Connection

Earlier The Better

Garth Beyer

I took the bus today and asked the driver if the bus he was standing by was the bus to Rockford. Without looking at me, he said, “yea, we’re just waiting on a passenger to get seated.” Now I’m on the bus waiting for it to take off and I’m nervous that I’m on the wrong bus. I don’t have trust in the driver.

Not because I think he’s lying but because he didnt’ convince me, he didn’t make it personal, and he didn’t take the time or attention that a passenger (equally, a customer) deserves.

I paid for the ride, but I also paid to be assured I would reach the destination I need to in the time I need to. It just so happens that I wasn’t.

Update: 20 minutes into the ride and he just got on the speaker to make an announcement for where we will be going, thanking us for being passengers, and filling us in on what we need to know while riding (safety procedures).

My question is: why not make the connection before a passenger gets in, not after?

I sat with slight anxiety thinking this may turn into more of an adventure than I had planned. While I have that attitude, many do not. When you have customers paying for you to keep your promise, it’s better to show them that you’re keeping it as early as possible. Saves them worry, anxiety, and nervousness (no matter how little).

 

Stay Positive & If You’re Customer Is Early, You Better Be Too

Garth E. Beyer

That’s Not Really A Guest

Garth Beyer

At your first encounter with someone, whether it’s online, during work, or – in my case – at a Toastmasters meeting, you may think they are just a guest. What is a guest, though?

A guest is someone whom you meet outside of your routine life that you may or may not see again. Furthermore, a guest gives you two options to choose from. You can either treat them as a friend and connect with them, or you can carry on with your day without getting to know them.

Interact or ignore.

Laypeople base this decision off the degree of certainty that they think they will see the guest again. Those who expect to see the guest frequently will often choose to sit down and have a conversation. Those who expect to see the guest just this once will often choose to go no further than “Hello there.”

The linchpins of the world know that they need – no… they feel that it is only right to treat guests the same way they would a janitor or secretary, which not coincidentally is the same way they treat the average layperson or CEO.

Successful people don’t look toward equality, they look toward being human, connecting, and igniting positive responses. The only perk is that later down the line, having a conversation instead of ignoring a guest may come to benefit you. Heck, it’s just a simple real-world application of Pascal’s Wager.

Engaging in the life of a guest may or may not benefit you, but it’s always best to interact than to not.

 

Stay Positive & You Never Know When/Where You Will See Them Again, Trust Me

Garth E. Beyer

Two Types Of Art

Garth Beyer

The first is risk-free. It’s the type of art that you can destroy without second guessing yourself; the type of art you can return, get your money back, or just give away to someone else because you’re not attached. This type of art is noncommittal.

But it’s still art. In fact, it’s invaluable art.

This type of indefinite art is about expression as much as it is exploration. We can peck at it, flip it, and stick the end of our tongue to it to see what it tastes like. This art is about discovering through creating what we don’t understand. This art is to be played with.

The transition toward the second type of art is made through what all art shares: facing unresolved issues – the meaning of life, why this and not that, where do I belong.

Popular art – the second type of art – is when a creation contains answers.* The second type is about sharing findings, sharing answers, sharing your conclusions – egotistic or not. This is the most difficult type of art. To creat the first type, all you need to do is turn rumination into something tangible. For the second type of art, you have to commit, you have to accept all the criticism you will receive before you receive it. What ruins art creators is when they underestimate the amount of resistance they will have to face, internally and externally. The second type of art is simply art shared.

*[Right or wrong, they are answers. Popular art becomes such through connection, acceptance, and reality. It may not be the right answer for you, and it may be the wrong answer for her, but, essentially, it’s an answer for someone.]

 

Stay Positive & Create A Little Art. One Type Or Another

Garth E. Beyer

Let’s Cooperate

Garth Beyer

As in, fill in the mortar, wear the shoes issued to you, fit the status-quo, stick to the plan, follow the rules, do as everyone else does.

Traditionally, anything outside the aforementioned is considered not cooperating, which is a case of serious misinterpretation.

There are two correcting tributes about cooperation that must be noted.

The first is that cooperation is conversation. Cooperation is not an order of command, but a dialogue of two (or usually many more than two) people.

Second, cooperation is interaction. Interaction by definition results in a variety of influence and effects. A single demand of many is not interaction.

To cooperate is to dance, to play, to connect the loop of insight and feedback. Cooperation is vital in the workplace and even more vital in the home and the heart. Keep this in mind the next time someone tells you that you need to cooperate. You may need to remind them what cooperation really is.

 

Stay Positive & I Prefer Interactive Operation Over Cooperation

Garth E. Beyer

Too Much Intake Pt. 2

Garth Beyer

Those who say they have nothing to do are liars.

Every day there is a constant stream of to-do’s, of tasks, of obligations. Keeping busy is the easiest thing in the world. Our inbox’s are filling as I type this. We’ve got more notifications and distractions than ever before. Oh, did your phone just vibrate too?

Plain and simple, we’re damn busy. Of course, “busy” is commonly misinterpreted.

This intake of lights, noises, beeps, buzzers, reminders, flags, dings, ticks, and notification symbols is a great way to trick us into thinking that responding to them is a form of output. That being busy is the same as producing something that matters.

Let’s remember that not all things that come in are worth taking in. Let’s not confuse busy with meaningful. Let’s make sure not to devote too much time to intake when what matters is output.

Hey, intake will be there whether you are too, or not.

Output, on the other hand, only shows up when you do.

 

Stay Positive & Go Do Something (that matters more than responding to that txt)

Garth E. Beyer

 

 

SocialMediaNoise& White Space

Garth Beyer

The problem at large with social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, is that it is all noise and no white space.

Twitter is averaging less and less on click-throughs and I’m not surprised. Half the content shared is ridiculous (go click a couple of links if you don’t agree). The other half just blends in with all the other feed and the value is lost in noise. As for Facebook, all the content that is shared are pictures rarely offering any insight in which you seek. The terrible part is there is no white space in either.

Social media is about a constant flow of admired information but admired information is meaningless if there’s no white space after it to digest. That is why you may learn an idea, try to share it with someone, forget half of it and forget where you got the idea from. There was no time for it to cultivate and for the source to get credit. The noise and lack of white space is why more people are deleting “friends” on Facebook and unfollowing people on Twitter.

 Of course everyone is still using the constant feed stream, it’s one of the most valuable sources of information…when used correctly. Those who use the content stream properly are those who only click-through on valuable content tweeted, posted and shared by those in their tribe. Content they can interact with and the interaction is what creates white space and a further understanding of the content. The interaction turns the content into an experience which sticks to the memory.

Social media gives too much of an overload of info. If you are looking for something new without an expectation of solid content, then click a few Twitter links. If you want content, stick with Google. If you want an experience, use Twitter, Facebook and any social media with those who connect with you, that interact, that both, you and the person you’re interacting with, can expand and learn. That is why Twitter was held at such a high value, until too many people created too much noise. Curse the followback button

 

Stay Positive &    Make     More     White    Space 

Garth E. Beyer