Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
Oh heavens above does this feel good. I’ve been writing or researching for my writings for nearly 10 hours now. It’s three hours from midnight and I am still going. This feeling of being what I have always wanted to be excites my emotions and makes me want to assist others in feeling the same. You ask what it takes, I say it takes time (clearly) and effort (even more clearly). You ask how? Well that is what I want to work with you on. Email me: thegarthbox@gmail.com
We’re emotional human beings, we feel disappointment, sorrow, sympathy, false hope, regret, and a bit of anger.
However, for the sake of what I am about to share with you, let’s be on the same page. Sure, we as teenagers are emotional, but in an extremely different way from the average person. We teenagers are emotional in the sense that we are meant for more than what we are currently doing. We aren’t feeling challenged and it sucks. It hits us emotionally. School is easy and homework is even easier. Making friends is easy and connecting with strangers is even easier. Chores are easy and making money is even easier … the list goes on. Things just come easy to us, likely because we work for it, but that is only part of the point. Being blatant, we are gifted individuals.
I’m turning 20 in November and I’ve recently come across an opportunity so-very-close to perfect for teenagers who have fire in their belly, a passion for improvement, and a motivation to be successful. You have probably not heard of the Thiel Fellowship and like I said, I had just found out about it the the other day. Greatly interested, I submitted my email address to be notified when the next application process for the Fellowship would begin (sometime this fall).
The Fellowship: When you apply for the Thiel Fellowship, you are applying to be part of a handpicked group of teenagers who will be given $100,000 NOT TO GO TO SCHOOL for two years and to work on turning their ideas (business’s, inventions, software, etc.,) into reality.
Now here is the kicker. Only people age 19 and under can enter the Fellowship. I would just be turning 20 when the application process opens so I am SOL. Why is this so important for you? If you haven’t already Googled it, let me tell you in the shortest version.
This is your chance to live your dreams of “If only I had the money.” The Thiel Fellowship says, “here, let me give you all the resources you need: money, mentors, like-minded people, tools, resources, everything.” They take away the excuses that prevent you from doing the emotional labor of creating something you believe in. This is your opportunity to quit being emotionally frustrated with your life and be emotionally passionate about it instead… all before the age of 20.
So you may be wondering if you should apply or not. I have a simple solution for you. Answer this question: Do you have a passionate drive to make the world a better place? If yes, then apply.
I don’t blame my parents for not showing me an opportunity like this while I was still able to apply, but I would blame myself if I didn’t compensate for it by not showing you.
For information and the application, visit the Thiel Fellowship.
If you decide to apply, send me an email, let me know your thoughts. I would be more than happy to dedicate time, resources, and an extra bit of passion to your work.
Stay Positive & Go After It
Garth E. Beyer ( thegarthbox@gmail.com )
People can hate on Twitter as much as they want, but the Twitterverse is where I met Clemens Rettich, a small business consultant. Having sent a few tweets back and forth with him, as well as contributed to his #smbfunchat where I learned a handful of tips that helped me jumpstart my passion in consulting, I could not think of a better person to participate in the sixth interview of my Unlocking Potential series.
Whether Clemens is aware of it (obviously now he will be), he was a great inspiration for me to learn more about what it takes to successfully run a business as I often studied from his website/blog which there is a link to at the end of this post. It is an honor to be the one to share with you a bit more about Clemens, his worldview, his operation for consulting and some of the most straightforward life lessons you will learn one way or another, by Clemens or by life.
Without further ado,
Q: Everyone can read your bio by clicking on your name, so let’s dive more into what you do. What is your passion? Do you have a daily routine?
I love the beauty of things done well, of things and processes beautifully designed and executed, of those points where art, business, science, or sport come together to create something magical. My passion is to have some role to play in making that happen. In particular I love to help it happen in small businesses, teams, and organizations.
My daily routine is only moderately routine. It happens many days, but not every day. I work with clients 4 days of the week. I take 3 days to recharge, create, reconnect, rest. My days start with brisk walks and fruit smoothies… making coffee for my wife and I to talk over. Then it is time for email, client conversations, travel, shopping, organizing life… I love cooking so that is my late-in-the day pause to shift out of work for a while before diving back in again for the evening. I work about 70 – 80 hours a week.
Q: What is the biggest decision you have had to make?
To act without fear. And it is a decision I have to make every morning. Like paying your dues, this is one that you never stop doing. Paying your dues is never a thing to think of in past tense. A life to be lived fully, has to be paid for handsomely. There is nothing wrong with being afraid. True fearlessness is just another form of stupidity. It is the choice to act on those fears that matters. And I have to make that decision each morning… and sometimes several times in the day. This conversation I am about to have, or this decision I need to make, or this action I have to take, scares the hell out of me. But it needs to be done. And that decision to act without fear is the biggest one I make.
Q: How do you tug your client’s imagination and motivation? What is the core of your professional relationship between them?
The core of my professional relationship with my clients is active listening. Listening until my bones ache. When I do presentations or keynotes, I tell people that if you aren’t exhausted after a day of communicating, you haven’t been listening hard enough. Listening to every word, every implied word, and every telling silence is exhausting. That I why I try to limit my day to 2 – 4 coaching conversations maximum, and only 4 days a week at that. I’m no good to anyone after more than 4 or 5 hours of conversation.
I evoke imagination and motivation by responding to what I hear with suggestions from outside my client’s frame of reference. Nothing new there. It is the old lateral thinking, disruptive creativity, non-linear connection of ideas that still works. Most of the time the best ideas are my clients’. They just can’t hear themselves say them. So I just tell them what they just said. And I use a gift I have had since childhood: I connect “unrelated” things easily. A client can be telling me of a financial challenge, and for some reason it makes me think of another client’s story about a motorcycle they just bought. Something in the intersection of the two things creates a fresh approach to reframe the question or problem. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard myself say “Your problem isn’t A, it’s B!” The answer wasn’t coming because the question was wrong.
There is nothing particularly unique or gifted about my mind. 90% of the time there is a great idea or breakthrough of some kind it’s not because I am smart or anything, it is simply because I have outsider status and have my client’s permission to speak my mind. There are few things more powerful than an outsider’s perception, when the currency between the insider and the outsider is complete honesty.
Q: Would you mind sharing one of your biggest failures?
I can’t go into details because they usually involve others. But I can say they almost always involved one thing: a failing of confidence on my part. I fail when I make decisions based on “settling for second-best” or on not having the confidence to push through a tough patch. Dodging conflict has also been pretty consistently a disaster, so I do a hell of a lot less of that in this part of my life.
Q: What did you learn from it? What would you do differently if a similar situation occurred?
It took me about 40 years to learn, and much of that in the last 10 years, but these days I stick closer to my own sense of right and wrong. I don’t mind conflict over something I believe in. I have started to see that the worst that can happen is not a hell of a lot. I trust my own experience, my own sense of things.
Q: This series is a lot about giving credit where credit is due. It’s about reaching out to both, people who could use a little help unlocking their potential and people who can help with that unlocking. Do you have a business mentor who helped curate your passion for small business consulting? What were the mentor’s practices? In other words, how did this person make an impact on you?
Where credit is due is first and foremost to my wife and family. Their passion for great moments, for things done right, for finding that place between standing your own ground and understanding the value of others, has been critical in making me who I am. On the small business side I don’t have any direct mentors. My biggest mentors are my clients. Every one of them owns a small business that is everything they have on the financial and other levels. Yet they trust me and have the confidence in me to invite me in and work with me to change the game. This can be incredibly scary and requires huge trust, particularly if I am asking an owner to change something that they have done for years, and is connected to their own personal values. Every time the change happens, and the owner let’s go, I am in awe. I know from personal experience how incredibly hard that is, even terrifying, yet they do it with me. That makes life worth getting up for each morning.
Also, I am the collective wisdom of every small business owner who has ever brought me into their inner circle and shared with me the workings of their businesses, their successes and failures, what has gotten them out of bed in the morning and kept them up at night. All of that is in my head. Any wisdom I bring to a coaching conversation now is 90% the collective wisdom of a lot of tough, hungry, street-smart business owners who have spent almost every day of their own lives pulling on their shoes and making life happen.
Q: What is your worst fear?
Missing something. I’m not like all those wise ‘old souls’ out there in the world of patchouli oil and Birkenstocks. I can’t get enough of anything. I love being alive and learning and consuming and enjoying. I guess I’m a young soul if you believe in that kind of thing… I don’t believe in that ‘vale of tears’ nonsense or that our bodies are “just material”… I love being alive and on this earth and have no interest in waiting for some ‘other later’ reality. I like this one. A lot. There is a reason why Walt Whitman is one of my favorite poets. So ya, I’m afraid of missing stuff. I want to live 1,000 years and try it all!
Q: What is the biggest obstacle/challenge you have had to overcome?
All that stuff about fear I talked about above. The rest is relatively easy. Following a close second would be bootstrapping my business. You build up a lot of debt in the first few years, and you have to be crazy careful not to let that cross the line where it erodes cash flow in a fatal way.
Q: What is the biggest challenge todays small business leaders are facing?
Gerber got it right: failing to understand that baking and owning a bakery are two completely different things. The biggest challenge they are facing is a world of ignorance and bullshit. All that “do what you love and the money will follow” nonsense. Running and growing a small business successfully is probably the most complex thing a human being can do. The number of things you have to know about and do right, and do right consistently, every day for a decade or two, is staggering.
So no, it isn’t the economy, or competition, or offshoring, or anything else like that. Those things are huge challenges, but they are not the biggest. The biggest challenge is the romantic mythology, especially in America, of owning your own business.
Q: What do you do to continue your growth as a consultant?
Listen to my clients. Listen to the market. Respond with an ever-broader and more diversified and responsive set of products and services. My new book Great Performances – The Small Business Script for the 21st Century is a piece of that. It is setting up a whole new way for me to connect with and support more small businesses to be successful.
And never forgetting who brung ya to the dance. I am a passionate believer in the power of follow-through and great long-term relationship development. I drop the ball lots, but I don’t ever stop trying to stay in touch with and add value to every business I have ever worked with.
Q: What are the golden life lessons you have learned and are willing to share with the readers from your experience as a small business consultant?
Spend more resources on keeping customers and employees than getting new ones. Don’t ever make the mistake that solid systems and procedures, creativity, and relationships are mutually exclusive. That is a myth that simply doesn’t exist in the world of the performing arts. Any ballet dancer, classical violinist, or rep actor could run circles around business people when it comes to getting that. Discipline, practice, organization, systems, all those things aren’t killers of creativity, they are the world’s best support for it.
So work harder to hang on to people, and work harder to bring more organization and systems to your business. Don’t shy away from that stuff.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Some great places to find Clemens’s work:
Have more questions, topics of discussion or simply want to give a shout out to Clemens, you can tweet him @ClemensRettich.
Stay Positive & Stick To The Fundamentals, Or At Least Learn Them First
Garth E. Beyer
Dear Garth,
I have been engaged in a series of processes, trials and tribulations in enacting a major lifestyle change, choosing to best emulate my thoughts and emotive responses in a physical manner. I find the faith in human ambition frighteningly low amongst many of my peers and I have a pressing question on my mind, as a friend. What is it that drives your motivation? You are perhaps one of the most influential and inspiring people that I have come to know and even the slightest of conversation on the question would be unfathomably appreciated. As always, I feverently wish you the best and I hope to talk to you soon. Feel free to respond at your leisure, I understand you are a busy man!
With the out most sincerity,
Seeker (maybe not so obviously not the real name)
Dearest Seeker,
If you are willing, I can offer even better assistance if I had more background knowledge on what has produced this current state of mind and tribulation.
However, I will still go ahead and explain a few theories of mine. Please note that I have made these realizations after much mind-ache and set backs, but I believe these are the golden nuggets of the little wisdom I have.
1. This is the most complicated one, so I thought I would put it first. You have to choose not to have a choice in whether you can be motivated or not be, whether you will kick out your to-do list or not, whether you can sleep in or not.
When people have a choice, it’s easy to choose the easy route, follow the status-quo, and do little. If you revoke this choice upon yourself (don’t feel that I am suggesting a dictatorship of humankind, only YOU have control of yourself, that is was I am aiming at)… as I was saying; If you revoke this choice upon yourself then “getting **** done” so-to-speak is not an option, it’s a life style.
2. There are two hard parts in the process of being motivated. The first is getting started. Starting an addiction that isn’t based on nicotine is as difficult as stopping an addiction that is. It’s going to suck and your life is going to try and reject your pursuit. I can’t tell you how many times I got headaches, sick, and all symptoms of sleep deprivation from trying to wake up earlier to write or stay up later to write. My understanding is the more times you bounce right back after getting knocked down, the more durable you become. It’s like building calluses around your passion.
The second hardest part I have come to find is what I call “the last 3,000 words”. It is gathering that positive mindset that starting and writing the first 32 thousand words will be easy and if you are going to believe that any part of it is going to be hard, let yourself believe the last 3,000 words will be the hard part (your goal is obviously 35,000 words). The reason being is that naturally we want to have reasons to stop, to not finish, to fold and throw down the towel. Too many people think the first 3,000 words are hard, or that halfway through, it will be too difficult, so they quit early. Fight that feeling. Imagine the last 3,000 being more difficult than everything else added up. The reason being is that when you go that far, when you get to 32 thousand words, the last 3,000 are easy, they always are and you will never quit that far into the game.
3. This one is simple. You have to fall in love with shipping. Shipping a product, shipping a song, shipping an idea, shipping a poem. Whatever it is, find a way to ship something everyday, fully completely finish something every day and give it to someone, share it, spread it. Once you start to ship, you can’t help but fall in love with it, so just keep shipping.
— I hope this helped and I look forward to discussing any matter further with you. I am never too busy for a friend.
Alas, reading over your request I fear that I may have neglected to answer your question specifically. You ask, “What is it that drives your motivation?”
To answer that question, it is my desired combination of selflessness and selfishness. I want as phenomenal of a life as possible, but I refuse to be the only one. The more happy I can make others, the more motivated I make others, the more I love others, the more happy, motivated and loved I can be.
With hope that I inspired,
– Garth E. Beyer
Stay Positive & Fearless: to ask, to try, to ship…
Garth E. Beyer
It’s the weird ones you have to look out for in this world, really and truly. They are the ones that know how to live life, know how to express themselves and know more about success than the most popular person in school.
You are now entering the fourth interview in the Unlocking Potential series. You can view the third here, second here and first here. If you haven’t yet noticed, part of the Unlocking Potential series is to bring out more of the weirdness. John Le, who you will meet in a few seconds, may not seem weird to you, that’s good because you’ve embraced your own weirdness but for the majority, he may seem “different”.
One way I see weirdness is like this. An average American can travel to any other country in the world and they will without a doubt get a large amount of culture shock. The American who understands different cultures and embraces them can travel nearly anywhere without getting hit with a bad case of culture shock. What is comes down to is whether you want to avoid everything outside of America or embrace it. Which one lives life to the fullest? Which one has real experience? Which one has a greater insight into the world?
Embracing culture shock is a lot like embracing weirdness.
After all, we are all a bit weird aren’t we? And that’s a good thing.
Interview: John Le
In high school I had a favorite teacher who knew how to make a class fun, or at least she was okay with my friend (not John) and I making it fun. She was one of those teachers that you go back and visit and that’s exactly what I did, but I didn’t go back and visit after school or during study hall, I went during one of her classes. Of course I made it my goal to make a ruckus while there. But it was during a couple of the classes that I went back and realized someone was already making a ruckus. That is when I met John Le. I was quick to admire him for his openness, wit and downright honesty.
Q: Thank you so much for participating in this interview. Would you like to give the readers a short bio?
I was born and grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and attended the local schools through the RPS205 “Gifted” program for the intellectually advanced students. I grew up in a humble family, my parents had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, so I had plenty of time on my hands to think and grown creatively. I attended high school at Belvidere North High School ’12, graduated with High Honors, and this coming Fall/Winter semester, I will be attending Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois with a focus in Chemistry. My ultimate goal in life is to become a chemist that formulates cosmetic products.
Q: Let’s jump into some questions. What is your passion?
I have a personal passion for the sciences and arts. I plan on pursuing a job related to the field of chemistry, possibly cosmetic chemistry, in the future as a life-long career. On the art front, I plan on privately pursuing portrait photography as a means of emotional expression. I will not work in the art field for a living because I personally disagree with the thought of creating art on demand. I would rather spend time and let a piece of work develop at its own natural pace, rather than mechanically turning out cookie-cutter corporate art that are not unique in their own respect.
Q: What skills do you need to be successful?
Tenacity, motivation, honesty & common sense.
I could write for endless ages about the skills necessary for success and achievement, but I think my short list of four words should suffice for the common reader.
Q: Which side of your brain do you use more often?
Neither, I am an individual that lingers on the blurred divide of the two hemispheres of the brain. The left side of the brain is said to be of scientific and mathematic manners, and I am a person that is interested in such and exhibit traits that characterize this side of the brain. Such traits would be an affinity for the familiar, categorization, analytical thought process, use of strategy, and pragmatic.
Right minded people are said to be creative, free-spirited, passionate with boundless imagination; I too exhibit these traits alongside those of my “left-brain” personality. Most of my teachers and mentors say that I am a walking oxymoron, a combination of two opposite ideas. I would most likely [think] that this is true.
Q: What or who is your biggest inspiration?
I would say that my biggest inspiration in life is the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, founder of the eponymous house of fashion. McQueen juxtaposed strength and fragility in his designs, and made what was once ugly once again beautiful. He was a lotus, a special individual that could cultivate beauty from common things.
Q: What is art?
I personally think that art, and the definition of art is subjective. What I might view as beautiful may be deemed hideous by another person, but I think that is the beauty in the world of art, different viewpoints are to be had on the same piece of work. It’s very interesting to unravel people’s minds and figure out what they find beautiful, and the reasons that they find certain ideas or images pleasing to the mind or eye.
To be curt, I think the form of the human body is art in itself. Far too many people are offended by the naked human, and this amazes me, for we are all the same beneath our socially constructed idea of “clothes”.
Do you have a product you want to create that has never been thought of before?
http://www.vat19.com/ Enough said on that subject. Seriously, just check out the website.
In case you were wondering, NO(!), I am not being compensated to advertise the website, I just think that this website has every weird product that has ever been thought of.
On an entirely unrealistic level, I would like to create tiny devices that would be utilized in a medical setting to repair bodies of patients that ordinary human precision could not do. These microscopic “robots” would mend human flesh and bone. Imagine a bucket of silver robotic spiders being poured over a tragic wound like a shattered face, or a broken leg, and then watching these tiny robots healing your body right before your eyes. Amazing, right? Right.
Q: What makes you standout?
I think the fact that I am very blunt with my thoughts and speech truly makes me stand out in today’s society where all taboo subjects that everyone questions is quietly swept under the rug of propriety for the sake of society’s general comfort. Sometimes I have a bad habit of speaking my mind openly on subjects that make people feel very uncomfortable, and it gets me in a few “hot-water-debates” sometimes, irregardless I never blame myself for the fact that others do not feel at ease when certain subjects are talked about in public. The only people that dislike me for speaking the truth are those that are living a lie, until then, I will continue to speak the truth. No sugar to sweeten the subject, or any frills to make any unappealing subject for palatable for the common mind.
Q: What advice or life lessons would you give to someone with an interest in your field?
For any young man or woman pursuing the fields of science or visual arts, you’re a special person for wanting to help this sick world and helping it to be a better person through scientific work and also filling it with beautiful art.
Addressing those specifically interested in the sciences, there are not many people that care enough to make the world a better place in the long run, rather, they choose to fulfill their own desires for the sake of personal gain, which by all means is fine, but you are remarkably special because you are doing a service for all of mankind by uncovering new knowledge that is necessary for the survival of our species. Do not allow others to mock your choice of the path you plan on taking, because they are most likely too afraid to take the one that you’re going to leave a blazing trail of glory on.
For those interested in the arts, I want you to never lose your inspiration. Personally, I view the best inspiration as intrinsic, coming from within, only you can have the unique power to express the universe that is confined to the cells of your brain. Art takes time to fully ripen and mature, and I want you to always let your art to mature at it’s own rate, though I do not agree with the idea of creating art for money, I want you to be able to share your art with the world. Never let money impede on your artistic process. Never be afraid of any subject matter, or to try something unconventional, it will almost always end up more beautiful in its own manner than you would have possibly ever imagined.
Q: Define your life purpose in 11 words?
Never abandon your dreams due to obstacles, they’re opportunities in disguise.
(this subtext doesn’t count, but the above sentence is my life motto and purpose)
Q: What quality does a person need in order to achieve living their passion?
Personally, the most important quality/trait/what-have-you that a person needs to achieve living their passion is tenacity in the face of adversity. Let me break it down, a person must still want a certain goal in their life to come true even if nobody in their surroundings believes them. (This idea might be redundant in this interview, and I want to stress that every time it is mentioned, it is used in the utmost importance of inspiring the people of the world) Millions upon millions have lost hope in their wildest dreams because some person in this world told them that it was impossible, or that they would never be able to achieve something so great in their lifetime. I always think that these people are seriously wrong, and incorrect with their judgement on the subject. Only the dreamer can shape their own wishes, not another person. Who told these idiots that they had the right of imposing their will over a person? Whoever you are, if you’re still reading this, I don’t want you to give up on your wildest dreams, they might come true one day!
Q: Do you have any art you would want to share?
I have a simple(and small) photography portfolio that can be viewed at; http://johnle815.carbonmade.com/ (user friendly!)
For the art-minded folk; http://johnle815.deviantart.com/ This portfolio will have the bulk of my portfolio added to it, slowly, but surely.
My stream of consciousness using photos; http://johnle815.tumblr.com/ (potentially NSFW, I guess people are afraid of the human form in all of its infinite splendor)
Q: Any last comments?
Yes, I do have a few last comments. If you ever want to bribe me to do anything, legal(!) of course, feel free to dangle a few steak tacos and fruit slushies in front of my face. I’m quite serious…..
(You can contact John Le at Viet611Forever@aol.com or visit his profiles listed above)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Stay Positive & Ever Hear That After Being Shocked Enough Times It Starts To Feel Good?
Garth E. Beyer
I was thinking about motivation (what’s new…). I thought about how much I love to motivate people, I mean, I live for it, I give motivational speeches and obviously I write a lot of motivational content. The question popped in my mind, what motivated me to motivate people?
I came up with two answers. The first is that seeing people like Zig Ziglar, Seth Godin, or my interviewee today Karthik, motivate other people. If there weren’t people motivating other people, nothing would get done in the world, it would be void of accomplishments that matter. The second answer is that I am freaking amazed at us, at people, at human beings. Our abilities are out of this world, literally. I simply want to bring out more of these godlike abilities in people, I want to continue to be amazed at a higher level which means I need to motivate more.
This is an aspect of the Unlocking Potential series. To motivate these artists and to have these artists be motivated to motivate other artists. If you are just jumping in, you can catch Interview #1 here and Interview #2 here.
Without further do,
Interview: Karthik Puvvada
As you know from my “Pick Yourself” post, I attended Seth Godin’s Pick Yourself event in New York a couple of months ago. This interview, the third in my Unlocking Potential series, is with Karthik Puvvada, a friend who I met as a member of Seth’s tribe. Karthik’s blog is one I visit often for, not so much for information on how to fail, be free and break the status-quo (although it’s loaded with it), but for a reminder that there are other people like me that have a truly unbelievable spirit for progress, an unstoppable force for enjoying life and making the most out of it in every way possible. This is only touched on in Karthik’s introduction to the interview and provides great insight to the rest of the Q&A. -Enter Karthik-
My story:
I’m Karthik Puvvada and I hail from India. And like most Indians, I was brought up in a very conservative and struggling middle class family nudging and budging my childhood dreams with whatever little money we had. Since I was born into the era of “Great Indian Outsourcing Boom”, I was compelled to chose the well established path of becoming an engineer and to work at a software company that I disliked.
I was clearly unhappy with what I was doing with my life. Modifying bits and pieces of computer software written by some other engineers didn’t seem appealing to me. Especially when I loved building things. Especially when I believed I should be able to create things.
As a kid I dreamt about robotics, and that suddenly appeared to me as my next destination. Despite heavy peer pressure and uncertainty of how I’d manage the finances to afford such a costly technological degree, I gave all the entrance tests with full vigor and hope.
After a dramatic turn of events, and with help of some amazing people, here I am, in the USA, doing Masters majoring in Robotics with full scholarship. I started believing in dreams even more from then.
This phenomenal dream-come-true incident in my life changed my perspective totally. It gave me enormous CONFIDENCE to go get what I want in life. I started reviving my half-killed dreams from childhood.
Writing is one.
Q: What would you die without?
Fire in the belly. If there’s going to be a day when I feel sapless about my dreams, and give up on them, that day, you can proclaim me dead. Officially. I don’t see any reason to be called alive when I’ve killed my dreams. I am what my dreams are. The rest is just a piece of flesh.
Writing, film-making, advertising, technology startups, for now I’m in love with these. So badly that I can exchange going to heaven for a chance to live my dreams. This feeling, the feeling of otaku, the feeling of going any far to follow your passions in life is what I call “fire in the belly” and that is something I can’t afford to live without.
Q: How much time does following your passion consume each day? What is a typical day in your life’s conquest?
It’s an interesting question because the time it actually consumes to me is irrelevant. I rather count it based on whether I had done the task I intended to do for that day or not.
Consider blogging. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes to write a blogpost, and sometimes 3 full hours. The beauty of imagination is it’s without limits. All kinds of limits, including time.
But, yeah, if I look back and estimate an average number, I think I spend around 2hrs per day on writing. The rest of time I spend on my other passions. And on sleeping. And on eating. And wait, on bathing too.
Q: How do you go about searching and finding motivation/inspiration?
Two things. One, I go outwards into the huge sea of knowledge online and offline and try to find stuff that stimulates my thinking. Something that pushes me away from my comfort zone. Something that provokes my mind, into action.
Steve Jobs, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Mahatma Gandhi, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Neithzche, Swami Vivekananda, Gautam Buddha, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Randy Pausch ,Jon Goethe, Rabindranath Tagore, Aristotle, Michelangelo, David Ogilvy etc.
I read a lot about these incredible people. And their incredible faith in themselves that they can change the world.
Second, I go inwards into myself finding resonance for all that I read. There is a deeper level of consciousness in your own self that you can actually unleash if you poke it long enough.
It unravels an incredible urge that was within you all these years to do something in this world. To make your presence felt. To shake the world gently. Not for the heck of fame or money, but to leave a legacy in the world, to leave a story of yours, to write your own destiny. This motivates me frantically. Sometimes, the motivation stays for weeks and drives me nuts to do something I thought I couldn’t do earlier. I will elaborate on this in the further discussion.
Q: What two habits have you developed that produce the best results?
Over the past 2 ½ months, the greatest habit I have developed is the habit to develop a habit. Like I wrote here, it was extremely painful for me to write everyday initially.
Most amateur writers would know that, after a few days, the challenge of writing something original is by itself a challenge and to do it every single day makes it even more of a nightmare. But still I didn’t give up. There were days where I sat with my laptop for hours and yet couldn’t produce an interesting write-up. But still I didn’t give up. I tried just once more. That made the difference I think.
I once wrote, “The greatest thing about doing the greatest thing is actually doing it.”
So I knew there is no red button.
Though it didn’t look appealing to me initially, I realize how accurate Steve Pavlina was. He speaks about creating a habit, like a ritual everyday and doing it for 30days. Non stop. If you can pass this phase, most likely you are already enjoying what you are doing and you’ll want to continue. Makes total sense to me.
So, the two habits I’ve developed are a) develop a habit and b) develop a habit. Damn, that is the single most important thing.
Q: Do you plan on shipping a tangible product? Any ideas?
Yes. First, I want to finish up a new screenplay that I started last week. It’s a sci-fi mystery about a delusional scientist on a marooned island.
Second, I want to film an already existing script that I have. It’s going to be about fortune cookies in 3 different countries.
Third, I want to write an ebook, with illustrations, on my most favorite theme, “failing”. I love failing. I think that’s the best thing that happens to me everyday so that I wake up with a better game plan.
Fourth, I want to start up a new project on advertising this September online.
Q: How do you conquer the troubles that come with trying to write every day? (Time, Writers block, etc)
Simple. Have an iron will. I earlier had a plastic one I guess. It would always give up on my dreams. But this time around, I took the pains to form an iron will. The will to do it at any cost. Anyhow. Anywhere.
I remember writing a blog post borrowing a friend’s laptop after having a tiring day of paintball shooting. I wrote one in a vacation in Chattanooga. I wrote one while I was sick with a stomach bug. When I’m in my regular daily routine, taking time out for writing is easy because I would have planned the day accordingly. It was quite a challenge to do the same when I’m out on the roads travelling or camping etc. Still, the iron will to do what I wanted to do cleared the way for me.
I don’t do it for the count, I don’t do it for the world. I do it ‘coz I challenged the most important person in my life, Myself.
Writing block, well, here’s where the travelling inwards theory I spoke above helps me. Swami Vivekananda spoke volumes about the power of the mind. He says, the question is in the mind, and if you look deeply, and probe keenly, the answer too is in the same mind, just a few blocks away.
It was a fantastic eye-opener for me. All my frustration, disgust and restlessness vanish into thin air whenever I recall this, and I head straight into a peaceful self-questioning mode. And voila, it has worked magic so far.
Q: If you had to give one piece of advice what would it be?
“It’s not the deed; it’s the “doing” that you should attach yourself to.”
I wrote a post titled “Do you love the doing?”. I’d say it is by far the hardest advice anyone can ever follow. But ironically, it is the surest way to excellence according to me.
Q: I believe mottos are vitally important for motivation. Would you create a new motto right now for the readers, a motto they have likely never heard before?
Speaking about how important risk-taking in life, atleast once in a while is, I wrote, “Trust your guts, and remember it’s all about the journey, not the destination. No one jumps of a cliff to experience landing, but to experience flying.”
The favorite ones I wrote are:
“When your ideas, energy and focus are united by one, you become divided by zero, Mathematically they call it, THE INFINITE! Be that!”
“Be the king. But first, fight the war.”
Q: As you know, I am on a constant verge to learn new life lessons and share them with people. Do you have any crucially important life lessons you would like to share?
I only have one lesson in my life. The lesson of hope. The lesson of dreams.
Einstein once famously said, “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” For me, everything has begun to appear miraculous once I started following my dreams. Once I opened my eyes and shunned my doubts. We want the perfect world. The perfect skills. The perfect people.
And hence we are eternally pissed off at what’s at hand. If you think about it, an email from a teenage artist in Europe telling you how much he loved your writing is a miracle. A subscriber asking you if you majored in English literature is a miracle. A counselor of anti-bullying campaign loving your blog you wrote from miles away is a miracle. What more you want?
Life opens up to the fullest when you are ready to see it positively.
I once wrote, the moon is the moon always, it depends on who you are to perceive it beautifully or full of scars.
Look at life differently. Be the most energetic person you have ever met. Surround yourself with tons of positivity. Make new friendships. With extremely positive people. Have the brightest glimmer of hope in your eye. Feel thrilled about little things. May be you’ll look delusional to your naysayers. But try new things. Fail at them. Fail often. Fail publicly. Have an extra coating to your chest called courage. Coz it takes just one time to get it right, and remember, you will never be the same person again.
Q: Where can people find you and your art?
I write my heart out at www.bethepurplecow.tumblr.com.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Stay Positive & Purple
Garth E. Beyer “moo”
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
