Can’t Beleive BMW had the AUDIcity
I Want To Help, But Me First
A group of people were asked what they would do if they no longer had any financial restrictions.
Some said they would travel, some said they would purchase the newest Corvette prototype, some said they would read everything on their book list. These ideas of material or selfish items are the minority.
Most said they would give. Give their time to volunteer, give their personalities to build their communities, give their money through anonymous donations; basically, give their lives to benefit others.
The moment they no longer need to worry – more so financially speaking – about themselves, the more willing they are to help others. This brings about a few questions. Is civilization wrong to not promote initial selflessness (not needing to support yourself first)? Are we naturally selfish? Naturally selfless? Quite frankly, why don’t we do what we want, give? After all, nothing is stopping you from giving.
Unfortunately there is a part missing to this survey: the follow-through. What would these people actually do if they were relieved of their financial restrictions and burdens, finally able to help others the way they dream about?
I’m not entirely sure. What would you do though if economics suddenly turned in your favor?
Stay Positive & Give A Little? Give A Lot? It’s Still Giving
Garth E. Beyer
Enlighten Others
There Is No Stopping Naievety
1. How much money in U.S. currency do you need a year to support yourself and anyone you currently support in a modest lifestyle?
2. Describe in some detail what type of project or projects you would pursue if you didn’t have to work or make other compromises to have money.
3. Discuss how this is different from your current circumstances.
I have recently read an article that the magic income number to have a relative and consistent happy lifestyle is annually $75,000. The article stated that even those who made $50,000 to $65,000 still felt financial stress and bound to always make careful decisions when it came to money. This idea of making about three-quarters of a hundred grand a year is what I would consider modest living. I currently make about $20,000 a year and find that this lifestyle works. I have a relatively nice apartment on the lake, I can get a couple of cups of coffee each week, and a short vacation each year. This lifestyle, though it may seem normal and modest, is not. The beauty of being human in this world is that we can make anything work and we can make anything look like it works well. People can be happy with $10,000 a year and people can be just as happy – that is, no happier or no less happy – than someone who is making $45,000 a year. For me though, with high expectations for the quality of life; for me, who believes that the current standards of living are far below what the standards should be, I believe that an annual income of $75,000 would be the right amount to support a modest lifestyle.
“He’s got some high expectations,” you might be saying. Yes. Yes I do and I often get a good chuckle or two when I tell people about my bucket list. This is also when I come in conflict with the prompt. There are no projects that I’m not pursuing solely because I have to work or I make other compromises or because of money. I don’t so much believe that the greatness of a bucket list is having checked off items, rather that you made it one hell of a ride to checking them off. See, my bucket list isn’t something I’m waiting until I’m 70 years old to take seriously. (Be ready to be surprised) Nor is it a list of some five to ten items. It’s a list of 200+. This list ranges from speaking at the White House, to pepper tasting in Chile, to fire walking, to experiencing zero gravity, to learning calligraphy, to owning Le Corbusier’s (famous architect) chair. To say I am crazy about goals would be an understatement. I read them over nearly every week or two and try my hardest to cross at least one item off the list each week.
It would be wrong for me to not include a certain five word quote to help you better understand my mindset. This quote sums up why, though I may not be in the perfect situation to do everything that I want to do at this single moment, I am working as hard as I possibly can toward it. Every moment of mine is put to use, exploited, taken advantage of; every moment is put towards pushing me forward, doing what I love, getting to where I want to go, and enjoying the journey of checking items off my bucket list. It really comes down to this, “I’m naïve, but I’m not stupid.” Think about it.
Stay Positive & Life Really Is What You Make It
Garth E. Beyer
Enlighten Others
Doing What Matters And Doing What Doesn’t (so much)
The problem a lot of people run into when they are finally having a full-time schedule of productivity is that they are so busy doing things that really matter, that they feel unable to make time for the things that still matter, but matter less.
This is one of the biggest fallout’s for people who feel on a roll. Just because you reach a new level of success and productivity, doesn’t mean that you can say goodbye to previous engagements and expectations.
Take the hierarchy of needs for example … you can work your way up, but being on the third level doesn’t mean that you stop building the first and second.What does this mean to you?
It means that yes, you still have to do the grunt work. Every so often you have to pick up the broom and sweep yourself, you have to make those phone calls and send the emails just to keep up the contact with people who still matter, you have to provide input for others instead of receiving the input, you have to find yourself grunting now and then.
My suggestion: They say Sunday’s are for rest. I say that one day a week of grunt work is all that you will ever need to do. Get in the habit of it now so that it never stops you from reaching the heights you work so hard for.
Stay Positive & Steve Jobs Used To Grunt Everyday (no wonder he was so successful)
Garth E. Beyer
It also does well to note that the more you find yourself grunting (doing the grunt work), the greater understanding you have of how success and progression works. Obvious, but easily forgettable.
Enlighten Others
Waiting For Your Hero
Whenever you watch a Superhero film, or nearly any film for that matter, you are always waiting for the hero’s success or failure, survival or death. This hero’s journey that keeps the audience waiting for one event to take place after another is called the monomyth.
To the hero though, they never feel like they are waiting, they are always involved in the rising action that leads to the point the audience is waiting for. While you are waiting, the hero is not. If the hero were to wait with you, nothing would ever happen.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say we are all Superheros. We all have a special superpower if we think hard enough about what we are truly great at, whether it’s a natural talent or not. If we are Superhero’s, then why do we do so much of the waiting ourselves?
It needs to be realized that you are not your own audience. It’s not your responsibility to do the waiting. It’s your responsibility to create the rising action, to give the audience something worth waiting around for, someone to root for, something to be excited about.
Let’s not be confused about who the Superhero and who the audience is in our lives.
Stay Positive & With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
(You know this post would have been incomplete without ^ )
Garth E. Beyer
Enlighten Others
Journalism’s Inverted Pyramid Changes When Applied To PR
The inverted pyramid is the heart and soul of a journalist. It’s their foundation. It’s the first thing they learn, memorize, and try to fill accordingly with every news story.
It entails putting the most important information first and the mundane details last. After all, the majority of people won’t read the whole article no matter which way you write it, so it’s best to get the important and interesting information to them first.
But then you have PR Specialists writing stories and these stories just can’t incorporate the inverted pyramid style of writing. These stories use the inverted time glass style.
Best explained by Bruce Desilva in Telling True Stories, “The very best endings often do something else: They offer a twist that readers don’t see coming but that nevertheless strikes them as exactly right.”
A journalist can write a news story perfectly well, but when you let a PR professional take up the task, they can write it in such a way that combines both the narrative style and the news story style.
As a result, you have a reader craving more than a journalist could make them crave. Of course, they will hate you for putting such a twist, but deep down, love it so much they will read your next release.
Enlighten Others
My Friend Makes The 80/20 Rule Look Weak
Hard work, and a lot of it, is what it takes to reach any worthy goal.
Smart work is when you put the hard work into the 20 percent of actions that produce 80 percent of results.
The best work is when you can balance everything.
I have a friend that nearly invalidates all of these concepts. For the sake of explanation and relativity, I’m going to use weight lifting as an example, but you can exchange it with any line of work.
I’ve been lifting weights for over a year: building muscle, toning it, shaping my body the way I want it. I put in the hard work by lifting until I’m sore, I put in the smart work by following a program, and I put in the best work by making sure that my body is balanced. I was once skinny and scrawny and now I am more filled in and toned. Yet, I have a long way to go until I reach the muscle ratio I want. (Don’t worry, I’m not looking to become freakishly beefy, just extremely fit. To put it in perspective, I plan to do the Iron Man in a few years.)
Now, I have a friend. This friend was in the same situation as me, skinny and scrawny, if not even more skinny and scrawny than I started out being. About three weeks ago he began working out and is catching up to me – fast. No, he won’t be caught up to me in a week or even two, but I can guarantee it won’t take him over a year to get as far as I am now. (Remember, I’ve been going at it for over a year to get where I am!).
My friend, Brett, defies the 80/20 rule, he seems to – before taking any action – figure out how to do 5% of the work that creates 95% of the results. My friend makes the 80/20 rule look weak. He does the hardest work, the genius work, and doesn’t care about balance, he cares about progress. There’s nothing wrong with that right?
Brett has always been this way, not just with lifting weights but with everything else that sparks his interest. What he has taught me – and hopefully, through this post, can teach you – is that there are always ways that you can shorten your invested time and simultaneously strengthen the results. The 80/20 rule is a great place to start, but not the place to stay.
Stay Positive & Try The 5/95 Rule, Also Known As Hohler’s Law (as opposed to Pareto’s law of 80/20)
Garth E. Beyer