Lists

What I Want

What I Want

Garth Beyer

About two and a half years ago I wrote a very short list of things I want. I open up the document containing the list every month or so, usually when I’m cleaning out my DropBox.

At the bottom of the short list, I have a motto. It’s more moving to me than the list of things I want…

Stop thinking about what you want. Think about how you want to feel.

Instead of looking for what will make you happy, focus on what you’re good at.

Rather than planning to get ahead, find a way to help others.

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Stay Positive & People Over Platforms, People Over Things

 

Horizontal Prioritization, A Better Method Of Prioritizing

Horizontal Prioritization, A Better Method Of Prioritizing

Garth Beyer

Design Matters

Perhaps you’ve heard of the six F’s (family, friends, finances, fitness, faith, and fun) or something similar. Every success mentor always suggests making these lists, and I agree, not just in life, but in business as well. They allow you to divvy up your focus on all the important matters. However, the way they are often presented is vertically.

Family first

Faith second

Finances third…

The problem with prioritizing your life this way is that it gives you an excuse to not tout as much effort in the bottom categories. By prioritizing vertically, you’re forcing yourself to weigh the importance of each group, when, in fact, the reason for writing the various groups (whether you go with the six F’s or some other type of categorization) is that they are all equally important.

Success and balance aren’t easy to achieve, but trying to achieve them using vertical lists and actually prioritizing one important theme or category over another is a sure indicator of always lacking sufficiency, efficiency, and quality in the bottom-most themes or categories.

Prioritize horizontally. Then feel free to list goals and tasks below those, vertically.

While finances and fun are both equally a necessity, how you go about achieving each is not.

Go ahead. Try it.

 

Stay Positive & Design Matters When It Comes To List-making

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Getting On The List

Garth Beyer

Every artist has a secret (and sometimes not-so-secret) desire to get on the list. The top 25, the best author, the VIP list. What does getting on the list say about you?

It says that you’re good at getting on the list.

Not that your talented with your craft, not that your making a dent in the universe, not that you’ve achieved the goal that you set out to achieve (unless, of course, your only goal was to get on the list.)

Lists are fickle things.

 

Stay Positive & If You’re So Inclined To Be On A List, Write Your Own

A List Of 30 Lists

Garth Beyer

Lists

A list of…

  1. What you are thankful for
  2. The moments in life you felt most alive
  3. This week’s goals
  4. Goals to be met within five years
  5. 99 ridiculous things you want to do before you die (no limit on possibility)
  6. What is stopping you from doing what you need to do
  7. What is stopping you from doing what you want to do (yes, they’re different)
  8. Every book you have read (not a list of every book you want to read!)
  9. Sources of inspiration
  10. Places you want to visit (test: can’t be on the first page of a Google search)
  11. Websites/podcasts that you must visit weekly, if not daily
  12. Your top 10 bad habits to break
  13. All the contacts you have made and something special about them
  14. Songs that get you moving
  15. Every source you have been quoted or mentioned
  16. What you want in a significant other
  17. Ideas that have been rejected, laughed at, or you didn’t deem as “good enough”
  18. Things to feel okay about (here is a start)
  19. What you don’t need to make a list for (things you do naturally, habitually)
  20. What you want your kids to know that you didn’t know growing up
  21. Mistakes you have made
  22. What you learned from those mistakes
  23. Things to admit now that you will later, anyway (here’s some ideas)
  24. Hurdles that have stopped you in the past
  25. What you love
  26. How you are different from other people, what makes you a niche
  27. What is happening right now without your effort that is building your brand
  28. People you want to meet in the next 10 years
  29. Your personal bests (running, blogging, audience count, viewers, subscribers)
  30. What is stopping you from making these lists when you know it will only help you

Stay Positive & Get Going

Garth E. Beyer

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Dream Acheivers

Garth Beyer

I can go on and on about different ways you can advance your career, improve your life, find love, make money, follow your heart, achieve your passions, and live the life of your dreams. Wait … I do go on about all of that. I try to simplify everything and make each lesson short and focused, yet it’s still not short enough. Now there are too many quick lessons. So for all you stragglers, all you movers and shakers, all you who want success simplified, I am going to tell you the two actions you need to take.

Everything you want, your dreams, the life your heart and mind both want, can be achieved by practicing these two actions. These metaphorically-successful-twins are two actions that teach you absolutely everything you need to know about becoming a success in your passion.

The first is to make a list. Hell. Make two or three. My great friend Michelle Welsch calls it a list for dream chasers.

I’ll share my list sometime. I made it just over a year ago. One of the items is to have a book of poems published. The catch is that I want to have the same number of poems as Oscar Wilde … + one. He would respect that.

Similarly, my list of 100 things is actually 110. I’m that kind of guy.

Number 1: Make that list.

The second action is my favorite. It’s closely related to the first. It requires dreaming, fantasizing, feeling strong emotions, and getting lost in the feeling of achieving something. Yet, this second action also appeals to our amygdala, or lizard brain. It’s the single best action you can take to punch fear in its face, to kick shyness in the head, to slap hesitancy from the collection of reactions you can have.

The second action is to get/give your phone number to the opposite sex.

Yes. That means you have to talk to them, introduce yourself, find a way to connect, get them to laugh, create or give something fun and unforgettable, and make a one minute to one hour conversation remarkable.

If you have this skill – rather, collection of skills – you can get a number, you can get a buyer, you can get a partner, you can get a team, you can get a deal, you can get anything you want.

Note: Congratulations if you already have a romantic partner. That doesn’t mean you are exempt from this action. If you end up getting a number, toss it, collect it, or save it for a rainy day. (Yes that last one was a metaphor.) If you don’t like the intimate idea of giving your phone number, give your email, or business card. Make a friend, you never know what kind of connections they will have or what ideas someone new can spark in you.

Number 2: Get/give your number

If you take these two actions, practice them, make them your daily prayer, and integrate the lessons from them into any area of your life, I guarantee you will excel. I bet all my earnings, all my writings, and I’d love to also bet my soul, but someone may already have it (it could be you)

 

Stay Positive & Do The One Two

Garth E. Beyer

Three Lists To Always Have

Garth Beyer

These lists are very cut and dry. You don’t need me to tell you why you should have them. It matters not even where you have them or how often you read them, as long as you have written completely out.

1. A list of sources of inspiration. It can be in the form of bullet points, a collage, or the real thing. Regardless, still write down everything that you draw inspiration from because if you don’t feel inspired just writing it down, it’s not strong enough. If it’s not strong enough, go find something that is. Write it down.

2. A list of places you want to go. Pull out a map or a globe if you have to, Google odd places to travel, pick locations that a typical tourist would go to, or be weird and write that you want to travel to the lake where they filmed The Notebook or where the tomb of Oscar Wilde is. If you broke up the world into square feet, it leaves you with almost 5-1/2 quadrillion square feet to choose from.

“Nothing beats travel to expand your knowledge, your palette, and your empathy for your fellow men and women.” – Debbie Berne

3. A list of ways you can contribute, volunteer, and give.

 

Stay Positive & Write Then Animate Your Lists

Garth E. Beyer

How To Make A List And The Order To Do It In

Garth Beyer

How To Make A List: Write the list, right now. Write down everything you need to do and ship. Order, size, time, length, color, priority, distance, meaning and result doesn’t matter. You don’t need a list of things to do and not do just to write a list. A list is a list, write it.

The Order To Do It In: Now start doing the things you have written from the top to the bottom. The ones you placed first are the ones that are on your mind the most and the ones you are already focusing more of your energy on. Why take that away to put on something else and have to go back? The first items you put on that list are also the ones that will make you feel the best about completing because they are obviously urgent enough to write down so their achievement will relieve stress, to make you feel peaceful, set and accomplished.

There is no momentum in hopping to different tasks, but there is plenty of momentum in going down a list. Complete what is there and do it fast. It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly, what matters is that it is shipped.

 
Stay Positive & Don’t Worry, Things Will Always Be Added Onto The List

Garth E. Beyer