Work

Remarkable Work

Garth Beyer

doesn’t have a schedule. Remarkable can happen any time of the day. The old 9 to 5 plan is just that, old.

The calendar of an artist is messy, clustered, and generally, all over the place. There are work meetings and social coffee meetups spotting throughout the week. The frantic-ness, the hysterics, the last-minute changes of plans perpetuate remarkable work. Why?

Because the lack of true routine allows you to connect with everyone better, allows you to attack a problem from multiple angles, and allows you to maintain an open mind about everything.

It should go without saying here that time needs to be made to relax, to be with close friends and family and to have some real reckless fun. However, these activities become greater memories when they’ve got to be fit into your day. You enjoy them more, you look forward to them more, you get lost in them – often finding the solution to a work problem. Go you.

A real artist is always on.

 

Stay Positive & Laugh When You Are Asked What An Average Day Is Like

Can You Do More?

Garth Beyer

For most, doing more doesn’t matter.

In fact, if you go to pitch to a client, they’re likely not to notice if you had two more strategies than planned. What’s the point when you can say quality over quantity?

The thing is there’s so much evidence showing those who do more (without sacrificing quality) succeed faster, grow more, and move forward past those who just do enough. On top of that, the most important judge knows if you did all you could do. That judge is yourself.

Wouldn’t want to get on the judge’s bad side, right?

 

Stay Positive & Impress Yourself

 

There’s No Point In Complaining About What Is Or What Was

Garth Beyer

Hell

I’ve joked around about complaining, but other than that, I don’t bring it up too often. The reason is simple. I don’t surround myself by people who complain, thus, I don’t feel obligated to find something to complain about. Nor do I end up complaining that so many people complain. There’s just no point in complaining. Let me share a quick story of why.

I was chatting with some colleagues yesterday when one of them recalled me tweeting about the novel I was wrapping up edits on. I proceeded to tell her about National Novel Writing Month and how I wrote all 50,000 words in one month to produce my first novel. I broke it down to her and the other colleagues now listening that it comes out to roughly 1,700 words a day. A different colleague then asked me how I did that. I said to him, “It was hell.” (It really was.) He shook his head. He didn’t believe me.

The fact that I had written 50,000 words in one month seemed like a miracle to them. But when I stated that I went through hell to do it. All the sudden they didn’t believe it. They couldn’t. All they saw was a completed novel. All 50,000 words. (How could it be hell if you did it? I’m sure they thought.)

There are two lessons I really want you to take from this. The first is the majority of people who complain while they are working, don’t finish. In a sense, they complain themselves out of the goal they originally had. They complain themselves into quitting. They complain until everyone they complain to doesn’t care about what they are doing and so why continue doing it?

The second is no one is going to believe you when you tell them all that you could have complained about before you met your goal, shipped your novel, painted your masterpiece, booked that NYC gig. They will gladly accept words of inspiration and encouragement. But complaints? Forget about it.

If you’re afraid to go through hell, by all means, go through it afraid. But don’t by into the idea of once you’re in hell, you’re stuck. There are people all around you everyday coming out the other side (whether you hear them complain about it or not).

 

Stay Positive & Flame Resistant Clothing Helps

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Two Necessities If You’re Going To Live The Busy Lifestyle

Garth Beyer

Weird art

We all have our ebb and flow. This time of year, though, typically marks the start of the ebb. School starts, numbers from last year’s sales get thoroughly reviewed and new strategies implemented,  we’re kicking ourselves to meet our new year’s resolutions. It all adds to a busy lifestyle.

I’ve had the ebb of life smash me against the wall enough times to learn two valuable necessities to making the ebb more bearable.

1. Have plans ahead of time, before you schedule all your work deadlines and meetings. Make it so you work around scheduled times of fun and freedom. Not the other way around. It’s essential you make the plans now. It’s easier to cancel them than it is to plan them a week in advance while you’re already feeling behind on work. And even if you have to cancel last-minute, it’s the idea of having something to look forward to that makes all the time leading up to the last-minute cancel worth it.

2. Have a playful, maybe even pointless habit. For me, I make sure to do a word search or some type of brain game every day.  Sometimes what stands between you making it through the ebb and just crashing is a little habitual, grounding nonsense. Doodle. Juggle. Play with legos. Make it weird. Make it you.

 

Stay Positive & Prepared, Always

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People first.

Garth Beyer

Work second.

Why is this so complicated for professionals, marketers and other artists to understand?

People first not only in the sense of what you create for them, but in being an idol, a teacher and a respected professional.

Work for the sake of work or money will only get one so far. Work for the sake of doing what you’re passionate about and inspiring/teaching others who share that same passion – now that is remarkable.

There will always be people in your work life that seek what you have for free that will ask for free lessons or to shadow you. The easy move is to  charge them and give nothing for free. The much harder move is to be human and take each request on a case-by-case basis.

You’ll make more people happy and keep your profession alive that way.

By the way, being the only one in your profession really doesn’t make you that special. And if you’re going to have competition, it might be better to have close ties with them to begin with.

 

Stay Positive & So, Are You A Mentor Or Not?

Here To Help

Garth Beyer

shadow

I’ve argued for some time that showing up isn’t even half the battle. Showing up to learn something, attending seminars, job shadowing and the alike are overrated and misunderstood. And quite frankly, a waste of a professional’s or an employer’s time.

Professionals don’t want you near them to just watch and learn anymore, people want you there to help. The learning happens along the way.

If you’re asking what you can watch, what you can observe, what you can listen to or read up on, then you’re asking the wrong questions.

Better to ask how you can help, what you can create, who needs assistance?

Seeing adds to memory. Doing adds to experience.

Guess which is more valuable when it comes to employment?

 

Stay Positive & Yes, It Is Harder, But More Worth It Too

Garth E. Beyer

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Where Do You Place The Fear

Garth Beyer

line

I see again and again the fear being placed first. It’s on the front of their minds, tip of their tongues, top of their lists. The result? Nothing gets created. No movement.

Then there’s the ones who place the fear in the middle, right smack dab in the middle of their efforts, inevitably halting progress. Remember the last thing that was half-finished? Better yet, simply started but never completed? That’s because you put the fear in the middle.

The best place to put fear is at the end, I think. Don’t throw it away. Don’t ignore it. Dance with it, but after the work is done.

 

Stay Positive & Order, Order In The Court Work

Garth E. Beyer

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