You can’t eat like an elephant and shit like a bird

When I published my first book as a
fresh faced, unknown author, my initial print run was three thousand copies. 

That was a lot. 

Not only did I have to borrow money from my parents to
underwrite production, but I also had to store most of my inventory in their
basement. 

But little did I know at the time, the average book in this country
only sells maybe a few hundred copies per year. And that’s if the book is good.
And if it’s supported by a major publisher and a public relations team and
marketing plan and a decent online platform. 

I had none of those things. Just
an abundance of hope and enthusiasm for my work. 

Not surprisingly, over the
next ten years, eighty percent of those books were given away. For free. To
everyone and anyone. 

Because as a young, naïve, impatient, earnest
entrepreneur, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I had completely ignored my
grandfather’s famous business advice:

You can’t eat like an elephant and shit
like a bird

Whatever product you’re trying to sell, see if it’s
edible. Because you might end up eating a few thousand of them when you realize
that most of the people on earth have never heard of you, and never will. And
the ones who have probably won’t care. 

It’s not being cynical, it’s being
realistic. 

Having a storage locker full of products collecting dust helps
nobody. 

Instead, start smaller than you think you need to. Ask yourself:

What’s
the smallest possible footprint I can get away with for the time being? 

What is
the smallest group of people I can make an impact on? 

Once you figure that out,
take the money you would have spent freezing your assets and invest it more
strategically.

Remember, scaling quickly isn’t the goal, being amazing
is. 

Because that earns you the right to grow slowly, and if you want, scale
eventually. 

Or not. 

But at least your parents won’t be stuck with a bunch of
heavy boxes. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Where might you be overestimating yourself?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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Nobody can guess the truth about our desires

The hard part about
asking for what we need is, we must first be aware of what our needs actually
are. 



And before that, we must believe that we are entitled to express those
needs. 



And even before that, we must
accept ourselves as people who even have needs in the first place. 



Such a
complicated issue. Especially when your personality style is conflict avoidant
and peace making and people pleasing. You almost have to train yourself to
accept that asking for what you need isn’t shameful, demanding and
manipulative. 



The practice for me has been habit replacement. Instead of
engaging in my typical passive aggressive communication like dropping hints,
making suggestions, offering bribes, cracking jokes, keeping score, speaking
wistfully or staying silent, I’m learning to give voice to what I need. 



Clearly, directly, specifically and frequently. 



Because nobody can guess the
truth about my desires. Mind reading may be a cool stage trick, but it’s an
unreasonable expectation when it comes to our relationships. 



It’s like the
movie with the married couple sitting in bed reading. The wife says:



Don’t lie
there and pretend you’re not thinking the same thing as me. 



To which the
husband says:



Fine, tell me what you’re thinking so I can know what’s supposed
to be on my mind. 



The point is, even if asking for what we need causes a
momentary strain, it still moves our relationships forward.  



Asking people
for what we need is a key part of taking care of and responsibility for ourselves. 



Don’t suck it up and tough it out and keep the peace. 



Allow the people you care
about to best care for you. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What are you missing out on by not asking what you need?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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I’m getting stressed out trying to relax

Relaxing doesn’t necessarily mean taking a long nap. 

It simply means doing things that calm and soothe your mind, body and soul. 

Like my meditation teacher once said, relaxation is a native plant that grows in your own backyard. 

In fact, the word relax simple means to loosen and become less formal and decrease tension. 

The goal, then, is to engage in relaxation activities that are uniquely appealing to us. Whatever it takes to reach a state where we feel unburdened by his life’s troubles. 

And so, the accountant who spends all day staring at numbers on a spreadsheet of might relax by sparring at the boxing gym. The art teacher who comes home from school covered in paint and clay might relax by doing crosswords that challenge her brain. The novelist who works in a home office and lives inside his ow head might relax by chopping wood in field behind his house. The surgeon who holds his patient’s lives in his own two hands spends lunch breaks in the car playing flute solos along with the radio. 

Each of these individuals has a commitment to their relaxation practice. 

I once heard an interview with a famous opera singer who said that he relaxes by flying planes. Groban says that it’s the polar opposite of singing. Piloting is a very precise, left brain, structured activity that requires a profound attention to detail. And after singing hundred year old songs at the top of his lungs in front of thousands of people each night, landing an aircraft on the runway is supremely relaxing for him. 

Where can you go that helps you relax best? How will you activate a unique tension releasing experience that’s inaccessible to you anywhere else? 

The answer won’t save your life, but it will make the rest of your life happier. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you honoring your need for relaxation?* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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There is a tomorrow that can turn it all around

When we’re feeling troubled, we assume that our pain will last forever. 

Peace of mind appears to be gone for good, and any victories we achieved by facing and conquering our problems in the past are forgotten like a bad dream. 

That’s the curse of negativity. It stops us from loving ourselves. It keeps us from believing that there is a tomorrow that can turn it all around. 

When the truth is, if our burdens today seem greater than any we’ve had before, then that must also mean that our ability to deal with them is equally as great. The tide of time has risen all ships. We’re bigger than our bodies give us credit for. 

Gross said it best in her book on reinvention:

Once we acquire the capacity to generate the power to make the impossible happen, it cannot be taken away from us. 

In fact, it increases over time. That’s the advantage of getting older. We can’t make progress on the path without developing some kind of strength. The longer we kick around this blue marble, the more tools we acquire to understand our problems, the less overwhelming they seem each time we face them. 

Because now we trust ourselves. We have a wiser relationship with the mind. And we know how to draw strength from our own nature to surrender to, and ultimately outlive whatever trouble arises. 

Think about it. Have we not received gifts we once thought were impossible? Have we not uncovered muscles we never bothered to stretch before? Have we not tackled issues that at one time seemed entirely out of reach? 

Let us give ourselves credit for who we are in the present. Let us give thanks for the magical healing properties of time and space. Let us use gratitude as a potent vaccine that inoculates us against negativity. 

And we will survive and come out stronger on the other side. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Will you transform your past hurt and pain into skills of deeper understanding and resilience?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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

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. 

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?


* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs.

Becoming a slave to the image you built

We’re all addicted to a certain image of ourselves. 

And
that’s why we go to great lengths to preserve what we consider to be our
identity. 

Because it’s the racket we think we’re winning with. It’s the asset
that got us where we are, and why give that up? 

But the thing we forget is,
each of us is a constantly evolving and unfolding process. There is no such
thing as a fixed identity. We all have the right to move on. Everyone is
allowed to update who they are. 

There’s a helpful mantra for this very
issue. 



Live larger than your labels. 

Take it from a person who’s been wearing a
nametag everyday for the past eighteen years. Once we accept that what
identified us in the past doesn’t define us in the future, we’re free. 

Free to cast
off the crap that used to weigh us down. Free ti let go of our limited and
fictitious sense of identity and steal a worthier self. And free to surrender our
need to present the right image of ourselves so that we’re not rejected. 

I was
just reminded of a great question from an old support group. 

How do you react
when you’re not measuring up to your image of yourself? 

Tricky. Because on one
hand, there’s this desire to be brand consistent, so to speak. But on the other
hand, if we’re not measuring up, maybe it’s finally time to change the image. 

To stop clinging to a funny little story that gives us some kind of certainty. 

And to stop holding on and buying into an identity that no longer fits the
person we have become.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What part of yourself are you afraid to let go of?


* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


It’s the world’s first, best and only product development and innovation gameshow!


Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs.

Hurrying to keep all the sand in the castle

Confucius famously said that when you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. 



But for workaholics, it’s actually quite the opposite. 



When you find a job you love, you work every day of your life. 



And that’s the problem. It doesn’t feel like work. And so, the reasonable story you tell yourself is that it’s okay to work long hours because you love what you are doing. This is your passion and your purpose and the time just whips by because you’re born for this and there’s nothing you’d rather be doing. 



That may be true, but it also may be a loophole you use to justify staying addicted. There’s a fine line between being committed to the work and being too scared to give up the work for a moment and allow yourself the space you need. 

As it says in the big book of workaholism:

Addicts are hurrying to keep all the sand in the castle as though they would die or cease to exist if they stopped. 

And so, you continue with your compulsive behavior. Keeping yourself trapped in your misery indefinitely. No matter how bad things get. 

Problem? What problem? I’m not that bad. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. This work needs to be done. And now is not a good time to stop. Besides, I’m not hurting anybody but myself. And I’m not nearly as bad as other people. Hey man, nobody is going to tell me what to do. 

Well then, congratulations. Have you come any closer to filling the horrible void you feel inside of yourself? 

Look, it you’re abandoning yourself due to incessant doing, that’s a work addiction. Period. 

And after a while, you can no longer pretend that it’s something you can fix by working harder


LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How can life’s little miracles happen to you if you are always rushing around?


* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


It’s the world’s first, best and only product development and innovation gameshow!


Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs.

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