Doing

Thinking Worker, Working Thinker

Garth Beyer

It’s often thought that there are thinkers and then there are doers. Moreover, that which thinkers think should be produced by workers and not the thinkers themselves.

A PR pro thinks of a new brand positioning strategy and calls the doers to see it through while she goes back to thinking, planning, strategizing. Is it right for their to be a divide between thinking and doing?

I came across this statement by art critic John Ruskin, “It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy.”

Thinkers may come up with good ideas, but it’s really only when they themselves see the idea through that they naturally turn it into something remarkable.

Just as the thinker falls short in their thinking when they don’t do, the worker falls short when they don’t think. That’s why there are so many products, services, business that don’t work; there is a disconnect between thinking and working.

 

Stay Positive & Can We Change This?

Telling Your Story

Garth Beyer

It pays to work on your story, to figure it out before you launch or reach out to publications, but what entrepreneurs often forget is they don’t have as much control over their story as they think they do.

You can tell your story to every guest that walks in, but when they walk out, all that matters is the story they tell others, which may not be the one you told them.

The best stories are about businesses who listen and do, not those who profess their story before they ask you for your order or tell you their story as they’re checking out your items.

Listen and do. Let your guests tell the story.

 

Stay Positive & Talk With The Interest Of Listening More

Ebb And Flow Of Information For Creativity’s Sake

Ebb And Flow Of Information For Creativity’s Sake

Garth Beyer

I used to visit 20 websites, watch five or so videos and listen to at least two podcast episodes a day. I would say, on average, I spent about 2.5 to 3 hours taking in information for creativity’s sake. Heck, I needed more blog post ideas. Or so I thought.

For the start of 2015, I took all my online information sources, put them in a single Evernote, and haven’t really touched them since. To my surprise, it hasn’t been my downfall.

I still show up and blog every day. I still have thought-provoking conversations with friends and colleagues. I still have a steady flow of creative ideas that I document or ship. I still manage to hear and learn about the latest trends.

I’ve ignored the signals in my brain pressuring me to read more, digest more, learn more, absorb more. Instead, I realized by doing more, I’m learning just as much, but also have creative work to show for it.

Information only gets you so far. Sometimes it doesn’t get you anywhere.

 

Stay Positive & Doing Might Give You All The Info You Need

The Why And How Of It All

Garth Beyer

Speaking as a journalist and a continuous learner, “why” is the great word in the world. Second up is “how.”

“Why” encompasses research, in-depth reporting and focuses on cognitive and emotional answers. “Why” is philosophical, inquisitive and sometimes life altering.

“How” is a lot less about priorities, lists and steps. It’s more about doing. Doing right away and then ask why what happened happened.

If there’s one thing we oughta know about plans it’s that they will never happen the way we want them to. Time focusing on the details of “how” is time wasted because the details are going to change once you start doing.

“How” might be a question word, but the answer is experience.

 

Stay Positive & You Acquire Experience From Doing Then Asking Why

Elaboration On Shadowing

Garth Beyer

Yesterday I wrote that learning must be done through action, not solely observance.

My dining experience today resonated this philosophy and made me question why they call it “job shadowing.”

Last time I watched my shadow, it moved when I moved, did what I did, messed up when I did. My shadow didn’t hover behind me, it didn’t lean over my shoulder, it didn’t just follow me, it made all the same moves I did.

The waitress introduced herself and the trainee trailed right behind her the entire afternoon, from table to table. Her cheeks had to hurt because beside walking, all that she was doing was smiling. There was no conversation, no getting drinks, no effort. Not her fault at all. It’s the fault of society’s misconception of training people.

Can she get by and meet the needs of the restaurant by shadowing this way – sure. But that comes with externalities.

Those being poorer experiences for the consumer, the “teacher,” and the shadower.

 

Stay Positive & It’s Not “What Did You Learn Today,” It’s “What Did You Do?”

Garth E. Beyer

 

Seeing Is Doing

Garth Beyer

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Milton Glaser said, “The great benefit of drawing is that when you look at something, you see it for the first time.”

I like to think this applies to me and my writing the same as it does to you and your form of art.

I could read everything that Malcolm Gladwell has written, then, if I were to type out a story, word-for-word, from one of his articles, I would still be seeing that story for the first time.

Of course, seeing is something much more than observing the image of something, it’s more like seeing into it.

You could craft the same business plan Jeff Bezos has written for Amazon and even after studying every part of it, transposing it would still allow you to see it for the first time.

This concept of fundamental to education. You can be told of a technique or an idea, but you won’t truly see it until you apply it or do it yourself.

 

Stay Positive & Seeing Is Doing, Doing Is Seeing

Garth E. Beyer

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