Millions of people battle insomnia night after night. 

And the causes are varied. Sometimes it’s a legitimate medical problem, sometimes it’s a sleep disorder, and sometimes it’s a combination of unhealthy bedtime rituals that interfere with quality rest.

I have a friend who struggles with sleep on semi regular basis. And although he’d prefer to blame the tiredness on some mysterious and uncontrollable condition he’s been stricken with, he knows that’s just a way of abdicating responsibility. 

Because more often than not, his inability to sleep is tied to an obvious and temporary cause like emotional distress or psychological burden. In fact, the mantra he uses is:

Insomnia is revenge for all the stuff you haven’t given enough thought. 

Which may or may not be true, but it doesn’t matter because making that assumption becomes an invitation to process his thoughts and emotions fully. 

Instead of counting cracks in the ceiling, he grabs his journal and follows his feelings to the other side and metabolizes them into a richer understanding of the world. 

That’s the best sleeping pill on the market, he says. 

Not letting go of his thoughts, but meeting them with kindness and curiosity and friendliness so they let go of him. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Would you rather sleep through the night, or keep getting away with not having to face something again?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!

Many of the things we need have breathtaking simplicity to them. 

But we educate ourselves out of that. We confuse complexity with progress, mistaking sophistication for accuracy, deciding that the solution to our problem should have multiple levels and moving parts. 

That’s the way the human brain works. We feel naked with a simple idea. 

Take conventional marriage wisdom. Every newlywed couple is warmed, never to go to bed angry. 

Doesn’t matter if we don’t get any sleep tonight, let’s just fix this whole thing now. Honey, crack open the relationship repair handbook, put on a pot of coffee and let’s get to work settling this hash. We can’t go to bed angry. That greeting card from your stepmother was right. 

Couple of the year, right? 

On the other hand, what if, instead of compiling a spreadsheet of each other’s minor character flaws, they just went to bed. Sleep is the cheapest, safest, simplest and most effective form of overnight therapy known to man. And so, what if, in the morning, they both woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed and realized how petty and childish and critical they were being, and then had the best sex of their lives? 

Now that’s what I call a simple solution. 

And not that there aren’t real interpersonal issues worth digging into. Every couple has conflict. But the thing about battles is, most of them aren’t worth picking in the first place. 

Most problems can be solved before they become one. You just go to sleep. Or whatever solution seems too obvious to try. 

That’s the beauty of the simple solution. It has the potential to impact everything, but doesn’t have unintended consequences. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Where do you need to dispel the fog of complexity?

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 friend who suffers from mental illness. 

Her daily life is littered with psychological triggers. And so, part of her recovery practice is to avoid stimuli that might trigger her addictive behavior. 

One of the ways she accomplishes this is by deputizing her husband to screen her emails. Every day, he sifts through her inbox, searching for urgent or important messages that require his wife’s attention, but also deleting emails that might expose her to triggering language. 

Now, does that sound inconvenient for the husband? Certainly. But that’s what marriage is. Everything that comes your way is an opportunity for the love to flow more freely between the two people. A chance to throw out the scorecard, let the other person in and give yourself to them in way that you don’t give yourself to anyone else. 

I recently heard a compelling interview with a comedian who told the story about her tumultuous upbringing and current struggles with anger, depression and social anxiety. Not surprisingly, she cited her husband as the critical support person for her survival. She summarized their standing agreement is as follows:

Every time you think you’re being a burden to me, hand me a dollar. And every time I think I’m being a burden to you, I’ll hand that dollar back to you. And I promise, we will never need another dollar for the rest of our lives. We’ll just keep trading it back and forth. Because that what marriage is. Sharing the burden. 

It’s a sacrifice because it costs you something to love this person. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Where are you still keeping score? 
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 easiest thing to do is to prosecute ourselves for crimes past. To feel regretful for not taking a stand when we were young. 

When the reality is, we were so innocent and naïve and trusting back then. We didn’t know any better. We didn’t have words and names for our feelings at that age. Our language was far too small and unsophisticated to contain those experiences. 

And so, as adults, we have to resist the urge to look back in anger and hold our childhood selves up to our current adult standard, wondering, what would a grown up with detective abilities, good morals, a sense of judgment and healthy boundaries have done in that situation? 

That’s not fair. It’s a false equivalency. It’s an inability to make peace with our past. 

Constanza was the worst when it came to this. When a coworker insults his greedy eating habits, he’s caught off guard with nothing to say. But several hours after the meeting has ended, he becomes obsessed with recreating the moment so he can respond with a clever comeback. 

But it never works out the way he hopes. Because the moment has passed, and the response has lost context and relevance. 

French psychologists call this frustrating moment l’esprit de l’escalier, which means the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late. 

And whether we’re pressing the rewind button on something stupid we said at work twenty minutes ago, or something embarrassing that happened in middle school twenty years ago, it’s never worth the stress. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What’s you favorite way to beat yourself up?

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 secret to a good practical joke is time, effort and thoughtfulness. 

Showing someone you care about that they’re worth having fun with and bringing joy to. 

On the other hand, loosening the cap from the pepper shaker right before your friend spices her soup, that’s not funny, that’s just cruel. And unoriginal. And it spoils the meal. There’s no intention of attention behind that. You’re just being a ass. 

In business, this distinction is critical. Not only for playing practical jokes, but also for interacting with customers and users and employees and suppliers and anyone else you deal with on a daily basis. 

Here’s a powerful way to see multiple case studies of this very principle. Go to your favorite online review site. Type in the following phrase, in quotations:

Didn’t even bother to. 

You’ll be shocked at the number of businesses who have zero sense of how to treat people. Hundreds of companies that don’t even bother to execute basic service tasks like checking the availability, notifying customers in advance, calling people back, coming over to apologize, acknowledging somebody’s existence, fixing their mistakes, confirming people’s reservations and writing responses to a complaint. 

That’s no joke. And it’s a reminder that if you want to stay in business, it’s all about time, effort and thoughtfulness. Attention and intention. You have to dare to care, trouble yourself a little, show up when you’re scared, take responsibility for the energy you bring to your customer interactions, show people that you’ve considered their experience when they’re interacting with you and do things for no reason other than to remind customers that they’re worth doing things for. 

Remember, most of life has no witness. Don’t make customers feel like the tree falling in the forest that nobody hears. 

Try caring. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Have you created a unique interface between your company and its customer? 
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!

On the one side of the emotional spectrum, there’s joy and meaning and delight and fulfillment. 

These are the moments when we’re at our best and highest. We feel so alive that we could take on the world. 

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, there’s apathy and disgust and sadness and dread. 

These are the moments when we’re at our worst and lowest. When we feel like life has ground us into a meaningless pulp. 

And yet, that’s a version of aliveness too. Negative as those feelings may be, they still contain useful energy that can be converted into initiative and momentum. 

Ask anyone who creates for a living, and most of them are secretly grateful anytime life gives them the gift of desperation. It’s all just grist for the mill. 

The problem, then, is what to do when we’re stuck in the middle. Floating in the purgatory of indifference. Taken over by a great big empty nothing. Because there’s no convertible energy there. It’s the absence of an emotional reaction. You feel nothing. Flat. Sterile. Exactly zero fucks given. 

Shaw was accurate when he observed that the worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them, that’s the essence of inhumanity.

In fact, here’s cultural proof that indifference is the enemy. 

Marist, the highly respected national public opinion poll, conducts an annual survey to uncover the most irritating word in modern language. What’s fascinating is, topping the charts almost every year since the late nineties is the eternally grating, infinitely annoying, highly dismissive, super unsatisfying word, whatever. 

That’s what people say when they don’t feel like feeling. When they’d rather hide behind a mask of indifference. 

In fact, every time a person defaults to that response instead of expressing how they really feel, we get the sudden urge to reach across the table and beat them with the nearest blunt object. Because then, at least they’ll feel something. 

And so, next time you find yourself trapped in the emotional purgatory of indifference, just notice it. No need to change and repair and solve and overcome your situation. Just notice it. 

And trust that you’ll move out of whateverland soon enough. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What are you missing hiding behind a mask of indifference?

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 mentor loves to tell the story about his first job right out of the army. 

Honolulu’s military base had a job opening that was perfect for him. The opportunity was too good to pass up. 

And so, after a few weeks of interviewing, he got the job, relocated his family to the tropics and started a new life on the island. 

What’s interesting is how he described the experience twenty years later. I asked him what it was like living in a place where most people go on vacation. To which he responded:

You will do everything in paradise in the first two weeks. 

It really messes with your head. It’s like the honeymoon of life. 

Consider recently retired people. They undergo something very similar. Liberated from work obligations for the first time in decades, boredom creeps in quickly. They don’t know what to do with themselves. And it’s a struggle just to fill their days, much less fulfill their dreams. 

Point being, each of us has our own version of this scenario. There’s this long held assumption around freedom and happiness and success that we suddenly realize isn’t everything that it’s cracked up to be. 

It’s a disappointing moment. And there’s not much we can do to prevent it. Only learn from it. Only remember that most things aren’t what they seem. 

The sooner we accept that, the less painful the cruel bite of reality will feel. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Where did you get your training in the art of expectation? 
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 friend whose unique talent is his ability to give acknowledgment. 

To make you feel seen and heard and capable and empowered to become what you never thought you could be. 

Part of that gift, of course, is his quiet, calm voice. He doesn’t have an angry bone in his body. And so, when he sits down with you and whispers words of encouragement, gently pointing out questions and ideas and alternative pathways to life’s problems, you can’t help but feel better about your situation. 

Then, at the end of our conversations, he also makes a practice of saying the following mantra:

I’d love to acknowledge you before I go. 

At which point, he mentions something that leaves you with a little step forward toward your dream. 

It’s a beautiful exchange. In fact, he’s even in the process of building software to help companies operationalize acknowledgement within their organizations. 

After all, having a way with people is a lost art. Things like warmth, encouragement, bravery, empathy and initiative, these are the intangible arrows in our emotional quiver. And they’re priceless. 

Even though our business culture has conditioned itself to value the calculable, if it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense, as the song goes, still, it’s the unquantifiable component of the human repertoire that has the biggest impact on the people around us. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you famous for the people who love you or the way that you love them?

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!

Be radically honest when most people would say nothing. 

It’s a
simple but scary notion. 

Because in many cases, we’re afraid to be honest for
fear that someone won’t like us. But the reality is, in that moment of silence,
there’s likely to be some tension in the air. And if we can be the brave person
who relieves it, all is forgiven. 

In my experience, radical honesty when most
people would say nothing has many conversational benefits. 

First, it’s unexpected,
since telling the truth has become a revolutionary act. And anytime you can
create surprise in the air, it’s a perfect time to give someone new ideas. 

Second, it’s refreshing, since most people are jaded from the countless times
they’ve been burned, duped, fooled, conned, tricked, scammed and screwed over.
And deep down, all they really want is to connect with people who won’t
bullshit them. 

Third, it’s liberating, since true freedom comes from refusing
to hide. No more pretending and performing and posturing, just taking
responsibility as the brave being who notices the moment. 

And finally, it’s
relaxing, since dishonesty is
the primary source of modern human stress. 

That’s my favorite part. Because although lying is effective, it’s also a lot
of work. And I’m a busy guy. I’d rather burn my calories on something more
meaningful.

As my mentor once said, lying takes skill, but
honesty takes courage. 

Remember, everybody who is honest is interesting. 

I
challenge you to put a priority on speaking your microscopic truth. 

Especially
when most people would say nothing. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What does honesty oblige you to do in this situation?
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!

Shaw famously said that the biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. 

And that’s where we get ourselves in trouble. Instead of actually communicating, doing the work of teaching others about who we are and what we need and what makes us tick, we’re merely acting. Symbolizing things. Going through the motions and expecting our messages to be received loud and clear, but the moment they’re not, we blame others for not understanding us. 

Which is deeply unfair. Because most people barely understand themselves, much less what we’re trying to say.

And so, to be furious and enraged and bitter when others don’t get all of what we are, is a form of cruelty. It’s like saying to somebody, I’m angry with you because you didn’t realize something I thought.

Of course, there’s always mind reading technology. Cognitive neuroscientists who work for the military use something called an electroencephalogram, which is a test that detects electrical activity in a person’s brain using small, flat metal discs, or electrodes, attached to their scalp. 

In their experiments, a soldier would sit with electrodes connected to his head and look at a screen flashing images at him. Without speaking or clicking, he’d silently count how many images popped up on the screen that fit into a certain category that he had chosen to follow. 

And without telling anyone what he picked, the computer tracking his brain waves was able to tell which images he was following. Too cool!

But sadly, too costly and too complicated for civilian life. Oh well. 

The point is, we have to be aware of the illusions that act as a replacement for understanding. 

We have to stop expecting people to read our minds. 

And we have to use a little more empathy and patience in the ways that we express ourselves. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you still assuming other people are having the same experience you’re having? 
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!