Are you miserable enough to try anything?

You complain how it’s so hard to meet someone special. 

That the dating scene in this city is unforgiving and exhausting. And that there are no good prospects out there. 

Fair enough. All of those things are probably true. 

But they’re also external, out of your control and therefore, very easy to blame for your current situation. The only question that matters is:

How are you keeping the fire of inner commitment alive? 

Because that’s what a person who wants something does. They commit. They go all in. 

Here’s another way to think about it. Remember when you were stuck working that dead end job you hated? It was awful. You were miserable enough to try anything. 

And so, you created a strategy. You started making phone calls and putting out feelers and sending out resumes and networking your ass off until you finally found a job that was more fulfilling. 

In short, you committed. You went all in. Four months later, you secured a new position at a great company, peaced the fuck out of your toxic work environment, stepped into your new life and never looked back. 

How is that any different than dating? 

It’s not. Because commitment is medium agnostic. It’s one of the few strategies that works no matter what the goal is.

And so, whatever it is that you’re lacking, remind yourself that you’ve seen this movie before. Your life has already given you the proof that you know how to commit. It’s time to trust that there is training you already have that you can apply to what you want. 

Remember, people only change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the cost to change. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS...

Are you miserable enough to try anything?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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I shall now proceed to never do anything else ever again

We romanticize the young,
idealistic artist or entrepreneur who has their creative moment of conception
at the tender age of nineteen and earnestly announces to themselves:



I shall
now proceed to never do anything else ever again



Because so many of our heroes
tell this very type of origin story. How they had a dollar and a dream and no
backup plan in place, and through dedication and hard work and a bit of luck,
they were one of the ones who made it all the way. 



They never did anything else
for a living for the rest of their lives, because they never needed to. 



Nice
work if you can get it, but since when did hammering one nail all our lives
become the royal road to greatness? 



What about the people brave enough to
accept the fact that they can do something else? Those who walk away when it’s
still beautiful? Those who quit what is impossible to win and change directions
proudly? 



That’s equally as admirable. Stepping aside, letting go of holding
onto themselves and trying something else to see where it takes them, that’s
romantic too. 



Remember, everything real comes from initiating something new. We
pass up a lot of wonderful adventures because we’re afraid to let go
.  



LET ME ASK YA THIS...

Is your passion urging you to continue with a project long after practicality has told you to quit?
* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


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Smile wide enough to hide no secrets

It’s deeply healing and liberating to stop hiding from ourselves. 

That’s where real freedom comes from. The courage to be fully seen. In all our imperfect glory. 

But the tricky part is, hiding takes many forms. 

Shady disguises. Convenient excuses. Tidy narratives

That’s why we are often the last ones to realize that we’re hiding. Our vision is obscured. 

Yossarian comes to mind, the protagonist in one of the great satire novels of all time. He asked the question of his fellow fighter pilot:

How can see he’s got flies in his eyes if he’s got flies in his eyes? 

Hence the term, catch twenty two. 

Our goal, then, is to understand the many ways hiding happens. Here are several examples. 

Planning is a form of hiding. 

Getting ready to get ready to think about possibly considering the option of executing is a certainly a form of work, but it’s not the work that matters. It’s just procrastination. Besides, we’re never really ready. 

Privacy is a form of hiding. 

Not that we have to share everything all the time to everybody everywhere. But if we keep doing work that guarantees we remain obscure, and then go hating the world for not knowing who we are, it’s because we’re scared. Afraid of putting our whole heart on show, revealing our feelings to the crowd below. 

Another form of hiding is inappropriate and excessive attention to detail. Because it feels like the responsible thing to do. And in certain cases it is. Everyone wants to avoid the sloppy mistakes that make rejecting their work easy. But when we cross the line from professionalism to perfectionism, it’s likely because we have an addiction to control. 

Busyness is also a form of hiding. Even if running around the forest putting a few chops in each tree feels satisfying and productive, deep down, we’re still afraid to commit. By spreading ourselves too thin, we’re still avoiding the focus that allows us to make a real impact. 

And lastly, complexity is a form of hiding. Yes, it feels like progress. It helps us preserve the illusion of effectiveness. But what we’re hiding from is the naked terror of simplicity. 

Free yourself. Smile wide enough to hide no secrets. 

Cast your heart out from a place where you were comfortable. And see what happens. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS...

Is your deepest fear that you will run out of places to hide?

* * * *

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!


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That don’t show my breakaway speed

Comparison with others are a futile game with no winners. 

But then again, we’re no picnic either. 

Being better than our former self sounds like a noble personal development crusade, but all that judgment gets out of control when we start evaluating ourselves according to who we used to be. 

It’s like the famous commercial with the football player watching his video game avatar getting tackled from behind on screen. He complains to the game developers with clipboards:

That don’t show my breakaway speed!

To which the geeks reply:

Our numbers say you lost a step. 

We all go through some version of this form of loss. Because the trap of comparison doesn’t even require other people, only our own ego. As with most pain in life, the call is coming from inside the house. 

But this the great human preoccupation. Our denial of death. That’s why we’re always grasping at the way things used to be. Coming down hard on ourselves for not being as energetic and robust and creative as we were ten, five or even one year ago. 

Because maybe that will cheat the reaper for another day. 

But contrary to what that motivational poster on the gym wall says, there are more important things than being better than the person we were yesterday. 

Like loving who we are today. And having faith that whoever we become tomorrow, assuming we actually make it to tomorrow, that person won’t be any better or worse than today. They will simply be. 

What we lose in speed we gain in bravery. 

And so, if we are to grasp for anything, let it be acceptance. Not giving up, but simply being honest about our situation. 

Compassionately witnessing our limitations. 

Otherwise, we will start measuring our current reality by our previous experiences, and we will do ourselves a great disservice. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS...

Are you crying for the boy that died to give birth to who you are today?

* * * *

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 no right or wrong because it’s all mine

Hyde’s seminal book on the magic of the gift economy showed that most of the people who were asked to donate kidneys to loved ones rarely took time to deliberate their decision. 

They just said yes. There was no decision to make. There were no sides to weigh. 

The author explained that instantaneous decision is a clear mark of an emotional and moral life. 

Unlike that friend of yours who has never given a single definitive yes to any invitation he’s ever received. He just says, yeah we’ll see, hopefully I can stop by. It’s insanely annoying. 

All the more reason to apply the decision making principle to our lives. Whatever the situation is, just decide. Just make a choice. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to be the right one because there is no right one. 

The right decision is the one that you make, the right path is the one that you take. 

Which sounds like a nursery rhyme, but maybe it should be. 

Popova said it best on her award winning blog about the inventory of a meaningful existence:

In the face of life’s dilemmas, there is often no right or wrong choice, what matters is only that we do choose, that we make up our minds and march forward, for nothing dulls the little time we have more surely than the paralysis of indecision. 

Perhaps one day we will learn to refrain from submitting every decision to the calculus of a cost benefit analysis. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS...

Who you were and what you knew before you defined things as good or bad, right or wrong?

* * * *

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!


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The most precious provision in the world

Armed with the desire to be helpful, we immediately try to provide a solution. 

But the reality is, if we really want to be providers for the people in our lives, leaping in to solve or save or treat or fix the problem isn’t an effective as just becoming the solution ourselves. 

After all, most people most of the time want affirmation, not information. 

I once heard a marriage counselor use the sun as the prime example. She talked about how its role as the brightest star at the center of our solar system is to simply offer warmth, presence and love to the planets in its orbit. That’s the divine provision. 

Carlin spoke to this very phenomenon in one of his brilliant comedy routines. 

Every I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need. Heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, even the occasional skin cancer. And the best thing about the sun is, it never tells me I’m unworthy. Doesn’t tell me I’m a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn’t said an unkind word. Treats me fine. 

Imagine how much brighter and warmer our relationships would be if we thought of ourselves in that way. 

Our bouts of provider anxiety might finally reduce to a manageable level. 

Remember, a warm and loving presence is the most precious provision in the world. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS...

What happened to the last person you tried to fix?

* * * *

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!


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Beware the cut of subtle unkindness

Just because we’re not visibly harsh to each other, doesn’t mean we’re not hurting each other. 

The cut of subtle unkindness is insidious, and if we’re not careful, each of those tiny little nicks can add up and translate into serious relationship problems. 

Every time I walk past a couple hashing it out in public, I always walk away confused. Not about the fact that people have conflict, but the fact that people are so unkind and mean to each other in the process. 

Look, we all get mad and hurt and scared and stressed. There are no wrong feelings. Each of us should cherish the variety of our emotions, even if they don’t make sense to us. 

But that’s not license to be unkind to each other. 

Consider several ways in which people practice subtle unkindness toward each other. 

Saying no to the little things they ask of each other. 

Speaking with an irritable edge to our voices. 

Giving orders instead of making requests. 

Making joking but belittling comments. 

Contradicting each other in public. 

Who among us isn’t guilty of at least one item on that list? 

Proving, that we all probably have some remedial kindness work to do. We all need practice giving high priority to each other’s needs and wishes. 

And so, next time you walk past a fighting couple in the street, before you judge them for being stuck in the emotional crossfire, ask yourself where you might be acting subtly unkind in your own life. 

Because all love is saying yes to something. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS...

What if every moment of accepting the other person’s effort was a step back to love? * * * *

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!


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The needier we are, the more we set ourselves up for rejection

Because of my codependent, workaholic, love addicted personality, I’ve always had the tendency to do this:

Fall in love very easily and too quickly, smother people within an inch of their lives, and then chase after the ones who reject me and try desperately to change their minds. 

It’s that earnest but unhealthy and overwhelming form of passion that involves persistence at all costs, where the relationship controls me rather than the other way around. 

And because I’m far too needy to be capable of denying my own unrealistic expectations, that experience ultimately destroys me. 

But the lesson life seems to be teaching me over and over again is: 

People may not be rejecting us, they may simply be unable to give what we are asking.

It’s not personal. It’s not an attack. It’s just a rejection, not reflection of our inherent value as human beings. 

That’s a more mature understanding of relationships. That’s how we face reality with maturity. 

And it’s a lot less exhausting than the torments of unrequited love. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS...

When you are attracted to someone or something, will you ignore all the warning signs that it’s not healthy for you?

* * * *

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!


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The burning bush never stopped burning

I once read a fascinating sermon about the burning bush. 

The pastor proposed that the fire wasn’t the divine suddenly showing up in the middle of the desert. The spirit was there the whole time. Moses simply wasn’t aware of it. 

Maybe he assumed that he knew the land like the back of his hand. Or maybe he was in too much of a hurry to notice the flame. Or maybe he was texting. 

The point is, that bush could have been burning for years. 

What an interesting thought experiment on attention and intention. And here’s what it means to me. 

Most things in life aren’t things, they’re places inside of us. Joy and love and peace and creativity and abundance? Take your pick. They’re all just bushes that are already burning. We have everything we need right here within us. There is a great life inside waiting to be nurtured. 

Of course, here’s the uncomfortable part about this theory. 

It puts people on the hook. It holds them very accountable. Think about it. 

Knowing that something has been with us always and merely awaits our realization of it, that’s scary. 

Knowing that we carry the seeds of happiness within us at every moment, that’s scary. 

Knowing that everything we want to create is already inside of us, that’s scary. 

Knowing that joy is a gift that’s ours as soon as we’re willing to accept it, that’s scary. 

Knowing that we’re only an instant away from peace and enlightenment, that’s scary. 

But it’s also deeply empowering. Kind of makes you want to go find the straw inside of you that threatens to catch fire and call its bluff. 



LET ME ASK YA THIS...

What burning bushes might you be overlooking?

* * * *

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.x

What happened to me wasn’t bad enough

Wherever we go, we take everything we’re made of. 

All the things that happened in our life are a part of us, and we carry them with us into the future, whether we want to or not. 

Even the bad stuff. Especially the bad stuff. 

And in fact, if we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re just average people with typical experiences and the things that happened to us weren’t bad enough; we might consider taking a second look. 

Because everyone has trauma. Everyone has moments that rattle their emotions, create stress, cause nightmares and provoke anxiety. 

As my shrink friend likes to say, most people come from some kind of chaos and bullshit. 

The question is, why don’t we give full weight to the events that shaped us? 

Any number of reasons. All of which are valid. 

Maybe we were excited about it at the time and it didn’t register as traumatic. Or maybe what happened to us was so buried in the distant past that we have the tendency to minimize the effect it had on us. Or maybe we didn’t realize an event was traumatic because there was no music to inform us how to feel. 

Or my personal favorite, maybe we feel guilty and inadequate about our lack of suffering when compared to the horrors other people have endured, so write off our little experiences as not counting. 

But it all counts. It all affects us. None of us gets a free pass out of the bewildering chaos known as the human experience. 

But the sooner we accept unique pain, the sooner we can heal, and the sooner we can use what happened to us to help others feel less alone with theirs. 


LET ME ASK YA THIS...

How will you rest your chaos on a firm emotional mattress?

* * * *

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.x

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