Work

The Meetings You’re Waiting For

Garth Beyer

They don’t exist.

You take internships, you jump in groups, clubs, associations, you work for organizations or companies in hopes that a meeting is called and you can be the one person to shout something brilliant out.

Everyone loves that person who – out of nowhere – comes up with a phenomenal idea. For the one meeting, you take the stage, you get the spotlight, you get the credit you finally deserve.

And then it dies. Lights off. Curtain closed. Meeting over.

Is it worth it though? To work for the blind until they call a meeting? Only for the possibility of you coming up with a great idea off the cuff and them accepting it? Then waiting for the next meeting?

No one loves a light that flickers.

Or are you: Better off connecting with the few who love your constant stream of ideas. Better off interacting with members outside of the meeting and showing them what you have created. Better off doing your work for the sake of doing your work instead of for the chance to be picked.

Or – my personal favorite – skip the meeting completely to connect with someone who is also not attending the meeting. Hell, they may not even be associated with the meeting group. They may even be someone who impresses you and changes the way you work. Instead of trying to be the remarkable one, you may just meet someone who is.

 

Stay Positive & Frequent Conformity Is Overrated

Garth E. Beyer

Problem Solution

Garth Beyer

It has almost been a year since I attended Seth Godin’s Pick Yourself event in Tribeca. When I was sifting through a box of my memorabilia I found a card. Not a thank you card, not a blank card, but a life changing card.

Seth gave out these life changing cards that, as you can see in bold, said, “PROBLEM.” You can guess what was on the back, but we will get to that in a moment.

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We were asked to think of the (or any) problem that we were facing that was holding us back from shipping, making the call, and in general, committing to something. Then we wrote it down on the card. We were then told to switch cards with the person next to us and they would fill out the back.

(Jumping forward real quick, this is not my card, we were supposed to keep our own but the lady I did the activity with accidentally kept mine and I kept hers. Not a problem, I’m actually thankful for it. It’s allowed me to write this post.)

The first half of the idea behind this card is that we have to face our fear. We have to think about what truly is holding us back. We had to make sure the problem was one actually worth writing down. Most importantly, we had to let someone else – who we barely even knew – see it.

As you can read, she has a real problem. It’s hard to sell anything to an audience you don’t have and even harder to an audience you have no clue where they are. Obviously, she needs a solution. That’s where I came in.

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Three solutions to her problem.

1. “Just start dedicating time to grow audience and the audience will form themselves.” When you’re just starting out. Forget the audience. Commit to revealing yourself first. No one is going to follow someone they can’t see, someone they can’t connect to, someone who is invisible or a mere shadow. Here’s a thought: Seeds flowing in the wind never land on soil that is never watered. You have to water the soil before any seeds will consider planting themselves.

2. “In order to find your audience, you have to go after everyone by testing your ideas and see the response.” Naturally, this is the second step once you begin “watering the soil.” It’s great to have an idea of what your audience is, but no one knows your audience better than your audience! – and if you’re just starting out, it’s likely you’ll be wrong a few times before you’re right. Better to make the big mistakes now than later.

I started a PR blog to show what I know when other professionals or employers checked me out. Soon I discovered that my audience was made up of students and people interested in learning about PR, not necessarily my original intention. You can have foresight, but never let yourself have a narrow mind.

3. “Take 10% of your time to grow your audience.” That’s not a lot of time, for good reason.  Get good at creating first. Get good at seeking criticism. Get used to challenging your fears. Get in the habit of shipping your work. Then follow-up by connecting, by interacting, by messaging like-minded people.

(Note: The third solution can work in reverse.)

Did this solution help her, I’m positive it did, but believe it or not, that’s not the point or the goal.

The point is that whatever problem(s) you have, there is always a solution. The moment someone else sees that, you’re held accountable, you can’t lie to yourself anymore that there is no solution, and above all, you have no excuse, nothing holding you back.

 

Stay Positive & It’s Often A Move We Have To Make

Garth E. Beyer

We got tricked into this by not knowing what we were doing, why were doing it, or what we would have to do later. It takes someone bold to express what their problem. Are you up to it?

Breaking The Threshold

Garth Beyer

Many believe that if they deliver enough work, put in enough hours, or make enough sales calls that they will break the threshold and become a star. This is commonly referred to as Gladwell’s 10,000 hours of practice theory: you are considered a true professional when you have put in 10,000 hours of your passion. That’s when you truly break through.

I would like to propose a different concept. It’s more often than not that the number of critics you have equally relates to your degree of success, of breaking the threshold.

Sometimes no news is good news, but in the realm of people talking about your art, just that people are talking about it benefits you. This includes the critics. It includes the complainers. It includes the hasslers.

You don’t break the threshold, your critics do.

 

Stay Positive & Go Get Some Critics

Garth E. Beyer

How To Cope With Criticism

Garth Beyer

At one of my current occupations, I get to give kids money to go to college. It’s a pretty enjoyable time when I look at it like that. However, part of what I do is handle hundreds of phone calls and emails a week, call it customer service if you will.

Of course, those contacting me are doing so because of a problem they have, whether it’s from a lack of information, understanding, or what it sometimes feels like, they just want to blow up on someone.

This means I’m using a special kind emotional labor from day-to-day. I have to disassociate my personal feelings with every interaction while still keeping an open heart and willingness to help.

In other words, I continuously work on not taking anything personally.

To put it in more perspective, I seldom get a call to tell me I’ve done a good job or get an email just to tell me, “Thanks for all your work, we really appreciate it.” Occasionally I get a thank you letter from a student, maybe two a year on average.

I’m human, but even if I wasn’t, doing what I do without any pat on the back or thanks could still bring me to resent my work. Of course, it doesn’t. And for one simple reason.

Each day I remind myself that while I may receive 30 calls in one day, there are 90,000 students and 200,000 family members of students who don’t call, that things are going smoothly for, that have no problems. 30/290,000 is a pretty good ratio, wouldn’t you say?

Another current occupation (in which I am most artistic) is Writer. The majority of the time when I produce an article, when I get published, when I deliver, I get criticized. Similar to my work as a Grants Specialist, those who agree, who understand, who have been given the intended message, rarely leave feedback.

It’s not often people read to connect, but to learn and understand. I don’t see it, but there are hundreds (hopefully thousands?) of people nodding their heads in agreement and understanding while reading my work.

The few people who I hear from are those who disagree, who have a different opinion (that they would rather share in relation to my article rather than doing the hard work of writing one themselves), and yes, also those who just feel like trolling.

I once told a friend that if there was a point to complaining, they would call them com points, but they don’t. However, here is a point. (two actually)

We are criticized for two reasons. One, to broaden our minds, to self-evaluate, and to be aware of possible mistakes. In other words, to learn. Two (and most important), to be given a ratio. Not having a ratio doesn’t mean you’re doing everything right, it means you’re doing something seriously wrong.

Counting the number of critics you have is meant to remind you of all those who aren’t. I’ve never been one for math, but this is one ratio that makes it easy to cope with criticism.

 

Stay Positive & No Critics Usually Means No Art (and that’s on you, not them)

Garth E. Beyer

For The Most Of Us

Garth Beyer

For some, they’re able to quit their jobs to focus completely on their passion. For some, they inherit work that is paralleled with their passion. For some, their passion has been all they’ve ever known.

But for most, we have to earn our right. We have to conform a little to be able to be our true selves. We have to do a tad of the safe work, the work we may not want to do, the work that we get paid by the hour for, all in order to be able to do what we truly want.

The trouble is, people get stuck. Safe becomes comfortable. “The groove” becomes their future. They take what they are given and buy the idea that they aren’t special with it. They buy the idea that they can’t work on creating their art (doing their passion) simultaneously while working.

It’s a great excuse – the job – to not do the work that really matters. A job takes time, energy, focus, muscles, brainpower. It’s easy to say that you spent all your willpower for the day on your job and pushback your passion to tomorrow, or the weekend or after you finish this big project at work.

This is where being stuck meets being confused. Those who are stuck confuse their passion with something they have to do, much like their job. Whereas, by definition, your passion is something you get to do, get to feel, get to create – not something you have to.

Being able to separate work and your passion takes practice, but it can all begin with a constant reminder that work is what you have to do and your passion is what you get to do.

No day is fulfilled without having done both.

 

Stay Positive & Fulfill More Of Your Days

Garth E. Beyer

Two Options To Productivity

Garth Beyer

The real worker, the true productive worker gives herself two options when in the zone, in the workplace. Break or Hack

Break a few rules. Break the status-quo. Break the task into smaller steps. Break the consistency and add some more mistakes. Break her back to make it work. Break it down to understand it better. Break away from reality.

or

Hack the job to make it more efficient. Hack your work so you can do more of what makes you happy. Hack away at everything that is holding you back. Hack into the flow.

Both options lead to a productive – very productive – work day.

 

Stay Positive & You Just May Not Even Consider It Work

Garth E. Beyer