Tag: scott ginsberg

Watch Scott Write — 2.5.10

People often ask me about my writing process.

So, instead of trying to explain it, I thought I’d just show it.

This is the second in a series of writing sessions (4-hour time lapse down to 8 minutes!) of my unparalleled content generation, content management and content deployment systems.

Episode 4 — 2.4.10
Soundtrack — “Up There” by Charlie Hunter from Come in Red Dog, This is Tango Leader.

Watch other episodes on the playlist @ www.WatchScottWrite.com!

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

New website go live this week?

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9 Ways to Steal the Show without Stinking Up the Room

Contrary to the actions of Will Ferrell, you don’t need to strip down buck nekkid and run around the room like a drunken maniac to steal the show.

Although that technique does work pretty well.

True show-stealers are the ones whose energy, attitude, actions and words compose a vortex into which surrounding people can’t help but be sucked.

Whether you’re giving a speech, facilitating a brainstorming session, conducting a meeting or hosting a teleconference, here are nine ways to steal the show without stinking up the room:

1. Ask the question. The key question that governs my daily decision-making is: “What could I do – in this moment – that would be the exact opposite of everyone else?” This mindset is rooted in your willingness to (not) acquiesce to the status quo. Zigging where they zag. Being the opposite.

Throwing a wrench of uniqueness into the gear of normality. If you want a move that’s guaranteed to attract the attention of the people around you, this is it. What questions do you ask yourself before making decisions?

2. Be a disturbance. When asked about how he experienced Leonardo Davinci’s art, mentor and contemporary Sandro Botticelli explained, “My heart seems to stop beating for a moment – then starts beating stronger and fuller.”

If you want people to say that about you, here’s the secret: Enter with boldness. Grate people’s nerves. Make them squirm in their seats. Send them on mental journeys. In short: Evoke emotion – don’t create sensation. How do you disturb people?

3. Prepare less. As my mentor once told me, “Eventually you get to a point where you don’t need to stay up all night rehearsing. Your life is your preparation.” The secret is learning to tap your reservoir of insight at a moment’s notice. Of course, this isn’t easy.

Not only does it require a constant inflow of inspiration and ideas into your life, but also the confidence and vulnerability to trust your inner resources. To believe with all your heart that you can respond intelligently and immediately to whatever is said.

This takes practice and practice and practice. Just remember: If you focus on living a beautiful, admirable and character-rich life – that you’ve consistently reflected upon – you won’t to have to steal the show because it will already be in your possession. What’s your preparation process?

4. Emit quiet strength. A strong falcon hides its claws. True strength isn’t manifested through visible, overt features; rather, it rises to the surface without being ostentatious. As Lao Tzu explains in The Tao De Ching:

“When you show your strength, you appear weak … when you conceal your power, the more effectively it can be used … when you make your advantage less obvious, the more effective you power becomes.”

Lesson learned: If you want to steal the show – be a sleeper. Be underestimated. How are you sneaking up on people?

5. Occasionally prove your ruthlessness. In Steve Pressfield’s The War of Art, he suggests the following:

“A professional doesn’t let his signature grandstand for him. His style serves the material. He does not impose it as a means to drawing attention to himself. This doesn’t mean that the professional doesn’t throw down a 360-tomahawk jab from time to time, just to let the boys know he’s still in business.”

Lesson learned: Have your death stroke ready to be delivered. Tap into the courage required by the moment with firm foundation and immediate intent. Are you prepared to be devastating?

6. Give yourself a preemptive internal standing ovation. Comedian and speaker Judson Liapply once told me, “You have to believe that you are the most important person talking in the room. That what you are saying is something that audience has to hear. Because if you don’t believe – neither will they.” Are you applauding internally before you take the stage?

7. Be a left fielder. When you make a comment or contribute an idea, begin your response with something seemingly unrelated and completely perpendicular to the topic at hand. Make people lean in and wonder, “Where the hell is he going with this?”

Then, at just the right moment, bring it back full circle. Drop a Michael Jordan style head fake. Sneak up on people with your unexpected response. This creates high impact and memorability through surprise. How often do you come out of left field?

8. Maintain a slightly skewed perspective on just about everything. A simple way to do so is to answer every question with, “Well, that depends on your definition of…” This type of thinking challenges people to reassess their baseline assumptions and return to the root of the word before assigning value to it.

It’s also a vocal hanger. A lean-in phrase. It leaves people on the edge of their seats, salivating for more, waiting to see what your definition of the word is. All you have to do is refuse to occupy the middle. How different of a dictionary are you using?

9. Command them eyeballs. Never underestimate the captivating power of props. Even if you’re not a visual person. This works. Try answering a question by excitedly taking something out of your wallet, bag, pocket or briefcase, and then showing it to your listener(s).

You’ll emit a sense of intrigue, mystique and delightful ambiguity. This is guaranteed to suck people into your vortex of fascination. Lean to be delightfully ambiguous. What do you do that makes people watch with breathless interest?

In conclusion, I’d like to share another passage from The Tao De Ching:

When you speak less, you say more.
When you don’t boast, you advance.
When you do less, you become more.
When you don’t make claims, you get credited.
When you show your strength, you appear weak.
When you argue the loudest, you appear the wrongest.
When you don’t display yourself, you become illuminated.
When you don’t define yourself, you become distinguished.
When you conceal your power, the more effectively it can be used.
When you make your advantage less obvious, the more effective you power becomes.

REMEMBER: You can still steal the show without stinking up the room.

No matter what Will Ferrell says.

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Are you a show-stealer?

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

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6 Ways to Bow to the Door of Next

The most important word in your entrepreneurial vocabulary is “next.”

Next fortifies action.
Next symbolizes progress.

Next is the BFF of your business.

Next means complacency prevention.
Next means continuous improvement.

Next is the monetizer of momentum.

Next is the fervent architect of creative reinvention.
Next is the critical trigger of entrepreneurial advancement.

Next is the rocket fuel of your career.

Next derives from the German term, nahisto, which means, “Neighbor.”
Next derives from the Old English term, niehsta, which means “Nearest.”

Next is the playmate of your professional life.

THEREFORE: Don’t just use the word next – bow to the door of next.

Bow meaning honor.
Bow meaning respect.
Bow meaning recognize.

Knowing that without incremental progress, there is no incidental profit.

Today we’re going explore six ways to honor, cultivate and leverage next as an invaluable attitude of entrepreneurial excellence.

1. How do you talk to yourself when you fail? Imagine you just screwed up. Ate the big one. Totally bombed. Pulled a Homer. Instead of whining, “I suck!” start affirming, “Nextime…” First, this helps you let go of the past and focus on the future. You can’t debate what was.

Second, maintaining a nextime attitude forces you to begin thinking about what you’ll do differently. Sure beats becoming paralyzed by your own mistakes and a prisoner of yesterday’s errors.

Third, nextime is about (not) overreacting emotionally or being too hard on yourself. Rather, navigating the entrepreneurial waters calmly, objectively and unapologetically. Are you willing to increase your dosage of vitamin nextime?

2. What’s next? My readers and audience members frequently ask me, “Hey Scott, which of your books is your favorite?” And after eight years, the answer has always been the same: “My next one.” I challenge you to embrace that same attitude of “What’s next?” in your work.

First, on a micro level. That is, in terms of productivity. Ask yourself this question throughout the day to resurrect declining momentum. Secondly, on a macro level. That is, in terms of projectivity. Ask yourself this question throughout your creative process to ensure consistent execution. What is your legacy of taking action?

3. What will you do differently next time? Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. That’s exactly what this question is all about: Honoring your current performance, yet challenging yourself to envision an enhanced future.

In my first five years as a professional speaker, I employed this philosophy as a post-speech ritual. Once my presentation was over, I’d take fifteen minutes to write a stream of consciousness list. Every thought, every feeling and every evaluation of my performance, I wrote down. What worked? What didn’t work? What killed? What bombed?

Then, when I was done, I’d make a note at the bottom of the document that read, “In my next speech, what I plan to do differently is ____________.” This simple ritual grew into a profitable practice for continuous improvement of my performance as a speaker. How could you apply the same reflection process to your job performance?

4. Now that I have this, what else does this make possible? If you want to kill two stones with one bird every time, all you have to do is consistently imagine what else can be made (or could come) from this. Therein lies the key to leverage: Looking at something you’ve created and then playing with its potential.

This process is called Movement Value. You identify concepts that allow you to “breed” other ideas from those concepts. You expand, grow, cook, stretch and shift your idea, allowing it to spawn creative offspring. You look for spin-offs and related ideas. You go forth and multiply. You also exercise enough restraint to recognize LACK of potential.

If an idea doesn’t have much (or any) movement value, you need to save it, file it and move onto something else. Is this idea a springboard or a straightjacket?

5. If everything you’ve done up until now is just the beginning, what’s next? Past is prologue. Past brought you here. Past made you who you are. When you start to align your thinking with this truth, a new world of possibilities opens up.

Your challenge is to extend gratitude for – and embrace the value of – everything you’ve already accomplished. At the same time, don’t overvalue prior successes. Arrogance of the past will come back to bite you in the ass. As John Mayer explained during a 2009 interview with Esquire:

“To evolve, you have to dismantle. And that means accepting the idea that nothing you created in the past matters anymore other than it brought you here. You pick up your new marching orders and get to work.” Will you view the past as a crutch or a fulcrum?

6. What are the three next steps you can take on your own? This is an expanded version of David Allen’s famous question from Getting Things Done, “What’s the next action?” The secret is twofold. First, by assigning a number to it (three), you set a quota of accomplishment.

This forces you to stretch your thinking. Secondly, by specifying the person taking action (you), progress becomes a brighter possibility because you take personal responsibility. Are you using specific, ownership-taking language?

REMEMBER: The answer to “When?” is “Next!”

It’s the most important word in your entrepreneurial vocabulary.

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

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How to Stay Over Yourself

It’s amazing how quickly humility shows up when you’re incapacitated in a hospital bed for six days with a three-foot tube in your chest wacked out on morphine experiencing multiple anxiety attacks.

That happened to me in February of 2006.

“Excruciating would be an understatement,” I explain to people when I tell the story about my collapsed lung, aka, pneumothorax.

Fortunately, from great suffering comes great awakening: That was the exact moment I got over myself.

“Get over yourself.”

Has anyone given you that advice before?

If so, consider yourself lucky. Better to hear it from a friend than from your thoracic surgeon.

The only problem with that axiom is its impermanence.

Helpful advice? Yes.
Enduring advice? Not so much.

HERE’S THE REALITY: Getting over yourself is only the beginning.

The challenge is STAYING over yourself. Today we’re going to talk about how:

1. Scars are souvenirs of humility. Underneath my armpit is a scar about the size of a piece of Trident gum. That’s where the chest tube re-inflated my left lung. I look at it everyday as a reminder of my humanity, vulnerability and need to protect my personal and professional pace.

What about you? What scars might serve as positive reminders? Keep in mind: If you don’t have any scars, I’m not suggesting self-mutilation. Emotional scars work too. Not all tissue is visible. Your challenge is to honor what stopped you. To constantly remind yourself of your imperfection. Are you confident enough to be humble?

2. Call on people who call you out. I have a handful of specific friends that I love dearly because of their ability (and willingness) to call bullshit on me. Especially when I say, act or think something that is dramatically inconsistent with the person I know I am, or know I’m becoming. They’re always there to bring me back down. To keep me over myself.

Who does that for you? Do you have people in your life that, when you’re around them, they leave you nowhere to hide? Nothing beats the mirror of self-awareness. How often are you looking into it?

3. Get off your pedestal. My friends Jason and Kim Kotecki wrote an awesome book called There’s An Adult In My Soup. On the topic of staying over yourself, they suggest that the best way to get off your pedestal is to knock yourself off of it. When asked how to do so, they had three suggestions.

First, hang out with people who are: Smarter than you. More traveled than you. More experienced than you. More loving than you. It’s good for your ego AND your self-development.

Second, volunteer, in the trenches, for real. The best way to get down off your pedestal is to offer it to others.

Third, after every shower you take, take a look at yourself in the mirror: Then dance The Macarena. You’re guaranteed (not) to take yourself seriously for the rest of the day.

Good tips. How will you one-down yourself?

4. Play with people who are better than you. As opposed to keeping people around you that are inadequate just so you feel better about yourself. Instead, do what Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour does, “You have to put yourself in an environment where you get your ass kicked.”

Don’t be afraid to be the worst one in the room. Don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who challenge your game, keep you accountable and inspire you to call on yourself a little more. Are you keeping the company of competent?

5. Take your shoes off. During my leadership retreats with Presidents Council, we enforce a strict no-shoe rule. Not only is it comfortable, it’s comforting. Nothing grounds a group of Type A executives like wool socks. Sitting around a toasty fire in our fuzzies immediately fortifies our humanity while simultaneously resurrecting the inner child within all of us.

The best part is, as the facilitator, delivering a presentation to a group of millionaire corporate executives (in my socks) causes me to slide around the wood floor like an Olympic ice skater. Taking yourself too seriously becomes a mathematical impossibility. How would going shoeless modify your posture?

6. Practice a healthy ratio of self-deprecation. For every joke you crack at someone else’s expense, make two about yourself. Now, that doesn’t mean fall into a self-hating spiral about what an idiot you are. Just enough to express to the world that you don’t take yourself too seriously.

A helpful rule of thumb is: When you share a success story, use someone else as an example. When share tell a mistake moment, use yourself as an example. Are you poking fun in the mirror?

7. Galvanize the grace to be a beginner. Bikram Choudhury, founder of the yoga practice of the same name, is known for his mantra: “Never too late, never too old, never too bad to or sick to do this yoga and start from scratch again.” And whether you practice yoga or not, your challenge is to release the grip of your ego and get back to basics.

First, by reading more Dummies books. Second, by increasing the frequency with which you say, “I don’t know what that means.” And finally, by regularly revisiting people who are just starting down their path, as a reminder of when you were a rookie. How are you embracing your inner beginner?

8. Get on the ground. The word humble comes from the Latin humilis, which means, “on the ground.” Embrace that concept by spending one day next week working on the floor. With your shoes off. The excuses you will most likely give for not doing so include:

“But I’ll look dumb.” “But the floor is dirty!” “But I’ll wrinkle my clothes…” “But I’ll get yelled at by my boss!” “But what if my employees see me?”

Get over it. Since I started my company in 2002, I’ve spent at least SOME time, every single day, working on the floor. By working on the ground, you ground yourself. This modest posture will instill an attitude of appreciation and respect for your creative environment. Ultimately, by honoring your space, you invite more creative solutions. When was the last time you worked on the floor?

9. Publicly celebrate mistakes. Doing so makes other people – especially your employees – more likely to open up to you with their ideas, thoughts and concerns. Why? Because you’ve proven to them that you support failure. It is only when you’re willing to surrender to your own humanity that people trust you more.

And the cool part is, the more you practice this, the less judgmental you become in the future when they screw up. When was the last time you shared a screw up?

REMEMBER: Not everyone who gets over himself remains in that position.

Educate yourself in the language of humility.

Incorporate these practices into your daily life.

You won’t just get over yourself – you’ll STAY over yourself.

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

NametagTV: Enemies of Marketing

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Watch the original video on NametagTV!

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What are your enemies?

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

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8 (More) Marketing Lessons Learned from My Spam Folder

Email spam – while annoying, unethical, sexually graphic and a colossal time waster – IS quite entertaining.

It’s also a consummate example of smart marketing.

Recently, I spent some time perusing the 1,385 messages in my spam folder.

Not surprisingly, patterns began to arise.

I extracted a collection of subject lines and headers that either grabbed my attention, made me laugh, or caused my body to react in ANY kind of way. After all, emotion is the final arbiter of truth. And your body never lies to you.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE: As you read each of these subject lines, set aside your distaste for spam. Forget about the fact that you (probably) don’t need Viagra.

Turn on your marketing brain to learn eight more powerful lessons (read the first eight lessons here!) from the masters of capturing attention and piquing curiosity:

1. Help her blast off with your meat rocket. Out of the sixteen examples on this list, “meat rocket” is one of my faves. Sure, it’s raunchy. And by no means should your marketing reflect such adolescent verbiage.

But you HAVE appreciate the sheer poetry of this headline. Not to mention, it’s hilarious. Plus, what guy wouldn’t want his girlfriend to experience the sexual ecstasy of Apollo 13? Well done.

SPAM SECRET: People want sex. How are you helping them get more of it?

2. I haven’t heard from you. Ah ha! More cognitive dissonance for people who place high value on approachability. Now, admittedly, this headline has tricked me several times over the years. I’ve even clicked through once or twice, only to find myself at a website that gave my computer a virus. Dang it.

I blame my inability to experience myself as being an unapproachable, distant jerk. The other half is, I’ve actually received REAL emails from REAL people using this very headline. It hurts.

SPAM SECRET: People don’t like being perceived negatively. How can you tempt them?

3. Maintain your weight – amputate. Holy Slim Fast. This is, by far, the most absurd, disgusting and embarrassing thing I’ve ever read in an email. Which is exactly why it caught my attention. Now, I’m not suggesting you start telling customers that self-mutilation is the secret to success.

Your challenge is to think about what this headline says about our culture. Yes, it’s ludicrous. Yes, it’s disgusting. But would it (honestly) surprise you if you turned on CNN and the top headline was, “Man amputates leg to lose weight”? Wouldn’t shock me. People will do ANYTHING to lose weight, especially if the strategy requires no work other than locating the chainsaw. Eew.

SPAM SECRET: People want to be thin. Are you helping them get there quicker?

4. That with stirs of feet and wings. This headline sounded so poetic, I just had to google it. Sure enough, that line comes from a poem called The Kitten and Falling Leaves by William Wadsworth.

Too bad the email tried to subscribe me to an online gambling site. Jerks.

SPAM SECRET: Wadsworth was a genius. Are your words that strong?

5. Make her shout like an alarm. Excellent use of simile. Paints a vivid picture. Plus, this headline puts the company’s product in the customer’s future by describing the benefit of the benefit of the benefit. Well done. The only way to improve this headline would be to make a comment about waking up the neighbors. That’s the ultimate.

(Oh, don’t act like you’ve never been on SOME end of that situation before).

I don’t care if you’re male or female, straight or gay, passion is passion. And there’s nothing more gratifying than when the stunningly beautiful Brazilian model that lives in the unit below you knocks on the door one day to shyly tell you that you and your girlfriend should try to, ahem, “keep it down” at night. Hypothetically.

SPAM SECRET: People want sex. Did you forget that already?

6. Your friend, Peter, thought that you would be interested in this album. First, the headline uses a common name. Most people probably have a friend named Peter. Second, the headline implies that Peter took the time out of his busy schedule to recommend a record JUST for you.

Wow. Good ol’ Pete. What a guy. And you wouldn’t want his precious time to go to waste, now would you? Finally, let’s say you delete the email. Then, three weeks later, you run into Peter and his wife at McDonald’s.

“Hey Scott! Long time no see! Say, how’s that album I recommended to you a few weeks back? Did you listen to it? Wasn’t it great? That was the debut LP of my wife’s new band, Death by Marshmallow. They’re huge in Bulgaria!”

Woops. Sorry Pete. Tell your wife I’ll come out to their next show. Just let me go find my passport…

SPAM SECRET: People like recommendations. Did you know that’s how Amazon makes billions?

7. Wrong. Unbelievably powerful. ONE word and I was hooked. Wrong. And the cool part is, this headline appeals to various personalities. First, if you’re the type of person who always has to be right, your ego will be triggered immediately. And you’ll go to the end of the earth to prove that you were NOT wrong.

Or, if you’re like me and enjoy being wrong to stimulate learning opportunities, this headline would entice you to open the letter immediately and excitedly discover where you screwed up.

SPAM SECRET: People cherish their egos. Are you speaking to them?

8. You didn’t even think about it. I saved this one for last. Personally, I think it’s the most powerful, most effective and most emotional headline on the list. First, by using the past tense, it forces the reader to immediately begin traveling back in time, questioning her own reflection abilities. Wait a minute – was there something I should have been contemplating that I forgot? Oh no!

Second, the word “even.” As if something as simple and effortless like “thinking” was the minimum requirement, and you couldn’t even satisfy that. Jeez. Way to be an insensitive jerk.

Lastly, I admit that I’ve been guilty of this mistake before. Hey, I’m not perfect. I get lazy. And I’ve had people (whom I LOVE) confront me in person, via email or over the phone and say, “You didn’t even think about.”

It hurts. Badly. Cuts deep down the core. So, while effective marketing (shouldn’t have to) resort to making customers feel like wretched human beings, your challenge is to pinpoint the self-interest of the people you serve, and speak to it.

SPAM SECRET: People don’t like being jerks. Are you calling them out?

Now that you’ve been schooled in the ways of spam, here’s your final exercise.

1. Take five minutes to peruse your spam folder. You might want to do this at home so your boss doesn’t look over your shoulder and wonder why you’re reading emails about “meat rockets.”

2. Record your reactions. Any time a subject headline makes you smile, laugh, roll your eyes or become nauseated, write it down.

3. Extract the lessons. Look for commonalities among all the headlines. Democratize and genericize the centrals marketing themes. Then, write out a list of “spam secrets.”

4. Apply. Execute those strategies in your own marketing practices in an ethical, professional manner.

REMEMBER: This is the best way to help her blast off with your meat rocket.

Hee hee. Meat rocket.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you as savvy as the spammers?

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* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Who’s quoting YOU?

Check out Scott’s Online Quotation Database for a bite-sized education on branding success!

www.stuffscottsaid.com.

8 Ways to become the ONE Person at Your Company Everyone Wants to Sit with at Lunch

1. Don’t be a needle in a stack of needles. You will lose. And here’s why: Nobody notices normal, nobody buys boring and nobody pays for average. Period. Amen. Q.E.D. As such, your greatest barrier to business success isn’t a bad economy, stupidity, inexperience, or lack of funding – it’s anonymity.

Therefore: Stop winking in the dark and start being ubiquitous. Perhaps begin by formulating a Visibility Plan. Not a Marketing Plan – a Visibility Plan. Huge difference. Are you everywhere?

2. Remember: Talk isn’t cheap – it’s cheat. A poor substitution for action. That’s like having “ready” and “aim” without the fire. Like snap and crackle without the pop. It’s just not the same.

As the wise philosopher, MC Nametag once said, “Talking smack without doing jack is whack.” Do you give customers lip service or foot service?

3. Don’t make waves – make a tsunami. Waves are for water parks. You’ve got bigger fish to fry. It’s time to devastate the corporate landscape, wake the drones up and start asking questions that flip your organization on its ass. Sure, people will be uncomfortable, but they’ll also be disturbed them into action. Thanks to you.

Next time you attend one of those delightful Monday Morning Meetings, I triple dog dare you to ask that ONE question nobody wants to ask. It’s liberating. Or it might get you fired. Either way, you’re free. How much money is your organization wasting by befriending complacency?

4. One size fits all does nothing but make people feel fat. There are just as many paths as there are people to take them. Don’t be scared away by myopic windbags who claim that their way is THEE way. It’s not. There’s a very thick line between “My Truth” and “The Truth.” How narrow is your thinking?

5. Don’t rock the boat – capsize it. Then see who can swim. Then whoever’s left, take ‘em with you to shore and start a new colony. Think Jerry Maguire. Think, “Who’s coming with me?” Hopefully you’ll have more takers than he did. Are you willing to be a rabble-rouser?

6. Out of the blue means into the green. The most profitable ideas tend to be the most unpredictable ideas. Think about it: History’s most famous inventions, innovations and corporation were fertilized in mistake-flavored, accident-rich compost. For example: John Deer grew from an Illinois farmer’s broken saw blade. Greyhound resulted from uncrossable, unpaved highways between coalmines.

Dr. Pepper came from a heartbroken teenager. Goodyear spawned from a frustrated husband leaving boiling rubber on the stove too long while his wife was away. All out of the blue. All into the green. Your challenge is learning to notice, allow and leverage fortunate mishaps. How could you become more accident-prone?

7. Don’t practice what you preach – preach what you practice. People are more likely to listen to you talk about something if you’ve DONE that something first. It’s the fine line between orthodoxy (the correct beliefs) and orthopraxy (the correct actions).

Here’s the process I’ve been following for nearly a decade: Make a list of the things people constantly compliment you on doing exceptionally well. Go back an ask yourself, “OK, so, apparently I’ve been doing (x) really well. How did I do it? Why is that important? Why did it work? How can teach others how to do the same?” Then, start preaching, Mr. Practice. Are you walking first or talking first?

8. Over the top (often) means inside the memory. It’s a noisy world. And outrageousness is rarely forgotten. Your challenge is to be in people’s faces without being on people’s nerves. My suggestion for doing so is to walk the fine line between risky and reckless.

Here’s how: Risky is succeeding from venturesomeness; reckless is proceeding from carelessness. Risky is treading on thin ice, trotting atop uncertain ground and gracefully balancing out on a limb; reckless is jumping on cracked ice, dancing atop broken ground and scarcely hanging by a thread.

Finally, risky is growing increasingly mindful of how your pebbles ripple; reckless is remaining utterly unconcerned about the consequences of action. Are you memorable for the right reasons?

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

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Are You Guilty of Succumbing to These Six Seductive Disguises of Success?

1. Ambiguity is opportunity in disguise. Love it. Welcome it. Embrace it. And know that NOT knowing paves the way for glorious and unimpeded progress. How do you act when faced with ambiguous situations?

2. Art is infection in disguise. That’s your job as an artist – to infect people. To approach your canvas as a syringe, pumping all who see it full of 300 cc’s of your truth. Interestingly, the word inficere literally means, “to put in.” What does your work put into people?

3. Failure is education in disguise. Getting a big fat F is underrated. We all need to fail. Failure is the great fertilizer of growth. Failing leads to flourishing. As long as you intelligently reflect upon the lessons learned and don’t make the same mistake twice. Therefore: If it’s been more than 48 hours since your last failure at something, you’re not risking enough. How have you made losing a regular part of your experience?

4. Selling is solving in disguise. Before your next sales call, ask yourself three crucial questions: What problem do you solve? What are you the answer to? What were you designed to cure? You’ll never treat customers the same again. What unique aspects of your personality could you enlist to help you sell (solve) better?

5. Simplicity is sophistication in disguise. Ever “tried” to make something simpler? It’s hard as hell. Simplicity requires more energy, more brainpower and more courage that complexity. So, here’s my suggestion: Stop being fancy. Stop complicating your message. Stop creating riddles that take too long for impatient readers to solve. That’s a good start. Are you brave enough to be simple?

6. Success is mediocrity in disguise. Sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. Just watch American Idol. Or read any New York Times bestseller. You don’t even have to be that good. Not anymore. That’s why it pains me to write the following sentence: Even though the cream rises to the top, mediocrity often hitches a ride. Now, personally, I couldn’t do it. Average isn’t acceptable in my world. On the other hand, if you’re at peace with mediocrity, more power to you. In fact, I admire you. Sometimes insisting on awesomeness is a huge pain in the ass. Is average enough for you?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What are you being seduced by?

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For the list called, “22 Questions to Sidestep Entrepreneurial Atrophy,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s quoting YOU?

Check out Scott’s Online Quotation Database for a bite-sized education on branding success!

www.stuffscottsaid.com.

7 Ways to Draw Admirers into Your Orbit without Developing a Messianic Complex

An orbit is the gravitationally curved path of one object around a point or another body.

Usually, the word is used in reference to astronomy.

Not today.

Science class, schmience class.

AS A THOUGHT LEADER: Your mission to draw admirers into YOUR orbit.

Your halo of genius.
Your vortex of value.
Your whirlpool of fascination.
Your gravitational pull of brilliance.

That’s what Smokin’ Hot Pieces of Brain Candy do.

HERE’S WHY: The more admirers you draw into your orbit, the farther your thoughts will travel; and the farther your thoughts travel, the further your career advances.

Today we’re going to learn how to draw admirers into your orbit without being accused of having a messianic complex:

1. Heighten your presence. You don’t have to plaster your mug all over local billboards. No need to imprint your company logo on restaurant urinal cakes. What’s more, you don’t have to be “on” all the time. Nor do you need to be the incessant center of attention.

BUT. (And this is a big but. Like, Oprah big.)

You DO have to arrange to be noticed. If you want to draw admirers into your orbit, you’ve got to place yourself into the spotlight and become The Observed, not The Observer. Even if that’s not your preferred space. As Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz once sang, “I wasn’t made for this scene, but I was made in this scene.”

It begins by believing that you deserve considerable attention. Even if you have to affirm that very statement to yourself every morning in front of the mirror. Fine. Whatever it takes. What specific steps have you taken in the past 48 hours to become less invisible?

2. Trust accelerates trajectory. A well-known professor from my alma matter, Miami University, recently shared her teaching style in our Alumni Newsletter: “People have to trust that you’re going to move their knowledge base forward.”

That’s your mission. For people to think, “You know, I’m not sure where she’s going with this, but I don’t care because I’m so insanely interested AND having so much fun along the way.”

Remember: Trust is a process of uncertainty reduction enhanced by your commitment to self-consistency. What are you doing to earn and ensure your status of trusted advisor in the mind of the customer?

3. Be delightfully ambiguous. Predictability engenders customer confidence; but only after ambiguity activates the attraction switch. The secret is to invite layers of interpretation beyond surface appearance. To make what you offer rare and hard to find.

And, to wrap yourself in mystery while emanating an aura of delightful spontaneity. That way you leave the public always wanting more, wondering about your next move. Take it from the only person on the planet wearing a nametag 24-7 for ten years: This practice is infinitely profitable.

In fact, I’ve recently discovered (like, within the past month) how to use online video to propagate this very principle. Prepare your melon to be motivated by mystery at www.WatchScottWrite.com. I wonder what a little ambiguity could do for the admirers in YOUR orbit. Are you leaving the public always wanting more, wondering about your next move?

4. Display calmness in the face of unpleasantness. Do not despair in difficult moments. As I learned from The 48 Laws of Power, “While other people get flustered, you’ll look stronger and more attractive by contrast.”

That’s how you profit from idiots: You let them beat themselves. That way, the only thing left to do is take a relaxing stride past the pile of bodies and cross the finish line alone. Are you a paragon of equanimity?

5. Get people to spend time in YOUR environment. I once invited a colleague who was in town to tour my workspace. Not thinking anything of it, she apparently thought it was the coolest office she’d ever seen. So much so that she called me a few months later on behalf of our industry publication to feature my workspace in an upcoming issue of Speaker magazine.

I was ecstatic. What’s more, once the piece went to print, I received dozens of emails, calls and comments from new fans that wanted to learn the strategy behind my creative environment. Which I happily shared with them. For a lot of money. I wonder what would happen if more people regularly experienced your creative territory. Who has a love affair with your turf?

6. Be a strong a vibrant vehicle. For what, I’m not sure. It might not matter. In fact, I’m almost certain it doesn’t matter. Sometimes the conduit is more important than the content. Sometimes the medium trumps message.

Your mission is to OWN it. Are you wasting your time meddling with the message or mastering the medium?

7. Remain in the public eye at any cost. Edison didn’t beat Tesla because he was smarter. Or a harder worker. Or a better inventor. He beat him because he was ubiquitous. Edison. Was. Everywhere. And two things happen when people see your name everywhere:

(1) They assume you’re successful,
(2) They want to know how you managed to get there.

Lesson learned: Visibility trumps talent. Lesson learned: Never allow yourself to fade in the background. Even when the limelight casts a narrow beam. Be there or be broke. Because when you slowly fill people’s minds with thoughts of you, it becomes increasingly difficult to endure your absence. Remember: The unseenable isn’t counted. Are winking in the dark?

REMEMBER: An orbit is the gravitationally curved path of one object around a point or another body.

As a Smokin’ Hot Piece of Brain Candy, drawing admirers into your orbit is part of the job description.

In the spirit of Neil Armstrong, let us be reminded:

“One series of small steps for man, one giant leap for man’s bank account.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Who is being drawn into your orbit?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!

13 Ways to Call Bullshit on Yourself

I was in the middle of yoga class when it happened.

Ouch … Crap … I can’t do this … I should quit … Maybe I’ll just sit out until the next posture …

“Bullshit,” said a voice from within, “You can do this.”

I met my eyes in the mirror, drew a deep inhale and relaxed into exertion.

Five seconds left.

“Change,” said the instructor.

Exhale.

I did it.
The posture was over.
I actually pulled on through.
Despite my ego’s attempt to stop me.

But wait.

“Did I just call bullshit on myself?” I wondered.

I guess so.

Cool. I didn’t know you could do that.

Apparently you can. As long as you remember that it’s not about beating yourself up:

It’s about becoming accountable TO yourself.
It’s about finding the direct line to the truth OF yourself.
It’s about developing a radically honest relationship WITH yourself.

The cool part is: You don’t need to take yoga to do so.

Today we’re going to explore thirteen ways to call bullshit on yourself:

1. Sidestep self-manipulation. “When our lives are not working, there is always at least one thing we’re not facing.” I first read those words in Gay Hendricks’ book, Living Consciously. Then, several months later during a mentoring session, his concept crystallized.

Here’s what happened: My mentee, Rochelle, offered insight into the struggles of a job search as a 50+ single mother. At the end of one particular story, she eipilogued with the following question: And then I asked myself “Did I just get away with not having to face something again?” Wow. Can you imagine how much self-awareness that requires? Good for her.

Here’s the lesson: Look first at what you’re not facing. Honor the existence of what you’ve been evading. Then, engage in a regular practice of healthy self-confrontation. Mirrors work. Yoga works. Writing works. Begin customizing your practice today. Remember: Looking away from what you need to face burns more energy than actually facing it. Where have you been avoiding confronting yourself?

2. Investments in bullshit pay pitiful dividends. I have a good friend who’s a former alcoholic. He once told me that many of the AA members he sponsors are people who go out of their way to stock alibis and make excuses – when they (really) need to scrutinize alternatives and make choices.

“That’s why I always challenge my guys to tell me the biggest thing they’re willing to give up to get sober,” Marty says. “It teaches them to invest in their threshold level of commitment, not their standard-issue line of bullshit.”

Here’s the key: Learn to identify the stories you’re telling yourself. Retain ongoing openness to your misguided perceptions. And be aggressively skeptical about the things your ego tells you. Otherwise, you’ll wind up saluting your illusions for so long that you actually start believing in them. Yikes. How strong is your emotional dividend portfolio?

3. Believing is overrated. Don’t believe everything you think. Your mind is a moron. Don’t believe your own in-house press. The reports are rarely accurate. And finally, don’t believe everything your ego says is good for you. The reptilian brain operates on dangerous assumptions.

In reality, certain beliefs you hold outlive their usefulness in your life. You need to learn to be OK with that. Don’t worry – new learnings will emerge. As long as you intentionally create a space for them by calling out your outworn beliefs first. What falsehood are you trying to defend because you want it to be true?

4. Smell something fishy. A fun exercise to better understand the lies you tell yourself is to ask, “What’s my favorite excuse?” Common answers might be: “I couldn’t find the time…” “That’s just who I am…” or “Technically, the warning label on that bottle of Absinthe never said it was illegal to break into the city zoo and steal a family of chinchillas for my church’s chili cook off, Officer.”

Whatever the excuse is, identifying unaccountable behavior is a perfect start to call bullshit on yourself. What’s your favorite justification?

5. Become a master of your own disinclination. I exercise everyday. Been doing so for many years. And at age thirty, it’s no longer a habit – it’s a non-negotiable. Like writing or meditation, exercise is just something I do. Everyday. Period. What about you? What’s your daily non-negotiable?

Here’s the secret: Even when you’re not in the mood – ESPECIALLY when you’re not in the mood – you do it anyway. Because discipline trumps desire. Next time you feel the excuse barrage slowly creeping in, call bullshit on yourself by saying, “I don’t have to LIKE it – I just have to do it.” It’s like flossing your teeth: You learn to love what’s good for you, even if you hate it. How well do you kick your own ass?

6. Break the noise patterns. Call bullshit on the buzz of competing voices fighting to drown out your intuition. Don’t let them win. Don’t participate in their fear of the world. And (definitely) don’t allow their negativity to infiltrate your atmosphere.

These voices are additional incarnations of The Resistance. And they’re terrified of intuition because intuition is the language of the body, and the body never lies. So, pick one: Your ego or your anatomy. One talks truth, the other talks trash. Which voice will you listen to?

7. Be not locked into limited concepts of who you are. A simple way to call bullshit on yourself is to calmly, curiously and continuously ask, “What is my evidence to support this belief?” Odds are, you won’t find any. And here’s why: Limits aren’t limits. They’re self-imposed constraints. Paper-thin barricades feeding on a steady diet of your fear of them.

The cool part is, once you start challenging yourself to legitimately defend yourself – i.e., “God I suck at this!” … “Whoa, wait, what is my evidence to support this belief?” – you start to realize that it’s all just noise. Mental mayhem. Whatever it takes to steal you away from the present moment, which is exactly what your ego is most terrified of.

Don’t let it happen. You’re stronger than that. What fictional story have you told yourself so many times that it’s evolved into journalism?

8. Hold an Honesty Pow-Wow with yourself. I learned this move from my peacefully honest friend, Chrissy. It’s simple but not easy. Here’s how it’s done: Drop the veil and openly acknowledge that you have chosen to be where you are, right now. “You are the result of yourself,” as Pablo Neruda once said. Here are some questions you might ask yourself:

o Am I part of this evil?
o What have I done to cause this to happen?
o How have I arranged it so I’m having this experience?
o Have I done anything to bring this misfortune upon myself?
o And what is about me or in me that has invited or attracted this into my life?

Remember: The only constant in life is YOU. You are the superintendent of your own soul. The architect of your own future. The artisan of your own happiness. The biographer of your own evolution. And the counselor of your own crisis. It’s always your fault. How do you stay true to yourself under increasingly difficult situations?

9. Get out of your familiar misery. Make it a point to (only) surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you. Life’s too short to waste on people who don’t set you on fire. For example, I have several close friends who can level me like a piece of farm machinery. With one word. Or one question. Or one dirty look.

The key is, they serve as a trigger – not the gun. They say what they need to say – then I’m disturbed into action to do the majority of the work.

My suggestion: Consider the three people in your life who currently serve in a bullshit-calling capacity. Email them. Thank them. Let them know how essential they are to your detection of the veneer that’s in place. Then, recommit yourself to remaining open to their proddings.

Sure, it hurts. But growth is the residue of discomfort. And until it causes excessive misery, the bullshit isn’t going to stop. What do you need to unsweep under the carpet?

10. Energy always follows priority. If you’re not doing it, it’s not important to you. Stop kidding yourself about what you “need to start making time for.” Look at your planner from last week. The activities you spent your time on were the things that were important to you. Period. No room for bullshit there. Calendars don’t lie.

Here’s the distinction: Priorities are the things you MAKE – not find – the time for. “Find” comes from the Old English term findan, which means, “To come upon, alight on.” Which implies a search. Which means it’s possible that you might (not) find the time. “Make,” one the other hand, comes from the Frisian term makia, which means, “To build.” As in: “build into your schedule.”

As in: “build your entire day around it.” Which implies a commitment. Which means it’s not possible that you won’t do it. I challenge you to call bullshit on yourself by reminding yourself of that fine line. How do you know what’s important to you?

11. Don’t refuse to look into yourself. Stop keeping secrets from yourself. Inspect what you expect. Know what charms you. And avoid overlooking the inconvenient. As Brad Blanton explained in one of my favorite books, Radical Honesty,

“Life goes on and the truth changes; this just happens to be the way life is. What was once true is often no longer true just a little while later. Yesterday’s truth is today’s bullshit. Even yesterday’s liberating insight is today’s jail of stale explanation.”

Remember: The mirror is your friend. It will never lie to you. Are you willing to listen to all of yourself?

12. Decide if the squeeze is worth the juice. One of the few things I learned in college was the concept of opportunity cost. The next forgone alternative. The point of diminishing returns. In short: Tradeoffs. What you give up to get something. So, next time you’re not sure if something is going to be worth it, consider (honestly) asking yourself these questions:

o What is this getting in the way of?
o Is this an expectation I can reasonably meet?
o Am I being fair to myself by continuing this relationship?
o Is this person helping create a future that I’m going to feel obligated to be a part of?

The whole point is to induce self-squirming. Better now than five years later when your hand is so cramped from squeezing that you can’t even pick up the glass to enjoy the juice. Is this an opportunity or an opportunity to be used?

13. Don’t let your ego write checks your body can’t cash. Another mantra from my yoga instructor. Helpful in (and out) of the studio. Especially when it comes to time management. Like my friend Kim says in her book There’s An Adult in My Soup:

“Busyness isn’t a badge of honor – it’s the new four-letter word. The modern culture’s obsession with the ‘I’m so busy’ mantra turns into a crutch that enables people to avoid taking 100% responsibility for their lives.”

Lesson learned: Trying to impress yourself is an exhausting upstream paddle. Slow down. Otherwise your body is going to call bullshit on you before you get a chance. Will your body have sufficient funds in its account to cash the ridiculous check your ego is trying to write?

In conclusion, let’s turn east to Steven Mitchell’s Second Book of the Tao:

“If assumptions are questioned deeply enough, they let go of themselves.”

REMEMBER: You’ll never make a name FOR yourself until you’re held accountable TO yourself, BY yourself.

I know it’s hard. I know it hurts.

But refusing to call bullshit on yourself is like cheating at solitaire.

Sure, nobody will know.

But you’ll still lose.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will you remind yourself who you are?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “For the list called, “37 Personal Leadership Questions Guaranteed to Shake Your Soul,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

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