Life

Train Wrecks, Finding Yourself & Life

Garth Beyer

Life can be really freaking incredible.

Life is made up of a trillion train tracks and it’s all about finding your train, or the one that best suits you – after all, most people don’t find themselves, they find something safe to settle with – and then they just go right along. It’s a ride and they certainly don’t conduct it.

Then people wait, they wait for a train wreck that forces them to go back out and search for their train. Some try and repair the one they were on, others take the closest one to the wreckage, a few never get on a train again, and -what I have never believed until recently- rarely, very rarely a train actually comes to you.

Bare with me as I carry on the analogy…

It’s as if the train already had you on it, and it was searching for your body. Your body never knew because it was riding a train, a safe train, with little fear and a lot of false security. (Clearly it was false security because you just got in a train wreck!)

So. Very rarely in life, a train finds you and you forget about the train wreck because it never really happened. It may be a memory but that memory is not part of who you were because you were never there [remember, your “self” has always been on another train]

The most fascinating part about when you find yourself, or rather, when your self finds you, you don’t just get aboard.

You climb, you jump, you cuddle atop it, you make an imprint on it, you slip but don’t fall, it’s not a memory, it’s life.

And at that moment, when you reconnect with life -whether it’s alone or with someone else- you forget about your train wreck. As a reader, you forgot that this was all based on a train wreck, you were simply rolling with it. (Pardon the pun)

Having just been through one, I know you forgot it was based on a train wreck for two reasons.

1. (Obviously) Train wrecks suck. They crunch, they hurt, they burn, they crumble, they are painful. Who wants to focus on that? Who wants to invite a train wreck into their life for the possibility of finding themselves when they are already so comfortable, so safe.

2. (Not at all obvious and hard to agree with) What I just described that happens after a train wreck is exciting, it’s wonderful, it’s life. For most, it’s a dream and who doesn’t love a dream, especially one this great? So great that you keep it a dream, you ignore the fact I told you exactly how you can have it. That’s how you have gotten through all of your other troubles, you focused on dreams and they took your mind off it.

Your life is good, it’s average, it’s mediocre, it’s safe, and you’re okay with that. The dreams you have while on the train you are on now, are great. They are stimulating, an adventure, amazing and you’re okay with them staying so because they make you forget about your troubles, the dreams give you enough power to bear with the troubles.

But you can’t be okay with that, no one deserves to live like that. You have to wonder what sort of dreams you can have once you develop your own train wreck and find your self or at least lose the illusion you have long believed to be your self. The dreams you are having now are little, weak, and I will even say they are unworthy because you can dream so much larger.

Because you took that train wreck, made the most of it, and found your self, you are able to dream bigger, stronger, more powerful dreams. But you don’t need another train wreck to get those either. The train you found your self on takes you there because you’re finally the conductor, you are yourself, uncaring about safety, mediocrity, security or having things just be okay.

 

Stay Positive & To Find Your Self, Wreck A Thousand Times If You Have To

(you’ll likely end up loving trains a lot more than you do now. I sure do.)

Garth E. Beyer

 

 

25 Life Lessons You Need To Know To Succeed

Garth Beyer
  • Begin taking responsiblity for everything in your life, even if you had nothing to do with it.
  • Implement an everyday attitude check: Are you believing in yourself?
  • Just do it… yourself. Don’t waste time telling others to do it. Do it yourself, take responsiblity. The more adapt you get to taking responsibilities, the more successfully you can handle your dream job.
  • Mistakes teach you what you should have prepared for. Learn them and appreciate them.
  • Invest in yourself.
  • Write a plan even if you never look at it again.
  • Stick with it until you win.
  • ^ Quit quitting. Finish. Ship. Just freaking complete it!
  • Do as much self teaching as you would learn from others.
  • The world doesn’t just give luck to anyone. Only to those with a positive attitude and who work hard.
  • You are the best, take people’s time, you deserve it.
  • Until we change what school is for, no one is going to stop and make sure you get your daily dose of inspiration.
  • Don’t wait for someone to come to you.
  • ^ People die standing still.
  • Procrastination is more expensive than the resources it would cost to achieve your goal.
  • Everyone believes they deserve better. At some point in your life, the only way to receive better is to quite complaining and do better.
  • The things you give for nothing can never be replaced.
  • The goal is new ideas and approaches, not consensus.
  • It will always be “the best time in all of history”.
  • Everything is dynamic.
  • If someone isn’t willing to buy, it’s not a loss, it’s a chance to improve.
  • Success is relative to the quality of the process.
  • Always seek to be surprised.
  • Trying gives you the right to try again.

 

Stay Positive & Share Your 25 Life Lessons In The Comments Section

Garth E. Beyer

There Are Too Many Unasked Questions

Garth Beyer

It’s been nearly two months since I added the “Pose A Question” page to my website. Through this trial, I have also altered the name in hopes that it would stand out for viewers to ask a question. Zero questions have been asked. I’m not disappointed, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t disappointing. Disappointing because there are so many questions that need to be asked and are not being voiced. I was thinking about it and of course, when you mull things over for a long enough time, the answers begin to float to the surface.

The reason I was not asked any questions (questions that had absolutely no boundaries) was not that I am not a great source of information, it’s not that I don’t have the credentials, experience or willingness to find the answer because I do. If anyone has even glanced at my website, they know I’m in a full-scale warfare against the world and to find every secret to success possible, no matter the definition of success. It’s clear. I can give you an answer. One that solves a problem, one that get’s you to think, one that opens your mind, one that makes you question further, one that requires you to ponder, one that is funny to read, one that can change your life. Still no questions.

The real reason people have hundreds of questions related to their muse and never ask them is because knowing the answer calls them to take an action. Always questioning what is right, what you should do, what is the best/quickest/easiest path to take to get X is simple, it’s easy, it takes no energy and it produces no results. There is no action in an unanswered question. There is no next step. You can stay on the stone you’re on now for a lifetime and only when you ask and receive an answer is when you need to take the next step.

That step is scary. It’s dead frightening. It’s paralysis. It’s fear keeping you from seeking answers because fear likes to play a safe game and doing nothing is safe and as a result, you die very safely. See, fear of action is the dullest of fear. It is what a person who has never had a real experience feels. What happens then when you do ask a question and get an answer. You will have to conquer your fear of rejection, fear of success, fear of failure, fear of risks, and fear of life. If you do not wish to live a safe, dull, banal, mortal, boring life, then you need to ask questions. Questions you don’t want to know the answer to.

Trust me, you have a lot more to worry about once you get over your fear of knowing the answer. But hey, we will get there. I’m here for you for your first question, second question or 1,000th question, I’m here.

 

Stay Positive & Will You Take That Step?

Garth E. Beyer

Run With Scissors… Just No Cutting.

Garth Beyer

I love boxes. There’s something magical about them. Something truly unique about them. Theres so much to take from them, conceptionaly speaking. Think about it. Everyone living their passion has a box with everything they need in it, they just have different names for it: Toolbox, Thinktank, Craftbox, Time Capsule, Computer, Jack-In-The-Box… (maybe not that last one)

We all have our own box, that’s a given. It basically contains everything in our life. I may even go so far as to say for some of us that our box is our life.

So I have to ask you, what happens if you cut corners within your box?

It kinda quits being a box, doesn’t it?

 

Stay Positive & Running With Scissors Is Actually Less Hazardous

Garth E. Beyer

The Right Perspective On Mentorship

Garth Beyer

You’re looking for mentors to give to you, but you need to give to them.

When you get a mentor, as it benefits anyone who does, the obligation to fulfill expectations is only the base of what defines the relationship between mentor and pupil.

What makes it work is what you have to show and give the mentor. Not in the sense of doing as the mentor says, but doing more, proving them wrong, and surprising them. You may view them as a mentor, but they need to view themselves as observers, as pushers, as people who are about to get their minds blown.

The thing about this post-industrial society is that the teachers, mentors, evaluators and advisers… they need to be re-taught. They have grown up learning how to follow orders and eventually on how to give orders, how to maintain the status quo and the terrible curriculum of teaching set by tradition. It’s your job as the pupil of a mentor to be the teacher, to represent this post-industrial generation and to not only create something innovative and irreplaceable, but to change the way education is taught.

 

Stay Positive & Let’s Remind Them What It Means To Be A Mentor

Garth E. Beyer

Reach For Your Goals

Garth Beyer

Ever realize that just by properly stretching, your able to reach further? But so few stretch.

So many people stop before they reach their goal. More often than not, one easy stretch before they achieve it.

How To Reach Further

There are two types of reachers in this world. Those who don’t reach and those who don’t reach far enough.

And there is a single method that can improve the reach, the possibilities and the rewards of both types of people.

The simple method: make huge ridiculously unreasonable goals.

People Who Don’t Reach

Whoever said to do the hardest thing on your to-do list first, was wrong. Every small goal you complete adds to the length of your reach. The next goal you can reach a bit further and get a bit bigger of an award. The trouble with non-stretchers is that they have the choice to either do small reaches (small goals) or not reach at all (no goals). As it was expressed, it’s in our nature to do the easy thing first. In this case, for a non-stretcher, that would be doing nothing. (Yes, from time to time we may read something and be inspired to tackle the biggest baddest item on the to-do list first, but tomorrow is a new day and a new list and a new BIG thing. Is it rewarding to do the BIG thing first, yes. Does it last, no.) Non-stretchers never try hard, they will reach, but only for the easy things. They do the minimum. As a result,  if you make a non-stretcher create enormous and outrageous goals, their options are to do the BIG goals, or the small goals. And folks, you have to agree with me, small goals are better than no goals.

When you get to that point, if you are not already there, you are considered a person who doesn’t reach far enough.

People Who Don’t Reach Far Enough

 People who don’t reach far enough are those that stop running at 5k when they know they can run another kilometer. They will complete their goals but not take it further. It’s like the story of training fleas. You can put a handful of fleas in a jar and close the lid. They will keep jumping and hitting the lid. Eventually you can remove the lid and they won’t jump out, they will keep stopping at the height that they hit their heads at. People who don’t reach far enough are those fleas.  They reach the goals they set, but stop themselves from jumping any higher.

Don’t get me wrong, people who don’t reach far enough do plenty of good in the world. They get a good education. They get a good job. They get a good home and car. They get a good family and personal relationship. Reasonably, they get a good future.

But “good” is not enough.

When have you ever heard a person getting hired as the new CEO for being good enough? When have you seen a President get chosen just for being good enough? When has the noble peace award been given to someone who was just “good”? What author has gone down into history for just being “good”?

Good, just isn’t enough. You have to do more, go the extra kilometer. The only way to do this is to create massive goals and when you have done all of those goals, make bigger ones. You know the saying there is always someone somewhere better than you or their soon will be? There is always a bigger goal that you can achieve and as you stretch further and further you will end up in a successful life, not one just good enough.

Reach and Take The Universe From My Hand, It Is Yours

Stay Positive & Stretch Every Day In Every Way

Garth E. Beyer

Life’s Perfect Moment

Garth Beyer
Quoted from: http://priscellie.deviantart.com/art/Music-3952212

Can you recall the last time you listened to music? Specifically, do you remember a short segment of the song where the sound went shallow, nearly quiet and suddenly there was a breakdown?

You can find the use of breakdowns in all types of music: heavy screamo, flamboyant alternative music, dub step and if you listen closely, you can find the breakdowns that happen in a classical Mozart song.

If you can, I encourage you to take a moment now and play a song that you know has a very noticeable break down and try to relate how you feel during the transition. May I suggest “Action is the Anecdote” by And Then There Were None as it is the song that inspired this post.

Now, I can imagine that you will rock along with the song and as it prepares for the breakdown, you prepare as well. Since the music has nearly paused, you can feel your heart beat a couple times before the breakdown occurs. If it’s a great enough lead to a breakdown, you may even get goosebumps. As the breakdown occurs, it is as if you were just given wings. The experience involves getting built up with an extreme form of unknown emotion and anticipation that is only released when the breakdown occurs.

What does this have to do with a perfect life moment? – Everything

It’s unlikely you can recall the last time you had the same experience in a life situation because life adds an additional step you have to go through.

Let me explain, everything is going smoothly in life until it begins to dim. You start feeling slightly depressed and things aren’t going the way you want, but nothing so bad that you can’t survive. As life flat lines at a low level, a surge of anticipation begins to seep into all of your nerves and before you realize it, your life’s scale instantly shoots up and out of the ordinary.

This moment never happens.

In life, the only way you can experience a sudden burst of happy progression is after hitting bottom – not flat lining above it. The closest analogy to this is to work off the saying the harder you fall, the higher you bounce.

The following three phase process would describe life’s perfect moment. Think of the first moment as a ball falling at it’s normal rate. The second phase is like magnifying the moment before impact that seems to last a life time. The third phase is the ball suddenly springing upward without hitting the ground.

However, in life the ball must always hit the ground in order to bounce higher then one could think possible.

Life’s Perfect Moment Is the moment when times get tough, a combination of excitement and anticipation overcomes all of your senses and you know that your quality and appreciation of life will – before you can fully comprehend – it completely amaze you. Why does this not happen? Why do we have to hit bottom? Why is it the only way for us to experience life’s perfect moment is in music?

Stay Positive and Defy Gravity

Garth E. Beyer

On a side note, while I was thinking about the ball analogy I realized something of key importance. Too often people will tell you that success is getting back up when you fall down. I say that success is taking the risks that made you fall down in the first place. Cheers