Jobs

In The Box Podcast

Episode 33: Alone Time, Fear Of Commitment, Acting As If And More (Podcast)

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we talked about Garth Time and Michael Time, how the heck we combat the fear of commitment, one way to start practicing what you preach, the benefits and potential consequences of acting as if, and lastly, one quality Michael cares most about if he were hiring.

Episode 33: Alone Time, Fear Of Commitment, Acting As If And More

Alone time – How important is alone time?

Commitment – What is one way to overcome the fear of commitment?

Practice what you preach – Best technique to practice what you preach?

Acting As If – What do you think about the idea of acting as if you are ______?

Bonus – You’re the boss. What quality would you look for most in a candidate?

 

Stay Positive & Listen On

Aggression

Garth Beyer

Some use it to fuel their writing. Others use it to push themselves during their workouts. I suggest you use it to get a job.

I’ve spoken to Jack Craver, journalist for the Capital Times. He told me, “If you want to make it [in journalism], you’ve got to be aggressive.”

I would argue that if you want to get anywhere in life, you’ve got to be aggressive. That line you’ve heard about, that line you get into after you get a degree, it’s nonexistent. No one hires passive prospects. Getting in a line is a joke. Knocking down the door of where you want to work, that’s what you’ve got to do.

In a simplified version, the easiest way directors cut the applicant pool of any job opening or opportunity is to toss out everyone who they feel doesn’t want it, who they’ve never heard from. And how does one know that?

Have you sent follow-up emails? Have you called them? Have you toured the agency, friended any of the Director’s friends, asked for an informational interview?

Getting a job is easy. Having the balls to do so, being aggressive, that’s the hard part.

 

Stay Positive & “Want” Is An Action Verb, Not A Silent Desire

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

One Person Position

Garth Beyer

I love when I hear from someone working that they are the only one working the position. Because I know they are lying.

In reality, they aren’t working alone, they have people from different groups, departments, sections helping them out when things get tough. (If they don’t, that’s because they didn’t ask for help. May I suggest transferring to a position where you don’t need to?)

What I would love to hear when I ask for confirmation that they are really the only one working: “Yea, and I’m doing a hell of a job. The same results if you were to hire five people.”

Now that’s the person I would want on my team.

 

Stay Positive & Become A Linchpin

Garth E. Beyer

Using The Force And Letting The Force Use You

Garth Beyer

You need to force yourself to find something your passionate about, choose not to have a choice, and move forward.

In doing so, you’ll quickly find that the force you used to become passionate about something is then relayed back to you in the form of focus, more passion, understanding, and growth. In other words, the force uses you.

The force is a cycle which is continuous … so long as you add to it.

I’ve forced myself to be passionate about all forms of communication, specifically in the fields of media, journalism, and PR. (It’s been so long, and I believe that I’ve brainwashed myself, but I’m sure there was a point when I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, what I wanted to major in, or where I wanted to be in 20 years. But, by using the force, I’ve come to find my niche.) In doing so, in brainwashing myself, in using the force, I’ve become fascinated with absolutely anything related to communication. Find a way to turn me off, I dare you. Anyway…

This has benefited me immensely and never crippled me in any way. Using the force is like putting on a special pair of glasses. Now, all that you see is filtered through the force. I relate everything; whether it is history, art, politics, finances, or whatever, to communication. I’ve found a way to enjoy anything and everything because I view it in relation to communications. By forcing yourself to have appreciate and a passion for one field, it allows you to be passionate about anything in regards to it when it comes your way.

If it doesn’t make sense to you yet, let’s apply it to the workplace.

We have our jobs that we may or may not love to do (note to self: if not, go get it). In our jobs, there are dozens of tasks each month or each week that we don’t really enjoy doing. But, you will easily find, so long as you are forcing your passion for all areas of your job (the good and the bad) doing those tasks which normally you wouldn’t like to do can become enjoyable. In fact, once you force yourself, you’ll find that it will require less and less force as time goes on.

It’s not about biting the bullet, it’s about being able to enjoy its flavor.

Which sometimes requires force.

 

Stay Positive & I Have To Say It: May The Force Be With You

Garth E. Beyer

The Greatest Life Lesson From Getting A Job

Garth Beyer

After the struggle of searching for places to apply at, applying, and going through the interview process, you arrive at your new job. As crappy as it is, most will say, “a job is a job.”

While there is plenty to learn from the process of acquiring a job, what I would like to point out is in regards to the training that everyone must go through. Once you’re hired, the next step before you start – beside the paperwork – is to train, to learn what you will be doing.

You may be handed a small manual. You may be told to shadow someone. You may be shown what you will be doing and asked to run through it once or twice. Other than that, there isn’t much more to the training. In fact, I would bet that after training for any job, you will be nervous about not doing what you need to do right, efficiently, or flawlessly. Simply because you weren’t trained well.

You won’t master anything even with a manual. You won’t master anything by watching someone else do it. (How great would that be if we did though!) You won’t master anything by doing it once or twice. In fact, I wouldn’t even call any of that training. Training for something results in a sense of preparedness which this doesn’t produce.

No employers care about that though. They shouldn’t. Actually, they’re smart not to!

Employers – and now you – know that there is no better training than training on your feet. By that I mean getting thrown into what you need to do and being expected to do it right even with the haunting lack of preparedness.

As people, the best way to learn is to do. We can read, we can watch, we can shadow, we can even give something a shot or two, but the most effective and quickest way to learn anything is to jump in and do it.

For the next time you have an interest in doing something, catch yourself when you begin to “train” for it too long. And to simplify it for you, I can even tell you how long “too long” is. If training for something as important as a job only takes a few hours (maybe a day), then whatever you are training for better be more important than a job if you are training longer for it.

I could have told you from the beginning to not spend much time researching stuff and instead, do. But that would be an insult to the way the world works. The same way that skipping the barely helpful training for a job would be.

 

Stay Positive & For Best Results, Do

Garth E. Beyer

Getting Promoted For Being An Artist

Garth Beyer

You don’t have to avoid factory jobs to live your passion. I started out a cog as a data entry clerk and within 4 months I was told to apply for a bigger better position.

I got promoted. Not because I followed orders and rules, not because I was obedient and disciplined but because I did more than was asked, because I got creative with it, did it quicker, was adaptive and because I manifested a passion that previously wasn’t there. I was a linchpin and that is my job security.

Notice, it isn’t just about creating something significant outside the cubical, it’s about creating the urge, the time and the passion to make art anywhere you are. In or out of a cubicle.

 

Stay Positive & Get The Most Out Of Your Box

Garth E. Beyer