We’re under way with the second season of my product development and innovation gameshow!

Some new things to watch out for this year, including a guest scorekeeper role in various episodes, not to mention the home edition party card game, which will be available for sale this summer.

Here are the two most recent episodes for your listening enjoyment!

Episode 201: Life Without Good || Jacob, Eli, Dirk
What if communal ownership could help people grow? What if you give children speed in utero? What if accountants had their own dating app? What if children could be professionally abducted to learn their lesson?

Episode 202: Chads Begging For Change || Christian, Rosie, Rick

What if coworkers never tried to sell you crap at the office anymore? What if cat nostrils were the secret path to public sanitation? What if bros were placed in businesses that truly need them? What sorts of coughs occur below the waist? What if you sterilized all the stupid people who lived in Montana?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How many ideas have you thrown away this week?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Our analysis of our mood very rarely relieves us of it. 

In fact, it usually makes things worse. Dwelling on how sad or lonely or uninspired we are, allowing our crappy mood to recruit more negative emotional energy, it’s a step in the wrong direction. 

What’s smarter is combining the art of benign neglect with the practice of making meaning. Here’s how it works. 

We acknowledge and accept and feel our feelings. But then, instead of demonizing them and creating unnecessary psychological fuel around them, we let them go. We liberate our life energy so we can attend to what really matters, which is our individual meaning making mission. 

Mine is written on piece of paper kept at my desk. It’s literally a living document that maps out a large repertoire of activities that are guaranteed to provide me with the experience of meaning. It’s my existential day planner. A micro blue print for fulfillment that inoculates me against any bad moods. 

If you find yourself wasting too much of your life force monitoring how bad you’re feeling, engage in this practice. Benign neglect, making meaning. 

Tons of new energy will soon be freed up for more life giving purposes. 

Taoist holy scripture sums it up perfectly. 

Because he does not dwell on it, nobody can ever take it away from him. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What stupid little crusade do you need to put an end to?

* * * *

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

Arendt’s book on the human condition suggests that each of us has the opportunity to form a durable addition to the human artifice. That the same task, performed year in and year out, will eventually transform the wilderness into cultivated land. 

This approach of continuity, devotion and patience has always inspired me. Most people find it dreadful and monotonous and claustrophobic. 

But personally, the daily practice of commitment to seek what is fresh, spontaneous and interesting in the same place we looked for it yesterday, nothing could be more invigorating. 

Because there’s always a place we haven’t gone yet, always another facet of the work to be discovered. The work of building brick by brick toward the goal, translating small everyday increments into grand creative visions, trusting that you too have beautified and contributed to the world, that makes my nipples hard, man. 

The metamorphosis from wilderness to cultivated land. 

And the exciting part is, our inner topography changes too. 

As my mentor used to say, first you write the book, then the book writes you. 

It’s the spiritual version of the third law of physics. For every action in the material plane, there is an equal and opposite reaction in the spiritual plane. 

And so, whatever physical earth you’re tilling in the world, you can trust that the soil of the soul is cultivating as well. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Do you ever wonder what excuses you use to avoid the daily work?

* * * *

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

A blacklister is someone who tries to put an embargo on your joy. 

A hyper skeptical cynic who not only doesn’t like the things you like, but also judges you for liking the things you like. Simply because it’s not in their taste. 

Being around these people is exhausting and infuriating and makes my stomach hurt. Because you can always count on their sardonic commentary to ruin a good time. 

Like when they shoot down your ideas before you even finish explaining them. Or when they expertly dismantle your enthusiasm from a variety of angles. No matter what the topic is, they’re good for at least four or five scathing comments to tear apart everyone and everything in their path. 

And sadly, there’s no book on dealing with difficult people that can save you. Blacklisters take this art to a whole new level. And sometimes it feels impossible not to get sucked into their misery vortex They are immune to your consultations, to quote the great eighties pop song. 

The important thing to remember about interacting with these people is, it’s not personal. It’s not your fault. It’s not an attack on you or your character. And it is not something thing you need to fix or fight. 

Blacklisters treat everyone this way. Their negativity is a reflection of their chaotic inner state expressed externally. You just happen to be within the blast radius. Meanwhile, they’re sabotaging themselves in order to return to the more comfortable and familiar state of misery. 

Spezzano’s book on heartbreak makes a radical suggestion. He says that when a person attacks, they do so because they are frightened, and they do not expect someone to move toward them. And so, we pour love into them as they are attacking. That way, both people move forward. 

Is it even possible? Can we truly loathe the behavior, but love the person? 

It’s certainly worth trying. To open our hearts to people in such a spacious and generous way, to use our imaginations to find things to love about them, even as they prove themselves to be sneering killjoy cock blockers, they’ll never see it coming. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Will you take the risk and leap into the unmapped, unsafe and unreliable territory where love lives?

* * * *

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

Most tornado deaths are the result of flying debris. 

It’s not the twister itself that kills people, it’s all the giant shards of wood, chunks of metal and slabs of concrete that are swirling around at two hundred miles an hour. That’s what we really have to watch out for. 

Interestingly enough, our brains work in the same way. The tornado that is the human mind constantly churns out all kinds of irrational, bizarre and hostile thoughts. In fact, sometimes there is no darker place than our own mind. 

And yet, it is our guilt about those thoughts that is far more damaging than the thoughts themselves. It’s mental debris. The extra level of suffering we layer on top of our pain. 

For example, perhaps there is someone whom we wish pain or misfortune. Or a business competitor that we irrationally hate. Or even colleague that we sexually fantasize about in our private moments. That’s okay. These thoughts and feelings don’t make us sick and horrible people. They don’t signify that something is wrong with us. 

But there’s no reason to add an extra layer of debris by beating ourselves up for having them in the first place. 

As my therapist once told me, the movies inside our heads are badly written, poorly directed and cheaply produced. 

Next time you notice worrisome thoughts and feelings feeding into the stream, start by not making it worse for yourself. Accept that your thoughts have zero mass, and unless put into action, have zero force. They simply float away like weather patterns. 

Remember, nothing causes more emotional distress than the thoughts you think about the thoughts you think. 

Learn to manage the debris of your nagging mind. 

Reduce the cause of your own future suffering. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What kinds of things do you do to cope that actually make things worse in the long run?* * * *

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

The reason you’re stuck creatively is not because your mind has run out of ideas. 

It’s because your mind is churning out too many thoughts veined with worry, and that’s clouding your sense of proportion and priority. 

Truth is, before you can even start cultivating your idea, you first have to navigate all of the mental debris that stand in the way of its fullest and truest expression. 

Mythology research calls this phase the first threshold on the road of trials. It’s the test. The proving ground. The initial obstacle that, when overcome, makes you stronger and prepares you for the final showdown. 

And it’s not purely physical. 

Psychologically, the road of trials is where the hero can transcend their destructive behavior patterns and thoughts. Campbell says that the departure into this land of trials represents the beginning of the long and really perilous path of initiatory conquests and moments of illumination. Dragons have now to be slain and surprising barriers passed, again and again. Meanwhile, there will be a multitude of preliminary victories, unretainable ecstasies and momentary glimpses of the wonderful land. 

And so, in your hero’s journey of creativity, here are a few characteristics of that first threshold. 

Instead of worrying about doing something right or wrong, you must focus on moving in a direction that makes sense. 

Instead of worrying about whether your efforts are good or bad, you must focus on what gives you energy and captures your imagination. 

Instead of worrying about people judging your work, you must focus on what you like about the process and what resonates with your soul. 

If you can pass through that essential mental threshold, you’re lightyears ahead of most on the road towards creative enlightenment. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you prepared to let go of unhealthy but comfortable patterns when you’re stuck?

* * * *

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

Does this feel like a source of untapped potential? An uncomfortable place that we typically avoid? Perhaps a new dimension of ourselves that could present us the opportunity for growth and change? 

Perfect. That’s our edge. And we should lean into it like a heavy caliber rifle. Because that’s where all the wisdom lies. 

Masters outlined the characteristics of this sacred place in his book on true masculine power. He refers to our edge as the existential threshold where we allow the armoring around our heart to melt. It’s the developmental crucible and initiatory testing ground that demands our full blooded participation. 

The secret is being honest with ourselves about what an edge is not. Because whatever thing we’re doing, if it’s easy, if it’s asking nothing much from us, then it’s not our edge. If it’s not a significant challenge, if it doesn’t require courage, and if it doesn’t bring up resistance, then it’s not our edge. 

Which doesn’t mean that thing won’t have meaning, it’s just that it won’t be valuable door to our growth. 

We never get rewarded for doing what’s easy for us. 

Make sufficient effort to do the inner work that would result in real growth. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Where in your life are you rejecting growth? 

* * * *

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

Here’s the most important thing you want people to remember about you. 

This isn’t all you do. You’re not a one trick pony. There are other arrows in your professional quiver. You have wealth of interesting instincts and skills that combine to form your arsenal of talents, each of which can create real value for real people. 

My mentor even had a mantra for this:

Everything you do should lead to something else you do. 

That was the skill layered on top of everything else. Leverage. Your ability to kill two stones with one bird. 

My publishing company launched a software program to help people do just that. It’s a strategic framework for increasing the rate of return on your personal assets. Simply by asking yourself pointed questions. 

For example, if you recently completed a new customer service initiative at a large company that has multiple departments and outside of your immediate team, you might ask yourself this. 

Who else needs to know about this? 

Meaning, which other employees, who might work in complimentary or adjacent or even perpendicular functions, could adapt your program to their team? Hunt them down. Surprise people with skills they didn’t know you had. Take the risk that you might make someone upset with your initiative. And before long, people will start seeking you out. 

Remember, nobody is standing in the way of your ability to create value. You are the only person preventing you from making full use of your talents and abilities. It’s time to start acting in a way that will make you a giver and not a taker. 

Because having passion for your work is not enough. You also must have perseverance in spreading the word about your work. 

If you don’t tell anybody about it, it never happened. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you giving each of your talents a more prominent place in your work?

* * * *

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

What’s worse than an entrepreneur who is afraid of commitment? 

An entrepreneur who is living their lives to accommodate an outdated commitment because they’re afraid of contradiction. 

That was the stubborn siren song of my professional life for years:

Stick to your guns, shoot yourself in the foot, and then aim the gun at the other foot just so you have a matching set of holes. 

My career was the poster child for firearm regulation. 

From a small business standpoint, it’s understandable. It’s good for the brand. Commitment can make us feel like we have honor. It can make us feel like a special and noble professional who deserves to be congratulated on their idealism. 

But on the other hand, commitment can also make our work narrower and less flexible. Blind to the very things that might make our careers more meaningful, more satisfying and even more profitable. 

My mentor once told me that being religious about how we make our money is the quickest way to go out of business. And so, our responsibility as we progress in our careers is to adapt, evolve and recalibrate our commitments as time goes on. 

Here are a few key questions to ask yourself along the journey. 

Have you locked yourself into a lane that you will have a hard time getting out of? 

Are you so invested in your current strategy you have stopped thinking about other possibilities? 

Have you gotten so worked up thinking your approach is going to work that you can’t imagine it won’t? 

Are you so focused that you are unconscious to the opportunities to pivot to a game that has better odds for you? 

Do you limit yourself because you won’t accept the fact that you might be able to do something else? 

Remember, the commitment police aren’t going bang down your door if you decide change your mind. 

Duchemin once wrote that there is there is no prize for the one who leaves his canvas clean. 

Perhaps the same idea can be applied here. 

There is no prize for the one who never changes lanes. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What obsolete commitments might be trapping 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!

Tune in and subscribe for a little execution in public.

Join our community of innovators, artists and entrepreneurs

What do you mean you don’t want to spend every waking minute with me? 

That was the fear narrative running through my head for many years. That my girlfriend would feel abandoned and rejected and question my love for her if I took an occasional weekend for myself. 

And so, the nice guy inside of me, that friendly midwestern passive aggressive confrontation phobic codependent love addict, would leap in and prevent me from taking strong stands. He would convince me that our desire for harmony was more important than the stands we need to take. And that if we rock the relationship boat and actually announce to this woman that we need some time for ourselves, she is obviously going to burst into tears and run away forever. 

What a perfect opportunity cling on to her like an infant, suffocate her with as much love as possible, make her the center of my universe, cancel plans with all my friends, quit the football team and spend my weekends sitting alone in the bar where she works waiting for her shift to end so we can spend more time together. 

What woman could resist? 

Let’s move in together. 

Perel’s prominent book on mating in captivity explores this relationship misstep in great detail. She explains that you’re so afraid to lose your lover that you’ve alienated yourself and lost your freedom. There isn’t a separate person here for your partner to love. If you truly seek a healthy, sustainable, boundaried relationship, you must create a space between people into which desire can flow more freely. 

And that starts with nurturing a sense of selfhood. Developing personal intimacy with one’s own self as a counterbalance to the couple. Something that highlights a connection to self, rather than a distance from one’s partner. 

In short, not spending every waking minute with each other. 

Now there’s a lesson that would have been helpful to learn about twenty years ago. 

Don’t love people to pieces, love them to wholeness. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you forgetting that fire needs air?

* * * *

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