The word project comes from the word proiectum. 

It means, something thrown forth. This is the core of what it means to be prolific. Throwing things forth. Melting the glaciers within you. Finding a productive obsession that galvanizes you and serves your meaning making efforts. Brainstorming and creating and organizing and executing ideas and enlisting smart people to help you fulfill your vision. 

Not to mention, discovering the ecstasy within the process of the work itself and experiencing sublime joy of seeing things come together to produce an artistic whole. 

That’s a project. 

But when you’re an artist, somebody who makes a living launching projects, the hardest part is deciding which one to work on next. Uncovering a new and exciting idea with enough momentum to catapult you out of creative limbo. 

Because you can’t force it. And creative people make this mistake all the time. They start working on a project they want to want, but in their hearts, it’s not the best use of their time and talents. It’s just some silly, puny, uninteresting pursuit that does little for the world. 

It may help to scoot boredom out the door, but ultimately, it doesn’t point them in the direction of reality and accomplishment. It doesn’t serve their meaning making efforts. 

I recently found myself in between projects. It happens every year. Usually late summer, I get restless right on schedule. 

But this time, instead of standing in the void and taking a good, hard whiff of the impending meaninglessness, I reverse engineered the process and built a framework to catapult me out of creative limbo. 

A structured brainstorm, if you will. Simply by asking myself a series of strategic questions, and then populating as many answers for each one as I could, I had generated a one page map of project possibilities:

What problems can I solve? What skills can I use? What interests can I mine? What themes can I address? What markets can I serve? What assets can I leverage? What technology can I use? What change can I create? What projects can I emulate? 

That’s how the brain works. Once you empty it on a piece of paper, all you have to do is sit back and listen for what wants to be written. 

The point is, if you’re a project junkie like me, somebody who constantly needs a mental task to bite into, somebody who needs to feel engaged and tested and stretched, make it easier on yourself. 

Use this framework to uncover and nurture an idea that fascinates you into something real in the world. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How do you know what your next project will be?

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!

–>

I believe in a few things. 

One,
that our greatest currency in this world is our originality. 

Two, that it
is morally incumbent upon us to live up to our uniqueness. 

Because frankly, I’m
trying to get someplace rarified, not just execute mediocrity. That’s how I’m
wired. I’m the kind of person whose individuality defines him. 

I have an innate
need to stand in opposition to the world and assert my distinctiveness and
chart a course that differentiates me from others and reject the conventions of
the masses. 

Of course, I also understand that this posture of chronic
uniqueness comes at a great emotional and existential cost. And so:

I accept
that I will be forever burdened by the pulsing energy and fierce need to be
myself. 

I accept that I will feel lonely and unappreciated when my efforts
aren’t recognized. 

I accept that I will have anxiety dreams about not having my
voice heard. 

I accept that I will never compete for and win the standard badges
of success. 

I accept that my disgust with the low hanging fruit will ultimately
make the journey to success slower and harder. 

I accept that I will compare
myself to people who wouldn’t know talent if it sat on their face. 

I accept
that I will bring an unshackled spirit to everything I do. 

I accept that I
will ignite my spirit of opposition to the detriment of my own emotional
landscape. 

This is who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. It’s who I’ll always
be. 

But instead of trying to swim against that current, I’m simply going to let
the water carry me. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you wearing the weight of your individuality lightly?

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!

–>

I have a tendency to intellectualize and overthink things. 

To use my rational mind to regulate emotions and solve problems. 

Which is a useful approach for strategizing and launching projects and getting things done. But when it comes to more interpersonal and relational matters, taking the elevator to the top floor and getting stuck inside my head isn’t particularly helpful. 

And so, I’ve had to teach myself to go perpendicular and take leave of my mind. To create something more useful for the brain to do. 

From exercising to meditating to playing music to cooking dinner to cleaning the house to listening to insightful podcasts, it doesn’t matter what the activity is, so long as it helps reduce the risk of cognitive strain. 

That’s the secret to giving our brains a break. Pursuing a perpendicular style of activity that is well suited for our emotional temperament. 

Having a wide repertoire of meaningful tasks at our disposal, should we get stuck inside our heads again. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How do you moderate your intellectual tendency to overthink? 

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!

Frankl’s groundbreaking research on the human will to create meaning makes a fascinating point about the therapeutic process:

Therapy shares the fate of any foundation, in that it will become invisible to the extent to which the proper buildings are erected on it. 

Creativity works the same way. The job of the artist isn’t to confine themselves to the ground floor of the edifice, rather, to stack so much love and heart and blood and uniqueness on top of it, that by the time the structure is sky high, the people around it are completely oblivious to its foundation. 

The basement is invisible. Because it was only the beginning. The spark. The moment of conception. The crucial groundwork on top of which the edifice was built. 

When I wrapped on a music film about the dreaming process, I went back and dug up my original brainstorm for the idea. It was an email exchange between my director and me, briefly mentioning the idea of turning a group of songs I’d written into some kind of interesting creative project. 

Six months later, that idea had slowly morphed into a new studio album, a full length concert documentary and a hard cover dream journal. 

And once we shipped, I looked back at our creation and marveled to myself, wow, the original idea from which this grew is unrecognizable. 

That’s every artist’s dream. To turn a seed into a forest. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you still confiding yourself to the ground floor of the edifice? 

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!

Every beautiful thing that has ever been created in this world was
made by somebody who didn’t have time. 

Tolstoy had thirteen children and he
still managed to author one of the longest, most celebrated and bestselling
novels in the history of literature. 

What’s your excuse? 

Of course, that was a
century and a half ago. Things are different now. The world wants to
distract you. 

In the economy of the past, companies made money by being useful
to people. Now companies make their money by distracting us with ads. The
fundamental business question went from, how can we help you, to, how can we
distract you? 

Tragic. 

However, that doesn’t justify your lack of
execution. That doesn’t make procrastination more acceptable. In fact, it
should be easier than ever to get things done. 

Because almost everything is
noise. Everything. And since the technology to execute is better and cheaper
and more available than ever before, all you have to do is press a few buttons. 

It’s simply a matter of permission. Believing that people are waiting for
the good you can do. Believing that
your work is a welcome presence that’s creating value for people and that’s
worthy of people’s attention. 

Tolstoy didn’t write his masterpiece because
there were enough hours in the day, he wrote it because there was enough fire
in his belly. 

It’s a modern version of the general theory of relativity. 

Nobody
has enough time to do anything. It’s all permission and hunger.

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What excuses are you still making to justify your procrastination? 

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!

Lately I’ve been learning new ways to treat myself with compassion and patience. How to meet more and more of my life experiences with kindness and understanding. 

It’s been an enlightening and rewarding journey. 

One practice I find to be particularly helpful is abandoning expectations about how I’m supposed to feel. 

Especially when it comes to my goals and dreams. Because when I first write them down, I tend to create this fantasy in my head about how things are going to be better when they come to pass. About how I’m going to know a different kind of happiness that I’d never known before. 

But it doesn’t always happen like that. Despite my waiting for that one huge life moment with fireworks and banners and trombones, most goals and dreams unfold slowly and quietly. 

And we get outraged when we can’t impose our own time frame on the process. 

That’s the danger of harboring expectations about how things should go. White knuckling and trying to control the outcome only leads to disappointment. 

If we want to free ourselves from the clutches of unnecessary distress, we have to be compassionate and accepting of the results we get. 

Krishna famously said that we have a right to our labor, but not to the fruits of our labor. 

That’s the approach we have to take with our goals and dreams. 

To focus on the intention of the execution, and let the rest go. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What expectations are you prepared to abandon?

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!

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 019

01. Stoutz. Cankle friendly footwear 

A brand of wide set shoes and socks for people with thick legs and feet

02. Lettuce Eat. Support the community in more ways that one.

A pickup service that allows you to donate your extra food from your local CSA to homeless or hungry people

03. Solo Cheque. Helping freelancers feel pro-fesh and oh-fish 

A personal payroll service for one person businesses to cut themselves actual paychecks to feel more legit

04. Callback. Manage the art, get the part 

A content management system that helps actors keep track of their auditions

05. HeadsUp. Don’t just manage expectations, master them 

A warning label bracelet that alerts people about the emotional risks associated with the interaction or relationship with that person

06. Healie. Praise the lord, pass the therapy

A social service that connects substance abuse professionals with clergy to hep addicted congregants get the medical help they need

07. Set Lister. Show your love, hear your song

A smartphone app that allows concert goers to vote up songs that they want the band to perform

08. Fay Kay. Savor the memories, save the money 

A printing and design service that professionally photoshops your image into pictures of exotic locations to convince the world that you’re cultured and traveled

09. Ham Letter. Every performer needs a push 

A stationary service that sends real fan letters to new artists who need a boost of confidence and momentum in their careers

10. Semana. Changing the shelf life of music

An independent record store that only sells one new album per week

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 2017-2018.

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

When things aren’t going as successfully as we’d like, the most important thing to remember is that we’re not alone. 

That our difficulties are a natural part of life and everyone goes through them. And whatever bad feelings are coursing through our veins at the moment, they’re likely to be shared by thousands of other people too. 

It’s part and parcel of the warp and weft of human life. And the upside is, a little education will usually show us that there’s no need to panic. 

Compassion is accommodating like that. If we’re willing to search for it, we can find it everywhere. 

Over the years, I’ve been involved with a number of masterminds and meetups and accountability partners and support groups. And whether they assembled in person or online, whether the topics were personal or professional, and whether they lasted for years or merely hours, the mantra was always the same. 

Sometimes all we need is an ounce of not alone. 

People we trust to remind us that our problems aren’t special and that everybody is fighting a battle that we know nothing about. It’s that sense of community that enables us to have compassion. 

As my shrink reminds me, when we connect to others, we connect to self. The farther we go outside, the deeper we can travel inside. 

Therefore, if we want to be more kind to ourselves during periods of suffering, the last thing we should do is isolate. 

Should we find ourselves caught in the trance of unworthiness, feeling judgmental about our own flaw and inadequacies, we must learn to look at ourselves through the eyes of compassion. 

Not to obsess and fixate on everything that’s wrong with us, making us feel more separate and cut off from the rest of the world; rather, to accept and connect with everyone who’s similar to us, making us feel less alone in the world. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Whom can you connect with today that will jolt you out of your illusion of isolation? 
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!

Portland is a weird city. 

t’s a place that promotes individuality, expressionism, eccentricity, local art, as well as atypical lifestyle choices and leisure activities. 

Think of this way. In the middle of the country, the guy who wore a nametag everyday was weird. But on the coast, I was just another one of the freaks. 

That’s why I relocated there right after college. I didn’t have a job, I didn’t know anybody, and I’d never been there before, but somehow, the vortex of weirdness sucked me into its gravitational pull. 

I’ll never forget my first day in town. I looked around and realized, for the first time in my life, nobody is making fun of me here. Whatever I am is okay. That must mean I’m home. That must mean I belong. 

Finally. What a relief. Now I can just relax and be myself. 

Portland, of course, doesn’t have a monopoly on weirdness. There are plenty of weird cities in the world. 

The point is, human beings are at their best when they’re weird, and when they’re enabling others to become weird as well. And the best part is, weirdness doesn’t cost money or require a costume or demand that you poke holes in your flesh. 

Only that you own your truth. That you make peace with everything you are. And that you find healthy outlets make your rough edges known, one creative act at a time. 

Seuss said it best:

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. 

My wife actually recited that quote in her wedding vows. Guess we chose wisely. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Have you found a place that will embrace the weirdness you have to offer?

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!

In the thirteenth century, the word bad was first coined to describe something that was inferior in quality, wicked, evil or vicious. 

Seven hundred years later, a certain moonwalker’s bestselling album reversed the meaning of the word. 

Jackson turned bad into good. He made bad the special sauce of hip hop sexiness and outsider cool. Not to mention, skin tight pants, buckle jackets, studded gold belts and leather straps. That’s bad. 

What’s fascinating, though, the language can also work in reverse. Good can degenerate into bad. It all depends on the intention of the person behind it. 

Palmer’s framework for spiritual caring states it well. 

Forced goodness can turn subjects into objects, and when it’s imposed on people who have no desire for it, those people become the victims of somebody else’s selfish charity. Because in many cases, good is just another alleged savior indulging in some fantasy that has nothing to do with other people. 

And that’s bad. Because it’s just a performance. The person is playing a role. Upholding the stereotype that human beings are bundles of energy programmed to pursue selfish ends. 

Which isn’t to rule out the importance of proper selfishness, meaning, having a sense of responsibility for yourself and enough confidence to believe that you can get what you want in life. 

But let’s not bullshit ourselves. 

When supposed goodness is nothing more than cleverly packaged selfishness, it’s bad. When generosity only happens when people are watching, it doesn’t count. And when you’re only giving people the gifts you think are good for them, it’s all about you. 

And that’s bad. 

Ultimately, the only truly good acts are the ones that allow people the freedom to choose their own destinies. 

Not the ones filling a need that doesn’t exist. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Does your forced goodness turn subjects into objects?
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!