Weird

Uncomfortable Is Original

Uncomfortable Is Original

Garth Beyer

Banana Comfort, Weird Is Good

Many blogs, many books, many talks are very, very unoriginal. The reason being is they are safe, they are familiar. Ever heard someone say every business book says the same thing, but in a different way? I’ve read enough of them that I would even push back on the “different way” part of the statement. I think all the writing was rushed.

Taking time

It is amazing how well one can write when one takes the time. Think about it. When rushed to write, you use and accept your clichés. Perfect example: journalism. The tight deadlines encourage the use of clichés, of simplification, of uniformity.

When you take time while writing, you find ways to say things better than a cliché can. If you decide to use a cliché, you at least spin it on its head and make it breakdance.

To craft something original…well, it’s scary, it’s uncomfortable, and it takes time.

When you write something original. It’s weird to leave it as it is. You want to change it for fear no one will understand it or like it. It sounds weird in your head reading it over because you’ve never read anything like it before. Orange frizzled daiquiri wedding cake looked sexier than a toucan during mating season. Wasn’t reading that fun? New? An adventure? I wrote it and it feels so weird keeping it.

Alas.

Weird is original and relatable.

The thing about weird I love so much is it will never go out of style. The world will always contain compartmentalists, always produce naysayers, always attract keepers of the status quo — those who are satisfied with the comfort of everything unoriginal. There will always be those resistant to new things and those who fear anything other than what is routine, common, and banal. Yet! There are and always will be those who love and connect with the weird.

Even in light of it all, I still say do what has never been done before. Word the sentence the way you’ve never read anyone word it. If you question whether anyone will like your writing, if you think it’s too far out there, then it’s complete. Ship it. The people who matter in this world (at least who matter to you, to your art) are out there. Wayyy out there. (Think Long Tail)

Build it and they might not come. Build it weird and more will arrive than you ever expected. The freaks shall inherit the earth.

As a dear PR-wonderwoman-friend-of-mine said, “Weird is in. Weird is good. Weird is awesome. Weird is essential. Weird is where the magic is.”

 

Stay Positive & Go Bananas

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p.s. this goes for more than just writing

Start Your Way

Start Your Way

Garth Beyer

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I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts lately. One in particular Debbie Millman’s. It seems every interviewee, every professional creative, every communicator began with one weird thing.

Think of a sculpture made from all the staples in wooden posts within a city. Imagine fake moss saran wrapped on a rock and sold. Consider a ridiculous feat. It can even be something that anyone can do, but no one is willing to commit to (basically half the art pieces in an art museum).

Once you become a success, people will want to hear your story. They will ask you how you started or where you started or when you knew exactly what you wanted to do with your career.

You have an opportunity when starting on the path to your own success to start in a remarkable, more specifically, weird, way.

If your serious about becoming successful, then you need to be the opposite about starting down that path. You never heard a successful person’s story start out “Well, I planned for four years figuring out everything I needed to do to get here and I worked my way very slowly here, pleasing everyone I could and trying to appeal to the masses and doing what everyone told me to blah blah blah.”

No.

You hear about people doing something crazy and weird and something worth talking about.

 

Stay Positive & The Most Important Part Of Any Story Is The Opening Paragraph

(What’s Yours?)

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Don’t Change, Run With It

Garth Beyer

Complicated ColorsI love painting. I’m super optimistic. And a lot more weird than you. I run with it.

Instead of being less weird/more normal, I justify my weirdness. I profess we’re all weird, I write that the weird is what sells most and the weird (the vulnerability being weird requires) makes us a more successful society.

Instead of lowering expectations, letting go of my confidence and settling on someone else’s “reality,” I defy the naysayer. I isolate the Debbie-downer. I raise the bar even higher to create a new reality and I’m happy to bring .

My SO can vouch for me that I have a problem with putting too many colors into my paintings. Instead of learning how to paint with just a couple of colors, I’m learning how to paint with them all.

You don’t need to change, what you need to do is run with it. Run with your odd way of thinking, run with your risk-taking, run with what the critics hate on. If you’re looking to stand out, looking for success, looking for something that’s very rewarding, you can’t just walk with it, you’ve got to run with it.

 

Stay Positive & Please Don’t Change

Photo and art by myself $500, free shipping thegarthbox@gmail.com

Why The Weird

Garth Beyer

The mass view top lists, the average find and share the weird.

10 years ago they were one in the same. Five years ago people had the ability to search for the weird, and they began sharing it. Now, though, that has become the average and it’s hurting the weird.

The weird is special, it’s signficant, it’s heartfelt. Now people are monetizing the weird, turning them into top lists.

Don’t find the weird, just to share it. Find the weird to better yourself.

 

Stay Positive & The Weird Will Change The World

Garth E. Beyer

 

(a spin off of Seth Godin)

What A Perfect Gift Needs

Garth Beyer

Giving a gift – no matter how much time, money, or creativity was put into it – is still a miraculous action. Without listing all the gifts I have given and received (which is a lot, more so the former than the latter,) I have seen that the perfect gift needs three attributes.

One: It’s basic, but sometimes forgotten. While it’s still a gift, I’ve received dozens of items that, quite plainly, I didn’t like. Sure, there are times to take a risk and there are times that a gift gone unliked can be made into a joke, but let’s be sure it’s something they like.

Two: Everyone, and I mean everyone loves knowing you remembered something they said, loves having their advice shared, or/and loves hearing you quote them. Did they once say (very randomly, I might add) that they are a swedish fish? Maybe they said that their grandmother once had a butterfly lapel. Whatever the odd case – and yes, it’s usually humurous – you can always find a way to tag it to a gift.

Three: Not to be confused with number one, you want the gift to be something they want. She may like flowers, but not necessarily want them. He may like the color green, but that doesn’t mean he wants a moss-covered rock. Oh, and everyone has wants, so don’t listen to anyone who says they don’t. It makes it more difficult for you, but more worth it too.

The best part of these three characteristics of a perfect gift is the ability to randomize them, mix them up, and create something weird.

 

Stay Positive & Get Wierd (they are the best gifts)

Garth E. Beyer

 

“Keep Calm & Carry On?” So Passe

Garth Beyer

Keep calm?

Screw that. Calm is for the banal, for the overrated, for those who unfortunately associate calm with being safe and comfortable.

When I hear “Keep Calm,” I want to say, “Go try surfing. Go to a concert. Go rock climbing. Go ship your art. Go talk to that girl. Go try something for the first time. Go get criticized.” The list goes on. And this list is a remarkable one; it can’t be completed if you wish to keep calm.

(Nor is it any fun whatsoever if the water is calm, if the crowd is calm, if the audience thinks you don’t care, if the girl doesn’t sense your nervousness and think it’s cute, if you don’t take a risk, and if you don’t care. To get anywhere (and to have fun doing so), the further away from calm, the better.)

“Keep Calm & Carry On” The motto is a bit… bucolic on the first part.

Better yet, instead of “Keep Calm,” here are some alternatives,

  • Get weird
  • Be uncomfortable
  • Be impeccable
  • Stay positive

On the latter end, to “Carry on,” I couldn’t agree with more. In fact, I’ve given my own spin to elaborate on it.

Find the strength to carry on. Once completed, find the strength to carry more. Repeat.

 

Stay Positive & As You Are, Not As People Urge You To Be

Garth E. Beyer