Creativity

What Is 9 To 5

Garth Beyer

I can tell you straight up that it’s not the hours you work at a job. I don’t remember the last person who told me they literally worked 9 to 5. No. 9 to 5 is a jobstyle, not necessarily a job.

9 to 5 entails monotony, redundancy, and banality. It’s rarely valuable, in earnings or in personal benefits. 9 to 5 signifies structure. There is no room for creativity. Clock in. Clock out.

The beautiful jobstyles are the 5 to 9 ones. The ones that you’re a part of throughout the day. They are more lifestyles than anything else. There’s no clocking in or out, there’s only waking up and going to sleep.

5 to 9 entails connecting, giving, producing, sharing, creating, being passionate, showing sincerity, and being you. Payment is partially in dollar amounts, but more often it’s in happiness, in that feeling when you do a good deed without the person knowing it was you.

This generation is changing the hours, the jobstyles, and what work really means.

 

Stay Positive & More Power To You

Garth E. Beyer

Looking for team members!

Garth Beyer

The other day I caught myself with Twitter opened up to interactions. I was sitting and waiting for someone to interact with me. I would tweet an interesting idea or question and wait for someone to notice, someone to reply. Boy, was I doing it wrong.

After realizing this, I switched back to my Twitter feed and started interacting with others. In minutes I was in the middle of conversations with a handful of people.

It seems that on Twitter – and in life, really – more people sit and wait rather than seek what they want out. Often times, what you are waiting for, is more or less, exactly what hundreds, thousands, millions of others are waiting for. Almost everyone I interacted with obviously had there interactions tab opened, waiting for someone to reply.

People seem to be classified as one of two people: either you move or you wait.

This blog post is about a little of both.

A partner and I are getting together a team of creative, passionate, and communicative people. Some ideas we will be producing this summer is a community art event where everyone can be an artist, as well as an online news website where people can go to discuss ethics in regard to recent events, e.g., Boston Bombings.

We are based in Madison, Wisconsin, so first, if you do not live in Madison, I would like you to share this post with anyone who does that you think would have interest in participating. We are very open to ideas and odd talents. If you do live in Madison, right on!

Secondly, I want to note that if you want to be part of the team and do not live in Madison, that’s not a problem! Obviously, we will need tech and organization tasks fulfilled. In this world, distance no longer prevents the important work of getting done. We need you.

Ethics, Energy, And Enigma

We aim to create a positive enigma. We plan to puzzle people in a way that they wonder why people have not put on events like ours before, or surprise people by connecting them with other like-minded people they have been waiting for. Through this transfer of energy, we will make a ruckus that leaves a ripple effect into the thoughts of everyone involved. The way one views the world will be brightened and we are changing the way ethics are influenced in this post-industrialistic connection economy. It’s the time of the creative class. It’s the time to stop waiting and start moving. We are here.

You can get in touch with me through email at: thegarthbox@gmail.com

 

Stay Positive & Be Bold

Garth E. Beyer

 

Unlocked Potential Series

Garth Beyer

In a world of give-and-take, two-way streets, and a general goal of balance, I have come across some remarkable people who dance on both ends of the stick.

The middle of last year, I began writing an Unlocking Potential series. While the process was to mention people who were… well, worth mentioning, the goal was to unlock more of their potential through sharing their story, their personalities, and their creations.

It was an instant success with some interviews hitting over 1,000 views in one day.

Seeing Vanilla Ice

Walking down State Street, I saw Vanilla Ice starting a fight with – what appeared to be – an innocent bystander. Ice pushed the gentleman’s face and kept shouting at him. (I call the bystander a gentleman because he did not fight back, he was passive, true to the title of bystander.) Ignoring the forceful push-to-the-face and spit of vulgarity, he started to dial 911.Vanilla Ice then started walking away with his posse.

Of course this wasn’t really Vanilla Ice, but it sure did look like him. (Blame Google for not coming out with Google Glass sooner. Vanilla Ice was an early idol of mine, you’ll have to take my word that it looked like him.)

The world is filled with opposites, and the reason I mention this experience is to provide contrast to the next experience.

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Tyler (spiderman) and Adam AG (rapper)

While there are those who need a little nudge to unlock their potential, other’s are already an open treasure chest. Tyler Babb (T-Babb Films) and Adam (Adam AG) are two of these people. And in light of that, this is more of an unlocked potential series than anything else.

In one scene, I see Vanilla Ice throwing his credibility and respect away. The next I am face-to-face with Tyler and Adam – two people who see the bigger picture.

And that’s no filming pun.

Unlocked Potential

There was no need for me to do any convincing when sitting down with Tyler and Adam, if anything, they were convincing me that I’m not the only one with this mental attitude of positivity, work ethic, and attainable success. Some repeated comments were:

  • Take steps
  • Work hard on what you love
  • Skip the general bullfeces
  • Take things seriously
  • Connect all you can

Most significantly, we’re in a revolution; for the first time, a revolution we know we are in.

In the past – regardless of the economical or political situation – there were credible idols in every niche saying, “There has never been a better time than now.” And they were right.

The difference between then and now isn’t that we no longer hear this uplifting phrase, rather, as opposed to the past, we actually believe it.

The past who preached that “the best time is now” had to convince their audience. Now, speaking for the current generation:

We’re not ignorant. We know that we have everything on the shelf, all the resources, tools, and assistance that we could need. We know that all that we need to do is pick and choose out of what is available, to create. We don’t need convincing that now is the perfect time to do something. What we need is someone to teach us how to be creative enough with all the potential at our fingertips to make and do things that one day we will look back on in awe and jaw-dropping amazement.

The reason I write about Tyler and Adam is that they are the teachers – not waiting for someone to help them fulfil their dreams and bringing as many as possible up with them.

 

Stay Positive & Self-taught And Ready To Inspire

Garth E. Beyer

What Really Pays

Garth Beyer

–  Cash isn’t important to a successful career, connections are.The only money that matters is money that is invested. Whether you invest it in someone to give them a chance to show and grow their skills or when they invest it in you.

–  Time is only valuable when it’s either used to create honest art (not multi tasking, not clicking interesting link after interesting link, not taking halfass notes) and it’s only valuable when you interact with someone in real time (meeting for coffee, talking on the phone, skyping).

–   Having thousands of friends, followers, and visitors doesn’t mean you will instantly profit off of advertising. When it’s between making .002 cents off a stranger or $20.00 from a friend. I hope that it’s obvious what you should be making: friends or strangers.

–   When it comes to advertising, before anything, work on advertising yourself. That’s where the money is. (Or isn’t? Then you need to work on doing more creative work.)

–   Hard work pays off? Determination, motivation, perseverance, commitment… sounds like something you have to convince yourself to do that you just don’t want to.

What about connections, challenging fear, making yourself uncomfortable, revealing yourself, sparking emotional interactions, and taking risks?

Now tell me: What do you think really pays?

 

Stay Positive & Turn Strangers Into Friends

Garth E. Beyer

Creative Class

Garth Beyer

Each era prior to the present is defined by what people did with their hands: agricultural, manufacturer, knowledge based. (Knowledge: experiments, hands on activities, tests.)

Now our current era of the connection economy has produced a new class of workers. Nonchalantly coined by Richard Florida as the “Creative Class.” This class of – better called artists than workers – don’t reside in cities that are built around assembly production, construction, or mechanical organizations.

There’s no age requirement, no credential, or resume that qualifies you as part of the creative class – it’s a conscious (and consistent) decision.

The difference between being part of the institutionalized workforce and the creative class is like writing a report as a homework assignment and writing it in a way that you would also share it with your peers, your community, your friends, and your tribe.

It’s the difference between doing banal, monotonous, industrialistic work and melting your passions, mentally building a mould, then transforming your liquid art into something emotionally tangible.

These artists of the creative class are managers, engineers, consultants, teachers, painters, entrepreneurs, connectors, and all around movers and shakers – but with a new class flair.

My reason for telling you this is so that you know that you’re not the only one. There are others like you. Others that are fed up with the assembly line work, others who are afraid to step out of the box (and dance), others who want to make, not just a positive impact, but real human connections.

Your ideas are valued. Share them.

 

Stay Positive & Welcome To The Creative Class

Garth E. Beyer

 

A Remarkable Video To Watch

Garth Beyer

I was fortunate enough to find this clip in my schools digital library. I suggest checking yours or seeing if you can find a free version.

But if not, it’s worth paying for. Truly is.

Heck, it’s so important that you watch it, I just found a free version for you!

I never thought I’d say that I would watch a documentary twice, but I would with this one. Let me know your thoughts and let’s chat about it ( thegarthbox@gmail.com )

And come on … it has Seth Godin in it!

Stay Positive & Watch And Learn

Garth E. Beyer

Choose, Don’t Cheez-It

Garth Beyer
Vote for Cheez-It? No. I vote for something entirely new!

If you’re going to create something – as everyone must during some point of their lives – don’t create a new variety of something that already exists. Create something which you can create a variety from.

Creating a new flavor of Cheez-Its won’t get you far. I’m not even sure it will get you anything except a snack to munch on while you contemplate your next “genius” idea.

Maybe after a few new flavors of Cheez-Its you will decide to create an entirely original cracker snack instead. In which case, you can showcase all your new flavors with your cracker snack.

If that’s the case, or rather, if that’s the box, then I’m in. Just because something has 20 different flavors doesn’t mean I’ll choose it.

You know what people (you included) love? New. They love change, mishmash, and variety – after all, it’s the spice of life! The illusion is that they love a variety of originality. They don’t.

I’ll cut to the point and stick with the Cheez-It theme:

If you were given the choice between a new flavored Cheez-It or an entirely new cracker snack, which would you choose?

There is always more of a craving for something original than a new flavor, new type, new color of something already invented.

 

Stay Positive & I Call It The Flavor Of Originality

Garth E. Beyer