyer

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Here’s A Quarter

Garth Beyer

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Now here’s a story about a quarter and his quarter friends.

A local art museum requires you to put your jacket and bags in a locker before you can begin browsing the gallery. You need a quarter to use the locker. (You put the quarter into a slot in the locker and then you’re able to turn and take the key. When you return the key and close the locker, you get the quarter back.) Fortunately the guards at the front desk have a lot of spare quarters for people to use and return before they leave.

This is fascinating to me for a few reasons.

1. It’s a reminder of how important everyone is – even museum guards. The interaction with the guards (the simple transaction of “you need to do ‘this’,” “here’s a quarter to do it,” and “just be sure to return it when you’re done.”) is paramount to the gallery viewers experience. There’s very little human to human interaction at an art museum, so any interaction that does occur will influence the experience of the gallery viewer.

2. If you’re going to promote safety, you might as well do it through human interaction. Signs telling customers what to do work, but they don’t add anything to the customers experience.

Lastly, the experience reminded me that “extra steps” are opportunities, not meant to be a hassle for customers, rather a chance to turn customers into friends.

 

Stay Positive & Quarter For Your Thoughts

Garth E. Beyer

Being Accepted

Garth Beyer

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In a pitch for an executive board position, one candidate said, “You can tell by my personality.”

I don’t advise you say that… ever. Saying that (or something similar to that) let’s everyone know that you will change, that if you get rejected, you’ll alter your personality until you make the most people you can happy.

Worst of all, no, I can’t tell by your personality.

Personality is who you are, not who you can be or how you say you are.

If you’re new, if you want to show that you fit in or stand out, focus on sharing what you have done, what you have created, what you failed over and over at. THAT tells me more about your personality than what you can say your personality type is.

And if you have nothing to show, either say that or go back to the drawing board and build something to showcase.

 

Stay Positive & Go In Swinging, Not Just Saying You’re The Batting Type

Garth E. Beyer

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You Can’t Help Them (Don’t Try To)

Garth Beyer

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Many of you who read my stories each day align with all that I have written about helping others, asking for help, and accepting help.

These bits of helping advice will save you in the long run. What will save you more, though, is accepting that you can’t and shouldn’t help those who don’t want to be helped.

It will always put you in a rough spot, aggravated and frustrated.

The rejection of help is the single most forgotten form of rejection. When you try to help someone else because they aren’t doing something right, or you can see that they are struggling, or they missed something crucial that you want to help by pointing out, you are asking to be disappointed.

Not only are you better off going back to doing what you were doing and focusing on yourself when you feel the urge to help someone who is resistant to your offers of assistance, but they are better off too. They are on their own path of learning. Having you trying to enter that path simply adds to their challenge.

When someone wants to do something themselves and they reject your offer to help, leave them to it.

Observe and learn from what they are doing on their own.

There won’t always be someone to offer you help.

 

Stay Positive & Best To Know How To Do It By Yourself, Just In Case

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit: As for the photo here: it's just a gentle reminder that while you may have had your assistance rejected, you can still make them happy through other means

Why The Digital Age Is Creating A Stronger Sense Of Community

Garth Beyer

Getting things for free feels so good. Getting things for free when you know you shouldn’t – that feels even better.

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Everything that this digital age is producing – whether it be ads, shifts in cultural norms, or tangible products – the result is the same: a stronger sense of community.

(unrelated to digital age) You go to your favorite local coffee shop and since you bought one Turtle Mocha, you get a second one to go for free. Compare this to going to a local coffee shop and buying one Turtle Mocha, but when you pick it up, the barista gives you a second one to go “on the house.”

(related to the digital age) You get one month of Netflix free, after that one month you have to pay. Compare this to getting one month of Netflix free, and after that one month, you get the username and password of your girlfriends’ parents account.

In the coffee shop scenario, getting something free when you shouldn’t have established a connection between you and the barista (effectively the coffee shop too). In the Netflix scenario, you’ve reaffirmed the connection between you and your girlfriends’ parents (obviously a win-win).

This effect is one of the single most important reasons why I love advertising in the digital age. No matter the success or failure of ads, they always leave a stronger sense of community.

Either you buy into the brand and become part of that brands community (coffee deal drinkers or addicted Netflix supporters) or you find a way to get something free when normally you shouldn’t – be it through pre-existing connections (step-brother, in-laws, etc,) or through making new connections (class mates, coworkers, etc,).

The end result is the same: stronger sense of community.

 

Stay Positive & There’s A Reason It’s Called The Connection Economy

Garth E. Beyer

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Here’s a bonus read. Enjoy.