If we’re just a collection of mirrors reflecting what everyone else expects of us, then our dreams will find themselves reduced to a mere parenthesis. 

But once we’re not dying to be accepted anymore, and once we don’t have to pretend to be fearless anymore, we can finally trust that being ourselves will be enough to get the love we need. 

It’s goddamn liberating. Not to mention, significantly lower in labor intensity. Imagine how much energy we burn running down approval alley each day. Going to great lengths to remind everyone around us just how busy and successful and in demand we are. 

That’s not authenticity, that’s public relations. What a waste of calories. We’re seeking approval from an invisible body that can’t grant us what only we can grant ourselves. 

When the reality is, it’s on us. It’s all on us. We are the ones who decide if we are accepted or not. We are the arbiters of our own membership to this club called the human family. There is no committee. There is no governing body. Just the three pounds of glorious meat inside our heads. 

Once we come to terms with that, not only do we step into our own power, but on a more practical note, we literally get more things done. It’s the economy of effort. When we’re no longer slowing our lives down to a speed at where we can gain approval for everything, we free ourselves up to execute our most meaningful work. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Once you stop reaching for something that’s already inside yourself, what might become possible for you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

More than a century ago, the futurist manifesto talked about the joy of seeing the glorious old canvasses bobbing adrift on the waters, discolored and shredded. 

It’s both a poetic and practical reminder than if we want to propel our creative lives forward, we have to find new ways to express ourselves. We have to go in search of new canvasses, quite literally, that allow us to surge forth with a deeper sense of artistic freedom. Books are the perfect example. 

As a writer, they’ve been my primary medium of creative expression for more than a decade. But in the past few years, they’ve officially reached a point of diminishing returns. 

On all sides of the supply chain, too. Authors aren’t writing them like they used to, publishers aren’t promoting them like they used to, and buyers aren’t reading them like they used to. It deeply saddens me. I’m afraid that this time, books might really be dead. 

And so, I’ve been grieving this loss. Big time. Kubler was spot on when she wrote, you will grieve forever. You will not get over the loss of a loved one, you will learn to live with it. You will heal, and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again, but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same, nor would you want to. 

But that’s where those new canvasses come in. They are the gateways that pull us out of our grief and into the next creative landscape. I’m actually thankful that books aren’t what they used to be. Because that reality has forced me to find new ways to express myself. From music to movies to software, the death of books has kickstarted my ambition to carve out new creative outlets for my work. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Now that you’ve incurred a loss, what new canvasses might be bubbling up to the surface?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

I was recently selected to sit on the jury for a civil trial. 

During the case preparation, the lead attorney gave all of the jurors a communication tip that I though was interesting. He said, jurors should never say, you never asked me that, at the end of a trial. 

Because the selection process all about fairness and impartiality. And if the case is about to close, and the attorney suddenly realizes that one of the jurors is questionably connected to the defendant, the whole trial is a wash. 

On the other hand, if the jurors are forthcoming about their past, proactive voicing their concerns, telling the truth early and often, there’s no risk of impartiality. 

What a perfect lesson for all of our relationships and interactions. 

Just say it now. Put everything on front street. Be radically honest when most people would say nothing. 

It’s not only appreciated by the people around you, but it’s a huge calorie saver in the long run. 

Can you imagine how much energy it requires to lie to people? I don’t have that kind of time. 

But living life with nothing to fear, nothing to lose, nothing to hide and nothing to prove? Sounds like a vacation to me. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you leaving yourself nowhere to hide?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

The lamest excuse for not doing
something is, I don’t know how. 

Bullshit. 

Because if you care
enough, you’ll find out what you need to know. That’s how execution works. Ideas
are brought into reality not because of your knowledge, but because of your
will. 

When I was in college and decided to write a book about wearing nametags,
I didn’t know the first thing about publishing. And to make matters worse, the
internet was still in diapers at that point, so it’s not like I could have
googled my way to competency. 

But I did have one thing going for me. I wanted
to author a book more than anything in the world. Since the age of seven, my
singular goal in life was to become a writer. There was no stopping me. And now
that I actually had an idea for a book that was interesting and funny
and unique and memorable, I became a man on a mission. 

I made phone calls and
sent emails and met with librarians. I connected with other authors and asked
tons of questions and took notes and heeded their advice. I even bought a book
how to how publish a book. 

Within a year of its conception, the book was in my
hand. And within a week of its publication, I was being interviewed on the
biggest news outlet in the world. 

The point is, if the story
you’re telling yourself about why your dream hasn’t come true yet is,but I
don’t know how,that’s a problem of will, not information. 

Because in a
world where the sum of all human knowledge is free and ubiquitous and accurate
and immediate, not knowing is no longer a valid excuse. 

It’s hunger. It’s who wants it more. Period. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Do you care enough to find out what you need to know?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

Codependency happens when too much of your sense of validation or security comes from others. 

It’s when people become your primary conduit to a sense of self, your sole point of identification, and there’s an excessive reliance on them for approval and identity. 

What’s interesting is how this dysfunction manifests in the creative process. Because making art is similar to a relationship, in that you can’t need too much from it. You can’t hold onto too tightly. You have to allow it to be what it is. And you have to accept that when it’s gone, it’s gone. 

I heard a famous movie director say that when he finishes his most recent movie, he thinking, okay, I’ve done everything I can do to give this as much love as I could give, and now it’s going to go off and be what it’s going to be. 

That’s the approach we have to take with our work. Not being codependent creators. Not insisting that the accomplishment of our project is going to make us whole. And removing the responsibility for meeting all of our true needs from our art’s shoulders. 

Because the less dependent we feel on something to satisfy all of our requirements for happiness, the more mature and truly satisfying our connection with that thing likely to be. 

It’s a boundary. A healthy distance we have to maintain. 

Our job as creators, then, is to cultivate internal sources of security so that our feelings of worthiness aren’t solely dependent on the work we do and whether or not people like it. 

To never deceive ourselves into thinking that this is all there is to us. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Where else can you find the power to meet your needs?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

Shaking an apple tree is one of
life’s magnificent experiences. 

There’s the excitement of locating the most
prolific tree in the orchard. There’s the anticipation of gripping the trunk
and steadying your legs for the drop. There’s the exhilaration of shaking the
tree and feeling the unrivaled sensation of the apples thumping off your head
and onto the ground. There’s enthusiasm of gathering the biggest and best ones
into your bag. And finally, there’s the gratification of cooking and eating
your own apple pie later that night. 

It doesn’t get much better than that. 

In fact,
every entrepreneur in the world should be required to go apple picking as part
of their training. It’s a perfect metaphor for how business works. Because apples
can fall unpredictably into your lap, but it’s much more likely to
happen if you go stand in the orchard and give the tree a good shake. 

Luther
actually made a brilliant observation about this very process. Here’s what he
said over five hundred years ago:

First I shake the whole apple tree, that the
ripest might fall. Then I climb the tree and shake each limb, and then each
branch and then each twig, and then I look under each leaf. 

Who knew the leader
of the protestant reformation knew so much about business? 

And yet, it’s a
strategy that veteran entrepreneurs forget. We assume that our reputation and
portfolio and platform and client history and positive word of mouth and
accumulation of value in the marketplace will speak for itself and create a
force of gravity that allows apples to magically fall into our lap. 

Which can
be true, but not consistently. There are no guarantees in business, only
gambles. 

And so, doing a great job and waiting for the phone to ring is no
longer sustainable business model. We actually have to get out there give the
tree a good shake. Every single day.

Otherwise we might go hungry. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How many people did you ask to buy your product yesterday? LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

Trying to fit yourself into an existing market is
short lived. Being a cog in someone else’s great machine is a recipe for
disappointment and disillusion. 

And so, if you find that there are no projects
that fit how great you are, carve your own destiny and hire yourself. Go out
and create the market for what you love. Define your own rules, set your own
standards and let the rest of the world follow your lead. 

Mihaly’s research on the psychology of meaning found that people who lead satisfying
lives, who are in tune with their past and future, in short, people whom we
would call happy, are generally individuals who have lived their lives
according to rules they themselves created. 

I’m reminded of a inspiring article
by independent musician who has been making his own records since the late
nineties. Rogers built his own global direct to consumer funding platform to engage with fans, fund his music, keep his rights and even raise
money for charity. He asked a question that completely shifted the way I
approach my work. Not only as a songwriter, but as an entrepreneur. 

Do you want
to be in the music business, or in the business of making music? 

Because
there’s a stark difference between the two. One is a cold, cruel, shallow money
trench occupied by liars and whores who steal people’s dreams, the other is a
daily practice of creativity and joy that allows you to develop and concentrate
on the exercise of your professional skills. 

That’s not just the music
industry, that’s any industry. Except the one that you create for yourself.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How will you carve out your own destiny?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

The first thing performers forget is to enjoy the process. 

To stay in the moment and be fully present and actually feel the experience of the show as it’s happening. After all, there’s so many moving parts to manage, so many things that can go wrong, so many expectations vying for our attention, who has time to look around and breathe the air and absorb the joy of what’s happening right now? 

The ego has work to do. Step out of the way. 

It’s like that article about the guy at the barbeque who’s on the cusp of having fun when he suddenly remembers every single one of his responsibilities. He’s seconds away from coming to the razor’s edge of experiencing genuine joy, when he’s suddenly crushed by the full weight of his tasks, allowing his brain become consumed with racing thoughts.

I once played a concert with my father, when a woman from the audience made a comment that I’ll never forget. She said the music was great, but what she really loved watching were the expressions on our faces while we played it. 

That’s what all audiences secretly want. To watch someone genuinely enjoying themselves. It’s an elixir. It spellbinds people. They witness you doing your thing and chasing the joy and losing yourself in the moment and they think to themselves, wow, I wish I was that happy. 

Rollo’s book on identity pointed this out decades ago. His research found that joy, rather than happiness, was the goal of life. For joy, he said, is the emotion that accompanies our fulfilling of our nature as human beings. 

And so, next time you’re privileged enough to put on a show, remember that job number one is to enjoy yourself. Because deep down, that’s what people are paying to see. 

Pryor was right. Set yourself on fire and people will come to watch you burn. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How could you have more agency over joy?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

It’s morally incumbent upon us to live up to our uniqueness. 

To make meaningful use of everything we are. To humbly and proudly return the product that we’ve been given. 

In fact, we don’t have a lot of a choice in the matter. If there’s something special we have a gift for, something that we can do better than anybody else, it’s going to suck us along into it no matter what. 

And so, we may as well strap in and enjoy the ride. Trying to fight that existential undertow is exhausting. Not to mention, dishonest. 

The only stipulation is, we have to leverage our uniqueness in the service of making the world a better place. Otherwise we’re just falling down the rabbit hole of our own mythology, trapped in a patchwork of pointless eccentricities. 

Handy once coined a helpful concept called idiosyncrasy credits, which was an organizational approach to earning the right to be different. It’s the delicate balance between individualism and impact. The intersection of uniqueness and usefulness. He suggested that only when our team members recognize that we are making a real contribution, can we safely stretch things a bit. 

Because nobody gets a free pass on the first day. We have to earn it. 

It’s one thing for coworkers to accept oddball behavior from someone with an amazing creative vision, but if we’re the new guy and our greatest talent lies in being exhausting and hard to be around, everybody loses. 

Now, this doesn’t suggest we keep an actual ledger, marking debits and credits every time we choose to do something as an expression of our identity. But it’s an interesting filter for our behavior. 

The concept of idiosyncrasy credits implores us to use our uniqueness as a means to an end, not just for the sake of being unique. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you good enough to justify your eccentricities?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

Most people get scared and stop. 

They try something once or twice or even five times, and the moment the fear begins to soak their back, they convince themselves that they’re not good enough and their dream was stupid and the world doesn’t need their uniqueness and they were never going to make it anyway and they don’t deserve to be successful in the first place. 

Unfortunately, that story becomes strong enough to wipe them out of the game forever. 

What they don’t realize is, courage grows as we see evidence. Even when it accumulates by daily, microcosmic amounts. Every fragment of hope we stumble across is both real and useful. 

The question is, will we still be around when the world is finally ready for us? Will we treat fear as fuel in our tank to keep the story moving forward? 

Because talent isn’t what takes us to the top, refusing to go away is. Lasting longer than the people we hit the starting blocks with, that’s the only royal road to success. 

Indiana said it best. I’m like a bad penny, I always turn up.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you willing to believe the truth about yourself, no matter how beautiful it is? LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!