Idols

They Weren’t Always The Way They Are

They Weren’t Always The Way They Are

Garth Beyer

Conversations And Opinions Change

Richard Branson. Bernadette Jiwa. Chris Brogan. These idols of ours, they weren’t always this remarkable, this flawless, this all-knowing, this helpful.

Jump back to page 400 of Seth Godin’s blog and notice how different the style of writing is.

Listen to the first few podcasts of Debbie Millman or James Altucher and notice how different their conversations are.

Watch some of Tim Ferriss’s old YouTube videos compared to what he rolls out today.

They weren’t always the way they are now. Through falling, failure, and feedback, they’ve come a long way. However!

If we asked any one of our idols if they are happy with where they are at, they would say there is still room for improvement, that they’re still tweaking things, still trying new ways of communicating, of growing.

The way they are now won’t be the way they are 20 months from now either.

You can’t glide at remarkable, you can’t plateau at incredible, you can’t pause at excellent. These labels are only stamped on those who keep moving forward. It doesn’t do anyone justice when we just accept that someone is talented.

Nor does it do us justice to think we can’t also work to where our idols are at now. They’ve made it to remarkable and work to stay that way. Why can’t/shouldn’t/won’t we?

 

Stay Positive & Let’s Do It

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What To Do About Your Idols

Garth Beyer

Mentors, idols, professors, heroes, whatever you call them, you have them. Someone you look up to, someone you admire, someone who can teach you their ways to success.

A common problem I’ve seen from people who have idols is they don’t know what to do about it. They can read up on their hero’s work, analyze their decisions that got them to where they are now, they can take sound advice from them, but it’s all study, little action.

Something I’ve written about before, but now I’m able to put my finger on it: what to do about your idols is impress them.

When you begin to doubt yourself, when you’re unsure of the next step (or if you’re currently on the right one)… if you don’t know what to do or if you’re doing something the right way, your way, ask yourself, will it impress your mentor?

If you impress your professor, you haven’t just done great work, you’ve done great art.

 

Stay Positive & Show Them What You’ve Really Got

How To Get A Second Meet Up

Garth Beyer

We meet a lot of important people: Idols, Influencers, Administrators, Deans, and so on…

Typically, after meeting them, we fly on the cloud quote of, “You won’t believe who I met!” And that’s it. Rarely does one continue to say, “and I am meeting them again for lunch in a couple of weeks!”

To get that second meet up with someone, all you have to do is ask a question – and no, it’s not “would you like to meet up again?” [insert “ain’t nobody got time for that” meme]

You want to ask a question that the other person won’t be able to answer right away. Not only that, it must be one that they will want to think deeply about and get back to you on.

It seems simple, but it’s devilishly difficult to 1. Put in the emotional labor in such short of time to understand what the person is truly passionate about and 2. To craft a question that they have never thought about related to their passion.

In achieving this task, you create an instantaneous bond. People who are of high influence are always more attracted to those who give them more challenges than they are attracted to their supporting fans.

 

Stay Positive & It Works Out Best When You’re Both

Garth E. Beyer

Questions are a big deal.

Start Schooling Dreams: Chapter Preview

Garth Beyer

107. Idol study

A common question that is asked in elementary school is “who is your hero?” It makes you think about who you look up to, who you admire, who you take after. They have children already thinking about how to emulate the successful but then middle school, high school, and higher education never asks it again, never follows up, and never checks in to see who students are paying more attention to than the teachers.

Could you see anything wrong with a class that is centered on emulating the previously successful? As the saying goes, you can’t do the same thing and expect different results. But why would it matter when the results of legendary people are already that, legendary. See, these heroes, these role models, these idols we look up to and attach ourselves to, they produce more inspiration than all the teachers combined.

The worst that could happen in a class focused on emulating these inspirational idols is that the student falls short. Fortunately, falling short of being legendary is still better than the breadth of success students are attaining now.

Want to know more about the release of Start Schooling Dreams? Keep stopping by, email me, or tweet me @TheGarthBox

 

Stay Positive & Anticipated

Garth E. Beyer