Hard Work

IN THE BOX PODCAST

Episode 49: Slow Progress, Navigating Foolish Laws, Breaking Bad Habits And More (Podcast)

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast we explored reasons why people love to start new ventures rather than see any of them through, if there is such a thing as a healthy obsession, how to navigate outdated or foolish laws, how to break bad habits, and how to deal with the realization that you’re progressing in your life, career, relationship, work, etc,. but slowly.

Episode 49: Slow Progress, Navigating Foolish Laws, Breaking Bad Habits And More

Starting Fascination – Why are people so fascinated with starting and less on seeing something through?

Obsession – Is there such a thing as a healthy obsession?

Laws – How do you navigate outdated or foolish laws?

Habits – Best way to break a bad habit?

Bonus –  What is one tip you have for people who feel that their progress is slow?

 

Stay Positive & Subscribe Me Up, Scotty

The Hardest Part

Garth Beyer

I’ve just been given the best client to strategize a new PR and social media plan for: It’s the agency I work at.

I figured I would share some wisdom from past experiences working with a new client, from a craft brewery to my own business to a multi-million dollar retail company, and now the agency I work at.

It’s easy to start with the logo, the name, the website design, and the tagline. Much harder to start with the most simplified message of why the entity exists, who you want to appeal to (because it HAS to be narrow), and, my personal favorite, the four words that you identify with your brand, which will easily be seen in every single message you put out.

The latter of the above is exactly what makes the former fluid and all-around accepted, because while those items might be easy to start with, they’re not as easily approved by the business, the customers, the stakeholders.

You can’t convince anyone a message works unless you inform them and enforce why the message exists in the first place.

Lastly, while it’s fun to focus on the shiny, it’s more fun to work on it when you know someone will care that it shines. Not to mention you save time when you prioritize the hard work.

 

Stay Positive & Do The Hardest Part First

They Did The Work

Garth Beyer

I’m not sure why so many people seek out shortcuts to being successful in the field they’re interested in when it’s so obvious there isn’t a shortcut.

“How did you become such a great writer?”

“How did you become such a successful improv actor?”

“How did you become so muscular?”

They read and wrote. They practiced improv on a regular basis. They lifted a lot of weights.

The closest thing to a shortcut you will get is figuring out how to be more passionate than others, more willing to fail than others, more motivated to write, to act, to lift.

There are no shortcuts to being great at some form of art, but there are shortcuts to being more passionate about it.

 

Stay Positive & Ask How They Got Passionate About Their Practice

Working To Make It Work

Working To Make It Work

Garth Beyer

People are turned off by opportunities they feel others will have to work hard to make work. They’re willing to put in the effort, but they assume (wrongly assume) the other party isn’t willing to work either, thus they pass the opportunity up.

If I avoided every opportunity, If I didn’t send in every application knowing it would take effort on their end to work it out, If I didn’t ask for what I wanted even knowing the other party would have to make a sacrifice too, I wouldn’t be where I am today. (And I love where I am today.)

Not so surprisingly, when you’re human, you show you care, when you work to make things work – in other words, when you give the other party a reason to put in the effort to make an opportunity work for you – they put in the effort too.

 

Stay Positive & People Care When They See You Do

Digging Through Layers

Garth Beyer

Dig To The Remarkable

I’ve never heard of anyone finding gold right on the surface. Never heard of treasure, just sitting there on an island. Never heard a success story come easily. To get anything of value, there’s work, time, effort, sweat and an absolute resiliency involved.

Successful people don’t settle, they dig.

To get to an inspiring thought, a creative idea, a brilliant strategy one has to dig through the layers of fear, worry, anxiety, nervousness, resentment, and I’m sure a few other negative thought-layers I’m missing here.

Half the battle of coming up with a great PR plan or something as simple as a blog post is digging through the dirt until you find something pure enough, remarkable enough, worth sharing, doing, writing, etc,.

If we recognize that in any important decision there are mental and emotional layers we have to dig through, we can track where we are at in the process and obtain a confidence boost by knowing we’ve done the hard work of digging through our insecurities.

Another thing I’ve never heard of is our mind being empty of value once we work through the top layers of fear, doubt, and uncertainty. Nope. There’s something remarkable down there every time.

 

Stay Positive & Uncover The Remarkable

Photo credit

Keep It Short

Garth Beyer

People connect on vulnerable terms. Progress is most effectively made in short bursts. Keeping it short is taking away the fluff, the cushion, the safety net. Short is hard work. Hard work is valuable work. And valuable work is always the result of people becoming vulnerable.

 

Stay Positive & Worth Watching… don’t worry, it’s short.

Tired Of Professionals Saying They Were Lucky

Garth Beyer

I meet with a lot of reporters, journalists, and PR folk. I hear their stories, I heed their advice, and I ask a lot of questions.

The two most common things that I hear professionals say is

1. Learn to write well, really well.

2. I was lucky that…

The first is a “duh.” The second, well, is a lie.

None of these professionals were lucky that they ran into the headhunter of the PR firm they wanted to work for. They were not lucky that they had the credentials they needed for the job. They were not lucky that they got this or that internship. They were not lucky that the news editor had heard about them already.

These professionals didn’t land in their position by luck. They worked their asses off for it.

The real question is why do these professionals lie? Luck is a curated event, luck is the light at the end of the road, luck is a goal you meet after days, months, years(?) of hard work.

My thought is that everyone knows how difficult it is to become a doctor, yet, people still do. Then why do those in journalism and PR fear that the knowledge of how much work it will be to become a renowned journalist or PRS will stop people from becoming one.

At an even deeper level, why are these professionals not proud of how hard they worked?

I don’t have the answers for you right now. I’m not in their position. I know how difficult it is. I know how much I need to work to get where I want to be. I know the difficult leaps I need to take. I know that where I end up won’t be from luck.

When I find out the answers to these questions though, I will let you know.