Value comes from volume. 

The best way to a
good idea is to have a lot of ideas. 

And so, the question is not whether we
finish what we start, but whether or not we start enough things to eventually
find something worth finishing. 

Even if our boss complains that he can’t have
every deadbeat on the payroll pestering him with their idiotic brain waves, we
still can’t allow the fear of failure corrupt any new action. 

In fact,
sometimes the pressure to finish everything we start leads to procrastination
and perfectionism and apprehension, or worse yet, quitting before we even
start. What’s more, sometimes get so focused on reaching the finish line that
we don’t take the time to reward ourselves for what we have already achieved so
far. 

Arendt’s philosophy of labor comes to mind, which is that each person is
free to make new and meaningful beginnings in both thought and action.
Reminding us that there might be a monster lurking in the shadows looking to
devour our initiative capacities, but there is still no upside to not taking
the first step. 

Just keeping starting things. Trust that whatever will
finish, will finish. Resist the urge to chastise yourself for not shipping
every idea that pops into your brain. And accept that no action ever attains
its intended goal anyway. 

Finishing ideas may very well be the safest future we
can have, but the joy and exhilaration of initiating lots and lots of ideas
counts for much more than we realize. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you starting enough things to eventually find something worth completing?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Although loneliness has come to be the new poverty in modern society and the most common ailment of the modern world, it wasn’t always like this. 

As a species, our isolation has grown ever more pronounced with each passing decade. The shared pursuit of the public good has been replaced by the solitary quest for private goods. And the social connectedness which most powerfully determines our wellbeing has been reduced to leaving comments on people’s social networks while taking a shit. 

This is why we are filled with a longing for reunion with each other. 

Keen’s groundbreaking text on the journey to authentic selfhood characterizes this human narrative perfectly. 

Primitive people had none of the dreaded sense of not belonging, of isolation, of meaninglessness, which so devastates the heart of modern man. There was nowhere that he did not feel he belonged. 

But the illusion we upload, the lie we have chosen to die for, is that we are separate selves. That we don’t actually exist within a community of interdependent beings. 

This decent into isolation had been the ultimate cowardice of the human race. Opting out of our social birthright, spending far too much time sequestering ourselves into the corners of our own little worlds, zombifying ourselves with the digital heroin of the internet, we should be ashamed of ourselves. 

We are better than this. 

My observation is that the two themes that undergird all human suffering are lack of connection, and the inability to make a contribution. 

These two things are not inside jobs. We can’t do them alone. 

Wearing a nametag every day for the past twenty years has taught me many things, chiefly among them, that just one person can make the difference between isolation and connection. 

Because contrary to popular conditioning, we are never alone in this world unless we choose to be. 

Loneliness may be the oldest ache in the bones of humanity, but has a cure. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Where in your life do you need to move from stagnation and isolation into expansion and cohesion? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Generosity that
comes from a place of love actually enriches us, not just the people to whom we
are generous. 

It’s a potent vaccine that inoculates us against unworthiness and
disconnection. Even when our gifts are not reciprocated the way we hope them to
be, or at all. Nobody can hinder us from the joy and meaning we experience
during the process. 

Spezzano’s psychology research on the unconscious
patterns of heartbreak hypothesized that we cannot be rejected unless we are
trying to take something. If we only want to give, we can’t be pushed away. If
we only want to give, people’s response doesn’t matter, or at least, it doesn’t
disappoint us. 

That’s the power of generosity. When it’s clean, when it’s
expressed without condition or strings or expectations, there are no losers in
the exchange. The process is what rewards us, not the result it has on others. 

And the good news is, our gifts do not wilt when they are seemingly unnoticed.
The generous among us are not fools who are easily taken advantage of. 

We are
the recipients. We are the benefactors. We are the ones who feel fully alive
and connected when we extend our hand to the world. Other people may or may not
enjoy or even notice what we have to give, and that’s okay, because our hearts
are the ones that are full. 

Matthews sings a beautiful lyric about this:

If
you give, you begin to live. If you give, you get the world. But you might die
trying. 

Next time your most generous intentions are feeling knotted by fear’s
tensions, try giving yourself away anyway. 

It’s an infinite game with one team
and no losers. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How do you feel when you know that you have given yourself utterly to the world?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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The desire to consume is a form of lust. 

It’s that psychological force producing intense wanting for some object to fulfill our emotional and existential needs. 

And the problem is, the charlatanic industries that take advantage of our addiction to stuff use consumer goods to bait that lust, even though they never actually satisfy it. 

Because all consumption comes with a limited ceiling of satisfaction. Otherwise it would not be good for the bottom line. Companies are built on repeat business, and repeat business is built on the sacred external objects we seem to have attached to our happiness. 

But for those of us who are not armored against the seductions of this age, here’s the key to remember. 

Every type of con relies upon the same thing. Distracting us from the obvious, which is that we’re all going to die, and whatever we think we need to consume in the meantime, it won’t solve anything for us. It won’t put an end to this terrible search for something that we know will ultimately not give us fulfillment. And whatever they told us would be waiting for us on the other side, it isn’t there. 

Because anything worthwhile in this life is an inside job. 

Happiness, fulfillment, love, meaning, satisfaction, esteem, purpose, worthiness, whatever transcendent experience we are in search of, whatever we think will make our heart stilled into astonishment, it’s already there. It always was. 

The bush never stopped burning. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What if you knew that nothing was missing for you right now?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Each of us has a handful of things that are a deep part of our nature, things that are not some silly stage, things that are not going to be outgrown in a few years. 

And we should honor those things. Once we discover the full offering we were born to give, our lives ought to be lived every day as a true expression of those values, with clear and air tight boundaries around them that are fully integrated into our being. 

But if it’s true that the self that goes on changing goes on living, then everything else that isn’t us, we must let go of. Willingly and lovingly. Consenting to the annihilation of ourselves, in the service of the soul that we are, trusting that it has come to this earth to tackle the tremendous project of evolution, and needs to run a bit leaner. 

Camus comes to mind, who writes in his book about death:

Anxieties dissolved into the air like wounded birds, and in their place came an arid lucidity. But calm will hide this living heart, defenseless against the slow forces within me that were saying no. 

This is what letting go feels like. It’s a death. A goodbye to the part of us that we thought was the heart of us. Our old life leaves as the new one enters. And we resist for as long as we can. Building a brick wall to keep things from changing. 

But as scary and sad it is to lose that chunk of who we are, it’s certainly more liberating and less stressful than the alternative. And it’s something we never regret. 

Letting the surges of our everlasting nature enter into us, while all the false selves melt away, nobody looks back on their death bed and wishes they did less of that.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you mistaking failure as a sign of failure or a signal of growth? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Hyde’s formative research on creativity reminds us that the gift must stay in motion. 

As artists, he says, giving the first creation away makes the second one possible. Our bestowal creates that energy place into which new energy may flow. And as long as the gift is not withheld, our creative spirit will remain a stranger to the economics of scarcity. 

Music is perfect example. Because a song is not completed until it reaches someone somewhere. And so, performing live, even if it’s only for an audience of one, gives the artist the chance to keep their gift in motion. The song moves beyond the self as an offering from the artist to audience. Now it’s real. Living and breathing in the world. 

Busking helped me learn this lesson in a very special way. By returning to the same neighborhood park each weekend to share my latest songs with the community, it created an apparatus of public accountability. This ritual of bestowal that allowed each of my songs to be completed through the gift exchange. 

And as a result, this process completely transformed my relationship to the creative process. By adding a meaningful and public layer of social exchange to my work, the energy of the songs actually grew stronger, deeper and more abundant. 

In a way that simply playing them alone in my room couldn’t. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you giving yourself the gift of sharing, even when you’re at your lowest moments? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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All this exaggerating our weaknesses to feel less inferior, all these emotional closures to protect us against hurt, all these guarded moments of public heart cloaking, all this speaking negatively about our own value, these expressions of inadequacy are longer useful for us. 

Not anymore. Because now we are proven. The world has acknowledged our value on multiple occasions. And unlike before, now we actually trust our resources. Now we actually believe the air we’re taking up we’re worth. Now we stand firm in our deep truth, instead of covering it up with false layers of energy that erode our sense of confidence. 

How can we be sure of this? 

Think back to the last time we noticed someone speaking lovelessly about their own value and thought to ourselves, wow, it breaks my heart to hear them talk about themselves like that, and it really doesn’t look good on them, that person is amazing. 

That’s the mark. When we see the former self we have outgrown, personified in someone else, and we feel sad. 

But they will figure out. Just like we did. They will find the love they can never lose, just like we did. They will claim their confidence quietly and confidently. 

Because everyone has layers of potential that are realized at their own pace and speed. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What attitude have you outgrown that has now become less interesting to you? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Abramović, the legendary performance artist, explains how anything that is revolutionary is in front of our noses and it is never complicated, but we don’t see it until we have a safe mind. 

It’s how we think. If a strategy is not complicated, then it can’t be serious enough to use or even acknowledge. 

People have literally said to this to my face:

It seemed too simple, so we didn’t do it. 

But lest we forget, simplicity and greatness often travel the same path. And in a world where complexity is attractive because it feels like progress, we forget that things are as simple as we allow them to be. 

For example, think of someone you consider to be a great success. Someone who has a deeply fulfilling life. Ask yourself what is more likely to be the fuel of their prominence:

The fact that they followed a complex algorithm that is so elusive that it refuses to be reduced to a formula; or the fact that they found something big enough to deserve all their energy and devotion, and with relentless and focused effort to the exclusion of everything else, they slowly grew it into something meaningful in the world? 

It is as simple as we allow it to be. 

But until we have a safe mind, we will choose not to see that reality. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What are the simple things you can do right now that will move you in the direction of your dream?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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Most of us don’t actually have an inferiority complex, we just cultivate it as part of our charm. 

It’s a role. We play the part of someone who is insecure and meek and awshucksy. Someone who lucked out and doesn’t know what they did to deserve to end up here, but hey, reluctantly accepts their position anyway. 

This performance of inferiority is quite endearing. Especially when we’re young the world is still in front of us, our innocence can serve as a very useful survival technique to keep vulnerability at bay. 

Why stand up for our value when we can use depreciation to deflect attention? 

Brantley’s meditations on loving kindness reminds come to mind. She writes:

Our feelings of inferiority can actually leave us feeling isolated and separate from the world. We may not be perfect, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still accept the difficult parts of ourselves and treat them with compassion. 

The other piece is, what got us here won’t get us where we need to be. 

And so, while our mask of inadequacy may have served us when we started, it’s no longer useful today. Because this isn’t our first rodeo. By now, we have so much talent and skill and experience, that we don’t need our inferiority anymore. 

Even if it was who we were when we started, it’s not who we are today. 

Obama once made a brilliant reflection on his second term as president, saying that because his confidence had grown, he didn’t have to pretend to know everything anymore. 

That sounds like someone who is secure enough in his own inner structure. 

Someone who doesn’t need to rely on an act of inferiority to make people love him. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

When did you start to feel calm in situations that used to leave you feeling out of place and inferior? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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As hyper agreeable people pleasers, we have become naturally adept at suppressing our emotions and putting on a happy face for the rest of the world. 

To the point that meeting everyone else’s priorities at the expense of our own has become second nature. 

This is a useful survival strategy in the short term. It can help us avoid conflict and make progress without offending, upsetting and disappointing people; and without actually having to have any needs or opinions. 

Over time, however, it becomes unsustainable. 

Because when we swallow our feelings, our bodies begin to digest themselves. 

Meanwhile, our feelings degenerate into either resentment or rage. 

If it’s resentment, those nasty little ideas that cling to the insides of our minds and won’t let go, it becomes a block that holds us back from loving ourselves and others, typically in the form passive aggressive snide comments under our breath. 

If it’s rage, a furious and uncontrollable anger that makes us want to violently squeeze a turd out of everyone we meet, it boils and simmers underneath while wraparound smiles count down the days until we eventually go postal. 

Either way, we are rowing against the current of our own life. 

But our obedience to the letter of inner law, our activation of survival instincts that got us where we are today, it won’t get us where we need to go. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What feelings are taking up space in your heart that could be better used for love? 

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

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

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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