When a prospect I’m trying to close falls of the face of the earth, my first instinct is to internalize. 

To blame myself for not being talented enough or interesting enough or valuable enough to be earn their callback. 

And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Internalization and assuming responsibility and finding ways to make things my fault has proven to be a helpful technique for motivating growth. 

But in the spirit of being kind to myself in small, concrete ways, I’ve been reminding myself that factors other than me can cause delay. Each human being rests at the nexus of a vast number of interwoven causes and conditions, most of which are out of their control, that influence their behavior. 

And so, if it’s been three weeks and I still haven’t heard back, perhaps that prospect is fighting a battle that I know nothing about. Maybe their board meeting was postponed until next month. Or maybe they didn’t get their grant money yet. 

Doesn’t matter. This line of thinking takes me out of my own head. It injects a healthy dose of compassion, empathy and humility. And it reminds me that I’m rarely anyone else’s first order of business. 

The point is, too much internalization can become a form of torture. Next time the universe suddenly seems to stop cooperating with you, try looking somewhere other than mirror. 

Because odds are good that it’s not about you. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What factors other than you might be the cause of delay? 
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!

Part of setting
healthy boundaries is being okay with other people’s discomfort. 

Accepting that
you can’t take responsibility for everybody’s feelings, but you stand up for
yourself anyway, because it means that you’re creating a life that matches your
vision of principled living. 

I’ve always wrestled with this issue. And not
because I have a need to be liked by everybody, but because I have a fear of
being seen as an asshole by anybody. 

It’s too conflicting with my self concept.
Even if Iamstanding up for my
boundaries in the moment, there’s still a small slice of my psyche that feels
guilty and needs confirmation that I’m not an jerk for doing so. 

Without that
reassurance, my skin starts to flush and fear soaks my back and a ripple of
panic shoots through my body and I spiral into an anxious ruminative loop that
leaves me awash in neurosis and regret. Because the last thing I need is the
world thinking that I’m someone who treats people as invisible, as long as he
gets what he wants. 

Isn’t
obsessive compulsive disorder just enchanting? Of course, it’s all in my head.
It’s just a story I’m telling myself. And it’s pure fiction. As a friend of
mine likes to reminds me:

When you start to feel bad about yourself, find the
lie. 

Will saying no to this person tilt the world on its axis? No. 

Will other
humans die when I abide by my needs instead of theirs? No. 

Will standing up for
my boundaries in this moment be captured on video and leaked to the press and
go viral and destroy my career? No. 

And here’s why. Most people are too busy,
too inundated with information and too focused on their own work to even
notice. Odds are, they’re not even thinking about me and worrying about what I
think and concerned with how I feel. 

Andjust
because I spent all that time worrying about it, doesn’t mean I’ve earned
anything. 

Remember,when you start to feel bad about yourself, find the
lie. It works. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What fictional story are you telling yourself?

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!

Most of us get scared and stop. 

Traumatized by the criticism of our early attempts, we condemn our creative work to the nearest desk drawer, never to be revisited again. 

All because one schmuck with a white beard and elbow patches said that our writing was too conversational or lacked heart or didn’t meet modern language guidelines. Tragic. 

But that’s the way our egos work. They’re hypersensitive and infantile. Big babies that can’t stand to live in a world where they hear things that upset them. 

I’m reminded of one of my favorite mantras about the mind:

Once we’ve seen a ghost, we’re always afraid of the dark. 

Consider the young songwriter. He spends hours and hours perfecting his first tune, to the point that he’s finally ready to become an agency of sincere expression, giving strangers and friends alike the most secret impulses of his soul. 

So he does. And then they rip the song to shreds. 

What are the odds of that artist sharing again any time soon? Slim to none. Because now he’s seen the ghost. 

Look, life is already disappointing enough. Everybody you encounter is fighting a battle you know nothing about. And so, why be the one who makes people scared of the dark? 

Even if it is easier to be a cynic than a celebrator, it still costs nothing to believe and encourage and affirm people’s work. 

Be a source of light instead. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you fundamentally affirmative or automatically critical?

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!

Searching for a new job doesn’t have to be a tedious and demoralizing experience. 

In fact, when you approach the process with a strategic intention and zero expectations, it can actually yield positive benefits. Even if you fail to secure a position. 

First of all, every job search is vehicle for you to answer some key questions about yourself. Who are you? What do you want? What environment will your talents most benefit others? Once you find the answers to these questions, it will expedite the journey of getting your professional feet on the ground. 

Secondly, any person who submits applications for dozens or possibly even hundreds of jobs, can’t help but uncover patterns. About how organizations work, about how the economy is behaving and about where the current business culture is headed. 

Years ago, I applied for a marketing position at a tech startup. Once my application went through, I received the standard autoresponder that thanked me for my submission. But additionally, at the bottom of the email, there was a fine print disclaimer that stated the following:

Do not reply to this email. It was sent by a robot that will not respond to you, no matter how nice you are to it. 

Initially, that gave me a good laugh. The message’s combination of honesty, cleverness and surprise created a delightful moment in an otherwise dreary process. 

But more importantly, that message gave me a profound insight. Because in any professional interaction, there are only so many factors under your control. There are only so many times you can follow up with a prospect before they call security. 

And so, it’s a helpful nudge in the direction of patience, surrender and expectation, a group of muscles that most professionals allow to atrophy. 

That’s the mindset you have to maintain. Always in danger of learning something. Never allowing anybody to spin the experience into you losing or failing. 

It’s all just an experiment. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What intention do you hold when setting out on a new professional journey?
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!

If you’re serious about personal growth, eventually, you’ll reach a point where you start to realize, wow, the old story isn’t working like it used to. 

And that moment will terrify you. Because it means change is imminent. It means you have to free yourself from concepts of who you are, leap across the borders of your identity and soar into the unknown. 

Waltz’s interview about his late success as a screen actor put it perfectly. He said people don’t have any idea about their talents. They always overestimate them, and as a consequence, underestimate the unexpected or unrealized ones. 

That insight flipped on a switch inside my head. It made me wonder if the story I was telling myself about my competence was completely invented. 

Perhaps I wasn’t as deficient in certain areas as I once thought. Maybe there was a new story available for me to take my identity from. 

And so, it’s the delicate distinction between original, formed and available personality. Prizing and maintaining the aspects of myself that I respect, but not being afraid to grow into upgraded narratives about who I am. 

The zen monks were right. Labels are fables. 

Expand your role repertoire. Show yourself that you are capable of acting in new ways. Step outside of yourself and face the new possibility that beckons. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

When was the last time you attempted something beyond the perimeter of our own constituted identity?

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!

Most of us
erect walls against our extreme feelings. 

We decide which parts of our
emotional experience we’re not going to have, and then, rather than face the
feelings, we distract ourselves with immediate satisfactions. 

Which helps in
the moment, but after a while, we start to pay a price for the things we’re
hiding from ourselves. That which we suppress finds a home in the body. And our
feelings transmogrify into illnesses, stomach pains, muscle cramps, skin
problems and other uncomfortable psychosomatic symptoms. 

A smarter approach is
to personify the extreme parts of ourselves in ways that allow us to be
affectionate, not avoidant, toward them. To literally ask ourselves:

What does
this feeling want from me? 

One exercise I find helpful is forced vomiting. It’s
a daily journaling ritual of emotional release where I metabolize my
experiences, in writing, for three pages. 

I keep asking myself, what does this
feeling want from me, and see what answers come up. 

And what’s interesting
about the process is, by fleshing out every last feeling I have about a certain
issue, eventually, I reach a point where I just bore and exhaust myself with
it. I express the same thing again
and again and again until I have gone through it to the other side and there’s
nothing left to say. 

And now I can move on. 

Sure beats becoming an accomplished
fugitive from myself. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What are you afraid to know about yourself?
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!

My fear is that I’ve become a victim of my own integrity. 

That my cherished standards and principles and values and commitments have turned on me, causing more harm than good. 

Take generosity, for example. I understand the power and profitability of being recklessly and relentlessly generous. I wouldn’t be where I am without it. 

But sometimes, I suspect it’s working against me. Because when a large portion of my daily activity involves creating value without hope for repayment, giving away my talent to the marketplace until they’re ready to pay for it, contributing gifts that are allowing me to keep playing the game and delivering acts of emotional labor to create an imbalance in the world, eventually, I start to wonder if I’m barking up the wrong tree. If I’m being too nice and too approachable and too giving. 

Because that’s my brand. I’m the friendly, midwestern, upper middle class nice guy who would rather be heard than paid. I come from a wealthy family so I feel guilty about demanding compensation for my work. I’m a hypersensitive artist type who experiences physical pain when forced to assign monetary value to my intellectual property. 

And as a result, I’ve conditioned the marketplace to expect my work as a gift to take, not as a product to buy. 

Stupid core values. Maybe they’re finally catching up to me. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Have you become a victim of your own integrity? 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!

My grandfather has had long and prestigious history in the closeout industry. 

Even into his eighties, he would still go into the office everyday. Before he left after lunch to go play golf, of course. 

A piece of advice he once gave was, never fall in love with your own inventory. 

Meaning, don’t project your autobiography onto the customer. Even if what you’re selling is the greatest thing that ever was, find out what they’re buying and only sell them that. 

I’ve encountered this problem a hundred times in my own business. After all, the inventory I’m peddling is myself. Which means the sales process is an ego vortex. The story I tell myself is that my product is so special, that it isn’t subject to natural human law. 

And my desire to be acknowledged that my inventory is so great, my insatiable need to prove that I’m worth acquiring, actually loses me more sales than if I would simply find out what the customer was buying, and only sell them that. 

Yet another case of being a victim of my own originality. Being so special that I’m especially ignored by customers who aren’t. 

It makes me wonder if perhaps being normal isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hell, if customers are willing to pay for it, my god, open the register. 

Forget about your beloved inventory. It’s just the thing your ego is driven to sell. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Is your need to stand out and be special hurting sales?

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!

My bouts of sadness come and go. 

But the good news is, they’re never debilitating, and they’re always seasonal and situational. 

And that’s how I know it’s not a mental illness. Because there’s rarely an inability to create a future in my mind. I never get so low that it becomes impossible for me to see anything beyond it. And I always believe in my bones that there is a tomorrow that can turn it all around. 

As my therapist friend once said, anxiety will get you out of bed, depression will keep you in it. 

In fact, I’m secretly grateful for my bouts of sadness. Those are the moments when the magic is trying to enter. 

Frankl once observed that as soon as a painful fate cannot be changed, it not only must be accepted, but transmuted into something meaningful. 

It’s a two part process. 

First, notice and name my feelings of sadness, honoring them with the attention they deserve, and second, start creating things with whatever energy is inside of me. Get to work expressing the same thing again and again until I have gone through it to the other side. 

Because even if it’s blocked energy, it’s still energy, which means I can use it. Not to communicate my values or grow my platform or have an impact on the audience, but to simply feel something inside of my body that needs to come out. Period. 

Sadness may not be the best way in for art, but art is certainly the best way out of sadness. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you depressed or just sad?

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 soul is hard to explain to people because it’s just a feeling. 

It’s a subjective psychological experience. The intangible essence of a living being. The life force that reaches far beyond the limitations of mortal flesh. 

I’m reminded of the doctor who famously attempted to measure the mass of the human soul at the turn of the century, proving that it was, in fact, a tangible entity. Macdougall calculated the total mass lost by six humans at the moment of their death, ultimately arriving at the average weight of twenty one grams. 

Naturally, physicians and scientists and researchers around the world rejected his theory as not having any scientific merit. In fact, entire movies were built around the controversy of this very subject. 

And yet, what fascinates me about the soul is not what it’s called or whether it exists or how much it weighs, but how to protect it. 

Because at some point, we all find ourselves in a soulless environment. A cold, lifeless space where life takes us out of ourselves and don’t feel normal anymore. And if we don’t find a way to exist in a manner that makes sense to us, we’re in big trouble. 

The secret is starting with small victories in safe environments. Even if only for twenty minutes at a time. 

I have a musician friend who works a boring day job to pay the bills and get insurance for his family. But every afternoon at lunch, he goes for a long walk by the water, listens to his new song ideas and sings the lyrics and melodies out loud. 

And by the time he returns to work, he feels like himself again. His soul has been recalibrated. 

This daily practice, he tells me, is the most important part of his day. It’s how he reconciles the boredom of life’s responsibilities. 

Proving, that as that soul thrives, everything around it thrives as well. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How far can you travel from your core self without breaking?

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!