In the privacy of your own head and heart

Doing inner work could mean any number of
things. 

Accepting yourself and reprogramming beliefs and identifying values and
reframing self talk and releasing shame and setting boundaries and being kind
to yourself and letting go of the past and restoring wholeness and decoding
dreams and connecting with spirit and healing guilt and leveraging limitations
and feeling your feelings and releasing resentment and alchemizing anger and
awakening to your true self, to name a few. 

What’s hard is, none of this work
can be comfortably quantified. There’s no passing grade. We don’t have any
metrics to show us where the inner work is paying off in the material world. 

And that can be discouraging, because part of us can’t help but ask, what’s the
point of all this inner work? Is it actually making my life better, or am I
just fetishizing personal development? Can I see the ripples in the real world,
or am I just treating myself like little narcissistic project, disappearing
down the rabbit hole of my own mythology? 

It’s a constant battle. Especially if
you’re the kind of person who does a lot of thinking and reflecting and
imagining. 

But here’s the part that nobody tells you. Once you’ve done the
inner work, everything else comes faster. It’s the strangest thing. You spend
all this time in the privacy of your own head and heart, building your
spiritual and emotional and mental foundation. 

And then one day, you suddenly
realize,oh wow, I’ve created fertile inner soil from which my outer
life can now flourish. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you using the entirety of your inner life to serve your dreams?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Anxiety is a sign that our system is alive

When I was in my twenties, working nonstop, building my business from the ground up, I struggled with significant stress related illnesses. 

To the point of medication and hospitalization. 

Thankfully, my physician referred me to a prominent hypnotherapist who specialized in helping young professionals cope with their newly found anxieties in the working world. 

And after our first few sessions, I quickly learned that running in anguish from anxiety was futile. It’s part and parcel of life, he told me, and it will not go away any more than your breath will go away. 

In fact, anxiety is very similar to breathing, physiologically. It’s something we can treat as sign that our system is alive. It’s a reminder that we’re human and fragile and imperfect, and if we felt nothing, that would be true cause for concern. 

And so, instead of exhausting myself trying to swim against the tide, I began to follow anxiety to wherever it lead me. I became an expert on my own stress. I sought out anxiety as a doorway to deeper meaning and understanding. I formed an alchemy where the lead of my worry turned into the gold of my heightened consciousness. 

Slowly, these strategies worked. They helped me create a healthier relationship with my stress. And after many years of dedicated inner work, the pain plummeted from an eight to a one. 

All because I stopped swimming against the current and started surfing it. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How are you approaching your anxiety as a doorway to deeper meaning?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

That’s not productivity, that’s psychic materialism

Thanks to the corporatization of the world, our society has officially conditioned itself to only value that which is calculable. 

We’re all in the results business now. If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense. 

And it’s too bad. Because quite often, what can’t be measured, matters. It is the unquantifiable component of the human repertoire that has the biggest impact on the people around us. 

I was having lunch with a colleague recently when the topic of return on investment came up. She asked about my concert documentary, and how I would know whether or not it was successful. 

And I told her, that’s not the point. The fact that I did it means it’s successful. The fact that it exists in the world forever is my return on investment. There’s no board of directions to whom I need to justify the value of my art. 

Contrary to corporate conditioning, when it’s your heart, you don’t have to convince people that you can’t live without it. 

The point is, not everything can be comfortably quantified. Not everything can be proved by objective standards. And when we forget that, when we constrain ourselves into a utilitarian quality to our thinking, solely assigning meaning and value according to effort and results, we get away from doing things for their own sake. 

That’s not productivity, that’s psychic materialism. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Does the emphasis on the people around you revolve around expression or instrumentality?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

The capacity to create the world from our own resources

Giving somebody what we think is
good for them is the anti gift. 

It’s not generous, it’s just a performance. A
gesture that has nothing to do with them. A projection of our own autobiography
onto their unique situation. 

And even if it comes from a place of our genuine
desire to help, what we end up communicating is that we want to change people.
Which comes from our desire to control them. To clone them in our own image. 

I
once gave my girlfriend an elliptical machine for her birthday. Which even asked for.

Huge mistake. I
can’t even believe how insensitive of a gesture that was. Never buy a woman
exercise equipment. 

But that’s who I was at the time. A chronic fixer. I had no
idea that we don’t get to set other people’s goals and we can’t take people
where they don’t want to go. 

Because what we want for their best isn’t
necessarily what they want. 

The same thing goes for advice. Did you ever notice
that it only works for the people who give it? It’s best received when asked
for. Any moment before that and it’s useless. 

The point is, each human being
rests at the nexus of a vast number of interwoven causes and conditions that influence
their behavior. And it’s not our job to support their escape from their own
freedom. 

The gift is when we give them the capacity to create the world from
their own resources.

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What happened to the last person you tried to fix?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Steal Scott’s Ideas, Issue 014: Gentle Menses, Resumeh & Emptorium

Ideas are free, execution is priceless.

That’s been my mantra since day one of starting my business.

It’s also the title of a book I wrote a few years back. You can download it for free here.

But here’s the problem. I’m an idea junkie. Everything I look at in the world breaks down into a collection of ideas. I have about fifty new ones every day, and sadly, I can only execute so many of them. Even if I had all the resources and all the time in the world, I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with the whirlwind of insanity that gusts through my brain.

And that’s where you come in.

I believe ideas were never meant to stay that way. And so, in this new blog series, I’m going to be publishing a sample of them on a weekly basis, in the hopes that they inspire you to (a) execute them, (b) improve them, or (c) invent something completely different.

Remember, once an idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought.

Even if that idea is ridiculous.

Enjoy! 



Steal Scott’s Ideas, Issue 014


01. Aperture. Give props, get profit.

A peer to peer lending network where photographers pay a nominal free to procure the exact props they need from people in their neighborhood

02. Kineise. Prepare your muscles the right way .

An app that gives you the proper stretching regimen to do before any given activity

03. Sugar Man. Delivering pharm to table.

An over the counter pharmacy deliver service for sick people who don’t want to leave the house to get their medicine

04. Gentle Menses. Help your hubby go with the flow.

An app that allows women to send text messages to their husbands with notifications about forthcoming physical and emotional changes from their menstrual cycles, so they can prepare themselves.

05. Couple Comms. Talk isn’t cheap, it’s priceless.

A communication ritual application that uses exercises, talking points and other tools to help you and your partner connect, share and build intimacy.

06. Breffcon. Healthy coping without thinking 

An emotional crisis contingency plan that uses customizes tools to help you execute calmly and effectively when the pressure is on.

07. Fuck & Fit. Get it on, keep it off.

A combination sex therapy program that uses strenuous positions and acts of lovemaking to get you in shape.

08. Resumeh. Own your past, 

A curriculum vitae service that helps professionals create beautiful resumes of their history of failures and what they learned from those experiences

09. Emptorium. The delightings on the wall

A special order art studio that converts your company’s favorite customer feedback into beautiful, inspiring, conversation starting art pieces for the office

10. Gordo. You get thin, they get clean

A charity program where overweight people can donate excess body fat to third world countries for whom soap is an essential public health necessity

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How will you turn these ideas into I-dids?


LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “49 Ways to become an Idea Powerhouse,” 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 2015-2016.

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

The heights toward which my ambition was driving me

Emerson famously said that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. 



Very true

However, we have to be careful not to become a victim of our own elation. Because everybody wants to come out of the gate with guns blazing. And the easiest thing to do is to enthusiastically plunge into a new project, only to realize that our ambition and intensity and ability aren’t sustainable over the long haul. 

I’m reminded of my hot yoga instructor. She tells new students:

Don’t go for broke in the first ten seconds of the posture. You will literally burn out. One minute is longer than you think. 

That’s the smart approach for executing almost anything. Relaxing into it. Pacing ourselves. Keeping our breathing consistent. And trusting the process to treat us well. 

Without that mentality, we make ourselves vulnerable to exhaustion, frustration, even injury. Especially if we’re not honest with ourselves. 

That’s a problem I used to have with my creative projects. I would become hyper enthusiastic about launching something, to the point that I would bite off more than I could chew. And the momentum would last for a few weeks. 

But it wouldn’t sustain. After a while, I would just stop caring. And the fact that I wasn’t feeling love for the project would become a burden that I carried in silence. 

No wonder I had stomach cramps all the time. 

Look, there’s a time and place to get carried away by our own enthusiasm. We should always reserve that right. 

But life is a long arc game. And if we’re haphazard with our energy in the beginning, our aspirations will soon outpace our abilities.



LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How effective can you be in inspiring others if you’re lying on your back in your hospital bed with a stress related illness?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Head Up, Heart Higher: 366 Daily Meditations on Meaning, Mystery, Misery and the Other Magical Monsters That Monopolize Our Minds

We have to live larger than our labels. 



Pardon the pun, but that’s literally true for me. 



Because in my world, the nametag isn’t enough. Not anymore. 



But that’s fine. I accept that what got me here won’t get me there. I accept that what identifies me doesn’t define me. I accept that the work I’ve already done matters little beyond the fact that it brought me here. And I accept that the past I am used to may not be my best future. 



Onward. 



Head up, heart higher. Enjoy the new book! Stay tuned for the Animated Folk Rock Opera of the same name later this year.

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you still down on yourself for not standing out and being special in your work? 

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

Buy the book here.

* * * *

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Dinner tastes better when you record a song

Because one of the fundamental goals of life is to make ourselves proud, the greatest verb might well be earn

To do harvest work. To get a reward for our labor. To reach the end result of continuous tension. 

In short, the opposite of entitlement. 

I’m reminded of an interview with a famous songwriter, who was asked why he had been so prolific at such a young age. Segall explained that songwriting was an exercise, therapy, his daily vitamins, his daily dose, and it was necessary for his brain. 

He said, dinner tastes better when you record a song

Who could disagree with that? There’s just something so satisfying about being rewarded for labor. And it doesn’t even matter what the reward is. Or how big it is. Or who gives it to you. Or how it’s given. That’s not the point. 

What matters is that it’s yours. That you did the thing you said you were going to do, and now you’re going to love yourself enough to rejoice in that accomplishment. 

Earning, then, is a great verb, but it’s also a great mindset. Imagine how much more fulfilling life would be if you approached everything with the intention of earning it, as opposed to constantly keeping count of what you feel you’re entitled to. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Do you hold the posture of an earning laborer, or an entitled demander?

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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Forever at the mercy of our perceived inadequacies

We all want to feel credible and
capable and legitimate. 



No matter how actualized we are in our opinion of
ourselves, there isn’t an entrepreneur alive who isn’t searching for the stamp
that says they are valid. It’s what keeps us going. It’s what builds momentum. 



Even in small doses, that initial proof of competence is what gives us faith in
our business. Without it, we’re forever at the mercy of our perceived
inadequacies. 



What we need, then, is concrete evidence from an objective third
party. Proof that we’re capable of creating real value in the world. 



I remember
the first time I received an email, out of the blue, from a complete stranger,
who wanted to pay me money, to provide his company a service. 



To me, that was a
miracle. The fact that it happened at all meant that it was possible. And that
was enough evidence to convince me to keep moving my story forward. 



From that
day forth, I vowed to invest more time and energy offering myself to the world
in service, in exchange for money. I practiced asking people to buy every day
of my life. And after a few years, my feelings of lack began to subside. 



Proving to me, that human beings may be good at convincing themselves of how
inadequate they are in the face of life’s challenges, but imagination works
both ways. 



And so, if we have the neurons to beat ourselves up, that must also
mean we have the capacity to train ourselves to see the great miracle as well. 



Because once we see what we’re capable of, once we start believing in
ourselves, we can never go back. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What third party evidence do you need to keep from sinking deeper into feelings of inadequacy? 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 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 


The Nametag Guy in action here!

Trap yourself somewhere, and then create your way out

Fletcher famously wrote that the first move in any creative process is to introduce constraints. 

In fine art, for example, this might include lines and borders and shapes. 

But there’s also such thing as proximity constraint. A geographic limitation that challenges your creativity through physical space and time. 

Public transportation is the perfect example. I’ve read stories about people writing entire novels while commuting to work every day. Not because they’re geniuses, but because they’re trapped. They’re completely insulated from distractions. 

That’s a proximity constraint. And if you’re having difficulty carving out the time to get your work done, you might try trapping yourself somewhere, and then creating your way out. 

I once spent twelve business days sitting on jury duty, it had zero negative impact on my productivity whatsoever. During downtime and lunch breaks and court recesses, I still managed to read a dozen books, write tens of thousands of words, edit my latest film. held conference calls with clients and even launched a new website. 

Because screw the court system. Meaning is made, not found. 

And don’t get me wrong, I’m prepared to do my civic duty as a juror on the case. But I’ve got a business to run. And if I’m going to be trapped somewhere for three weeks against my will, you better believe I’m going to use every tiny pocket of time to improve my pace and results. 

There’s no law against that. 

Remember, the disappointments in life accrue faster than we can find external forces to blame them on. May as well create an internal locus of control and take ourselves out of the victim position.



LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Have you cultivated internal sources of creativity so that your productivity isn’t dependent on your environment?

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!

Sign up for daily updates
Connect

Subscribe

Daily updates straight to your inbox.

Copyright ©2020 HELLO, my name is Blog!