Status-quo

You Wouldn’t Think It Would Work, But It Does

You Wouldn’t Think It Would Work, But It Does

Garth Beyer

Beating A Dead Horse

Some of the best writing comes from challenging a cliché, turning it on its head, and getting original with something overused. Weird is original and original is often uncomfortable.

Think of this concept in terms of advertising, not just writing.

Epic ads are often about challenging stereotypes. Pantene for example. Or the famous Cherios ad, aired during the Superbowl.

If you want meaningful buzz, go creatively challenge status-quos, clichés, and stereotypes.

Spare some time this weekend to incorporate this tactic into your PR, your brand, your writing. See what happens.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Take The Flack Personally

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Another Day, Another Picasso

Garth Beyer

“At a time when it was cool to bend the rules of art, Picasso smashed every one.”Picasso

Look at the world of design around us. It’s cool to bend the rules of design. Ogle at what Steve Jobs has done. Even after his accomplishments, I still can’t help but wonder, with the world rewarding those who challenge the status quo and bend the rules of design and connection, who will be the next to smash every one of them?

Stay Positive & Jobs Is Just The Start

Garth E. Beyer

Let’s Cooperate

Garth Beyer

As in, fill in the mortar, wear the shoes issued to you, fit the status-quo, stick to the plan, follow the rules, do as everyone else does.

Traditionally, anything outside the aforementioned is considered not cooperating, which is a case of serious misinterpretation.

There are two correcting tributes about cooperation that must be noted.

The first is that cooperation is conversation. Cooperation is not an order of command, but a dialogue of two (or usually many more than two) people.

Second, cooperation is interaction. Interaction by definition results in a variety of influence and effects. A single demand of many is not interaction.

To cooperate is to dance, to play, to connect the loop of insight and feedback. Cooperation is vital in the workplace and even more vital in the home and the heart. Keep this in mind the next time someone tells you that you need to cooperate. You may need to remind them what cooperation really is.

 

Stay Positive & I Prefer Interactive Operation Over Cooperation

Garth E. Beyer

Breaking Habit / Tradition / Just Like Old Times

Garth Beyer

All Over Coffee

Click to enlarge

Paul Madonna (the name) may make you think of singer/songwriter Madonna, but that Madonna is not nearly as truthful and real as Paul, the creator of the image above.

I had to share this image with you. I want you to realize – much like I did – how entertaining it is. How true, powerful, and, well, funny the actions of the narrator are. It’s a positive feeling.

Now, imagine being the person who throws the linguini. (Maybe you already have.) And you began to think how you can’t do it. You fear getting in trouble. You don’t want to stand out. Everyone’s eyes will be on you. People will judge you.

Yet, you didn’t think that when you originally read the caption to the picture. It wasn’t until you imagined being in that position.

The quickest way to break habit, make a rumpus out of tradition, and prevent just like old times from occurring, is to – well, I gave it away already.

Break habit

Make a rumpus out of tradition

Prevent just like old times

Stop convincing yourself to remain compliant, to be comfortable with mediocrity and normality. If it wasn’t for someone to stand out, Paul may never had the idea to create this image, I would have never seen it, and you would not have been sparked with the thought of creating your own image, your own story. And I’ll tell ya, people love stories.

 

Stay Positive & Just Fun Times

Garth E. Beyer

Doing What You Think People Will Frown Upon

Garth Beyer

It was awhile ago when I raised my hand in my Poetry 101 class and asked if we could bring in our own work and read it to the class for extra credit. (Weird that was something I had to ask isn’t it?) The teacher hesitantly agreed only after the class followed suit in making quite the ruckus for approval. The day came and I risked going up to the podium and reading a love poem I had written – but this isn’t about me. It’s about someone else who got up and took a much larger risk than ridicule.

—-

The whole class was smiling, laughing and as I remember it, a few people stood up giving a standing ovation to the girl who did what you may think people would have frowned upon. Now, I never curse or swear on this website (though I may let some words slip in life), let it be known that I am merely going to pick out words that were in this young lady’s poem.

Imagine the following words put into one of the most heart wrenching and fluent poetry you have ever heard: “fu#k”, “w@ore”, “s%it”, “c*nt”, “b^tch” and a few others.

The reaction of ecstatic approval from the classroom made me think how happy it makes people to hear and see other people do what most would frown upon. This lady didn’t risk ridicule, she risked isolation, she risked the repercussions of fighting back the status-quo and following her intuition and heart.

To my surprise, she was congratulated for an epic non-standard performance and begged to share more of her poetry. She sat down with the largest grin on her face, larger than a silver Waning Crescent of a moon turned sideways.

 

Stay Positive & Fight To Be Frowned Upon (You’ll Be Surprised)

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