It’s easy to have agency over joy when life is good. 

But allowing ourselves the luxury of delight when things aren’t going well, that takes real skill. 

Because in the back of our minds, we feel that we’ve haven’t earned it yet. We haven’t worked hard enough to deserve joy. Only after the cosmic scale of justice is done tallying our happiness credits, can we finally exhale. 

It’s a cruel game we play with ourselves. Caught in the trance of unworthiness, we deprive and postpone and diminish the experience of pleasure because of guilt and fear. 

After all, we will be punished by pursuing it now. 

And so, we start making this bullshit deal with ourselves that once things pick up again, then we can have joy. Once the low passes and we get a few new clients and pay off all the credit cards and iron out the kinks in our existential laundry, then we can finally get one step closer to our genuine interest. 

Because by then, we’ll be worthy of it. 

The problem with this game is, by always looking to the future to allow joy into our lives, it always remains out of our reach. It’s like holding our happiness hostage. Repressing the very sources of our deepest satisfaction. Blinding ourselves to the very things that will make our life feel worth living. 

Our job, then, is to pursue joy, right now, without guilt or justification or afterthought or overcompensation. It’s not an indulgence, it’s an act of appreciation for life. 

Lewis’s famous book about how joy shaped his early life said it most eloquently:

A man seldom mentions his most idiosyncratic notions, but he must reimburse himself for cuffs and toil. Moments when I was too happy to speak, when the gods and heroes rioted through my head, a whole world of beauty was opening before me, my own officious obstructions were often swept aside and, started into self forgetfulness, I again tasted joy. What more felicity can fall to creature than to enjoy delight with liberty? 

A poetic reminder that the soul need genuine joy, just as the mind needs information and the body needs food and exercise. 

Stop serving your sin like you owe it something and get the wind of joy blowing at your back. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Do you allow yourself the luxury of joy, even during the hard times?

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!

Moore’s research on the soul’s journey from misery to ecstasy teaches us:

The dark nights of the soul have many important gifts for us. Even the most deeply disturbing episodes can become precious moments of transformation. Painful restructuring experiences that force us to alter our basic views and values for the better. 

And so, the goal isn’t to give all our efforts and get the darkness off of ourselves in two weeks flat. Feeling cocky for having made it through the low successfully and quickly is nothing to brag about. 

It isn’t impressing anybody. It’s only robbing us of the chance to learn lessons and endure through the important changes the pain can make for us. 

Several years ago I was having coffee with my mentor, who was coaching me through a significant life transition. And she said something that I didn’t conceptualize at the time, but now I finally understand. 

During periods of transition and threshold, the urge to hang on is really strong. The tendency is to try to negotiate a deal. To replace one process for another. But that’s not transformation, that’s just change. 

If you truly want to lean into a radically different future, don’t try to finish too quickly. You can’t outsmart the process. And when you think you know your destination, then you’re on the wrong path. 

It’s like the overly ambitious, hyper competitive athlete who reluctantly finds himself on the disabled list. He’s so anxious to get back on his feet and take over his normal duties and feel like his old self again, that he pressures himself to recover from the injury too quickly. 

And as a result, he does a disservice to himself. He treats his feelings of despair and emptiness and pain as mere deviations from the normal and healthy life he idealizes. But as the aforementioned monk reminds us:

We don’t choose a dark night for ourselves. It is given to us. 

Our job is to get close to it and sift it for gold. 

Next time you’re knee deep in a painful restructuring experience, resist trying to resolve things too quickly. 

Take your time, and reward the time you take. 

And ask that universe binds up your wounded heart and gives you the wisdom to take things slowly. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Where in your life are trying to force nine women to have a baby in a month?

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!

Insurgent, the second book in the bestselling dystopian trilogy, presents two schools of thought on the relationships. 

Peter, who gets sick to his stomach at the idea of being indebted to another person, believes that people only do things for you for one of two reasons. If they want something in return, or if they feel like they owe you something. 

Typical cynic. Chronically paranoid about who’s winning the relationship. It’s death by scorecard. Scarcity thinking. Running a race that isn’t being held, winning a trophy that doesn’t exist. 

Tobias, on the other hand, reminds him that that those aren’t the only two reasons people do things for you. Sometimes they do them because they love you. That’s the healthiest, smartest and frankly, least labor intensive approach to human relationships. Throwing away our scorecards. 

Treating love as an infinite field, where we’re not playing to win, we’re playing keep the game going. And in the process, we create growth for all parties involved, no matter what the score is. 

I’ve found this approach to relationships to be surprisingly liberating. Because instead of trying to arrive at some static point of perfect balance with each other, which, frankly, is a perfectionist ideal that’s never found in actual life, we’re free to enter the mysterious complexity of the interpersonal dynamic. 

We’re able to tear up our scorecards, accept the fact that nobody really wins at relationships, and generously extend acceptance, forgiveness and gratitude to each other without the pressure of counting. 

Racking up points blocks the flow of love. 

The moment somebody starts keeping score, the relationship starts to die. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Are you poisoning your relationships by keeping track of who sacrifices more? 
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 industrial revolution was a blessing and a curse. 

On one hand, it pioneered the idea of free enterprise, skyrocketed productivity, boosted industrial growth, created new job opportunities and made mass transit cheaper, easier and cleaner. 

But it also profoundly changed the thinking of the western world. 

Because a few centuries later, we now tend to see everything as if it were a machine. Especially in the workplace, where employees are being urged from every side to become efficient, rather than intimate. 

Where the dominant ethos is, get shit done, and not, get known deeply. 

The irony is, intimacy is the very thing that leads an organization profitability. It can’t be comfortable quantified on the balance sheet. But to modify the old management cliché:

What can’t be measured, matters. 

I once met the president of an advertising agency whose mantra is, human are not resources. 

And so, his company doesn’t have a human resources department. He thinks that’s an awful phrase. Instead, new hires are interviewed by the people who will actually be working with them. That ensures that they’re hiring for the right team and the right reasons. 

Is it any surprise that his company has topped the best place to work survey seven years running? Is it any wonder why his employees and clients are so fiercely loyal to the organization? 

That’s the beauty of intimacy. People almost don’t know how to react when they are treated like human beings with ideas, feelings and dreams. They’re so used to being treated as efficient machines. 

And so, if you want to deepen the intimacy at your workplace, forget the corporate buzzwords like customization and personalization and building a matrix of preferences to be routinely recorded and preserved in mind numbing detail. 

Hell, junk mail is customized and personalized. It even has your name on it. Doesn’t make it intimate. It’s literally garbage delivered to your house. 

True intimacy comes from tension. 

I’m reminded of something my favorite sex therapist once wrote. Donaghue says that the best way to start an intimate conversation is as follows:

This hard for me to say, and I know it will be hard for you to hear, but I need to share it with you. 

Conversations like these are built from a place of anxiety, he says. And that’s a good thing. Anxiety is a cornerstone in building intimacy. If what you are sharing and discussing with someone does not make you anxious, then you are not building intimacy. 

Remember, intimacy stands for, into me I see. 

Don’t allow your company to become another institution committed to the dulling of the individual. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Do you view humans as resources, or as humans? 
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!

Patchett’s immortal advice to writers was a philosophy I always appreciated. 

Be
funny, be clever, and you will scrape by, she said, because cleverness, once
learned, can be the staircase that takes you down to more interesting places. 

What’s interesting is, this creative strategy can be applied to our
psychological life as well. 

Consider anger. It’s the emotion with perhaps the
worst reputation in history. Its destructive powers have led to crime, divorce,
violence, sickness, suicide, wars and some of the worst movie sequels that ever
graced the screen. 

But the lesson we’re never taught in school is, anger is the
ember of initiative. It’s meant to be listened to and acted upon. In fact, do
ourselves a disservice when we feel guilty about experiencing this particular
emotion. 

What’s healthier and more useful is to accept anger’s invitation. To
dig down deep below the surface reactions and see how many interesting pearls
of creativity and initiative and agency we can unearth. 

Anytime I experience
anger related to my business, and I actually have the guts to stick with that
feeling long enough to see what treasures lie behind it, I always walk away
with a few practical ideas about how to improve my situation. 

My body feels
lighter, my mind feels calmer, my spirit feels more lucid, and of course, my
situation feels more hopeful. 

It’s the positive power of anger. The emotional
staircase that takes us down to more interesting places. 

Never waste an angry
mood. Follow that vibe and see where it takes you. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…  

Are you doing yourself the disservice of feeling guilty about being angry? 
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!

Cartoons made my creative life possible. 

From an early age, animation provided a source of deep inspiration, joy and meaning for me. Schultz, more than anybody, shifted my inner geography from day one.  

The documentary about his creative process captured my imagination like nothing else. Snoopy and friends actually made me want to become a cartoonist myself. 

And so, I bought the books and took classes and even started my own comic strip. You couldn’t pry the pencil and paper away from me with a crowbar. 

Until one day, my art teacher stood over my shoulder and lovingly explained that tracing images from books and simply changing the names of the characters didn’t exactly qualify as cartooning. 

Apparently, the combination of pure plagiarism and not being able to draw was at odds with my career goals. 

My aspiration for animation flamed out pretty quickly. Which was sad, but not devastating. 

Because shortly thereafter, guitar entered my life. That instrument did more for me than any pencil ever could. Jamming with my friends, writing songs for girls, performing shows at local coffee shops and recording my own albums, music became the sublime creative release that my adolescent heart longed for. 

Plus, it built the artistic foundation that enabled me to succeed in my professional life later on. 

Fast forward to two decades later, and my career was at a crossroads. Burned out after years of writing business books, consulting and giving speeches, my heart was in search of its new creative expression. 

Something different. Something sweet. Something whimsical. 

That’s when the cartoon bug came back to bite me. It was time to resurrect that childhood dream. 

But how? Where does a creator begin? Especially when he can’t even draw a straight line? 

Jason, my closest artist friend, gave me some great advice. 

Who cares if you suck at drawing? Cartoons are about writing. Use your limitation as an advantage. Let that force you to look for a new way to visually express yourself and evolve your voice. Play. Experiment. Have fun. Do it. 

He was right. Since when did knowing how do something well, or even at all, prevent anybody from doing anything? Wasn’t going to stop me. Not this time. 

Besides, my unique talent stack as a writer, producer, creative director and entrepreneur was solid enough to corral a small crew to help execute my vision without drawing a single line. 

And that’s exactly what happened. With the help of a veteran engineer, a skilled animator, a brilliant art director and a speedy developer, we were able to transform eleven of my songs into the world’s first ever animated folk rock opera. 

It brings me to tears every time I watch it.

Lesson learned, just because you never had a chance to follow your dreams as a kid, doesn’t mean they can’t catch up to you as an adult. 

Give yourself permission. Don’t be stopped by not knowing how. Surround yourself with the people who can help you become who you need be. 

And stoke your creative embers into a roaring fire. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you looking for people to tell you that your dreams are crazy so you can abandon them and make it their fault, not yours?
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!

What scares me about technology is, it’s turning us into a generation of problem avoiders. 

Thanks to the magic of search engines, there’s no need to wonder anymore. Thanks to the power of geo positioning, there’s no way to get lost anymore. And thanks to the magic of smartphones, there’s no reason to turn to the stranger next to us and ask for directions anymore. 

This can’t be healthy for our species. Because if we don’t practice relying on the very things that make us human, like instinct and intellect and empathy and social connection and emotional intelligence, than our most vital muscles will atrophy. 

And our ability to face conflict and confront problems will dissipate. 

Turkle was prophetic when she asked the following question:

When did we decide that a life without conflict, without dealing with the past or running up against the troublesome people in it, was good? 

The issue, then, is less about computers and more about connection. It’s about choosing what is highest in humanity, instead of sucking the aliveness out of our interactions. It’s about facing the complexity of genuine confrontation, instead of skating by the conflict because we want other people to like us. 

And it’s about speaking up at the slightest sense of discomfort, instead of allowing our fear of repercussions to create reluctance to speak up about important issues. 

Personally, I’ve always struggled with this. Avoiding conflict and dodging confrontation has been my specialty since childhood. 

That’s why I’ve been practicing conflict in small, concrete ways. Tolerating uncomfortable emotions associated with confrontation. Behaving assertively even when it may not be well received. Surprising myself by standing up when I am usually meek. 

And every time I practice, it makes me feel intensely alive. Because despite the discomfort, I know that I’m choosing what is highest in humanity. 

Good luck getting that from your phone. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

How successfully are you relying on the most human parts of 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!

One of the great relationship breakthroughs is accepting that it’s okay for other people to be angry and disappointed. 

It’s simply a matter of trust. 

On their end, we trust that they have the ability to cope with a wide array of feelings. We trust that they’re not going to abandon us just because we said something that upset them. We trust the communication process and believe that the people have something valuable to say. And we trust that they’re not going to bury a meat cleaver between our eyes while we’re sleeping. 

On our end, we trust that it’s not our job to prevent people from experiencing discomfort. We trust that whatever we did doesn’t make us a bad person. We trust that we’re good enough and that we don’t have to spend our life proving that we are. And we trust that we don’t have to overcompensate for our mistake by sending flowers and a singing telegram to help erase the other person’s memory of just how imperfectly human we really are. 

A helpful mantra that my therapist used to suggested is:

I’m doing this as an expression of my trust. 

You can write it down, recite it inside your head, proclaim it to the universe, or verbally communicate to another person. Whichever form the mantra takes, what matters is that you bring intention and conscious awareness to the process. 

Because for many of us, trusting is a deeply vulnerable act. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

What might assist you in building trust with yourself, with others and with the universe? 

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 companies want to create
atmospheres where customers can feel like complete human beings, people need to
be welcomed, not merely tolerated. 

Because there’s nothing more demoralizing than being treated like an
inconvenient interruption. As if the person’s presence was interfering with the
receptionist’s ability to do their job. 

And yet, it happens every day.
Employees treat customers like objects. 

They get annoyed with our inability to
telepathically mind read their bullshit language and rituals. And as a result,
we’re made to feel guilty. 

Like when we walk in the door five minutes before
closing, or when we use a coupon on the last possible day, or when we return a
faulty product, or when we request to stay within a certain budget. 

The cashier
stares at us like we have two heads. Like we’ve accidentally mistaken them for
someone who cares. 

Friends, the time has come to get more sophisticated about
human relationships. The business focus needs to be on truly serving people,
instead of merely doing a job for them. 

I spent two years working in guest
service at a luxury hotel, and I’m infinitely grateful for that experience.
Because it schooled me in compassion. 

It helped me accept that seriously bad
things happen to everybody, through no fault of their own, and that each
customer rests at the nexus of a vast number of interwoven causes and
conditions that influence their behavior, most of which are out of their
control. 

And so, the last thing people need in that moment is guilt, contempt
or condescension. 

They want care. They want people to say yes to them. They
want to be seen and heard and felt. And they want to be treated liked adults. 

That’s sophistication. It’s not complicated, it’s merely calorie intensive. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Are you so wrapped up with your own tasks that you treat customers as obstacles?

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!

Sometimes you do everything right, and it’s still not enough. 

It’s goddamn maddening. Like you can’t win no matter how hard you try. And it makes you want to punch people through the phone. 

What’s fascinating, though, is if you push through the frustration, liberation awaits on the other side. Because once you realize that control is an illusion, once you accept that the outcome of most situations isn’t based on much effort you choose to exert, you can finally let go and let the joy carry you. 

As I discovered in group therapy, the moment you start to feel bad about yourself, find the lie. 

That’s when I started surrendering to my pain. Accepting the reality of my body and freeing myself form the anxiety of perfection. And what I found was, you can actually accomplish more with the energy of acceptance than the energy of control. 

Keep in mind, however, that surrender is not resignation. You’re not waving a white flag and collapsing into complacency. You’re just relieving yourself the enormous burden of ruling the universe. 

Through acceptance, that engine runs out of gas. 

And so, next time you fail to make headway in your endeavors, despite working hard and long and smart, allow yourself to feel the flush of rage in your face. 

But only for a short while. Feeling sorry for yourself wastes a lot of mental energy. 

For now, try moving through the frustration to discover the freedom waiting on the other side. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

In what situations do you have difficulty accepting 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!