Tag: stick yourself out there

How to be Your Own Biggest Fan Without Resorting to Face Painting, Binge Drinking or Crowd Surfing

It’s great to have people cheering for you.

But the number of fans you accumulate is valueless if you’re not the first one standing in line.

LESSON LEARNED: You need to be your own biggest fan.

Aka:

Your own best friend.
Your own ideal reader.
Your own top customer.
Your own perfect audience.
Your own greatest supporter.

From that space of self-belief, anything is possible.

Because whatever your currency is – making a statement, making difference, making a mint – you can’t earn that unless you have people cheering for you.

You may as well start with yourself.

Here’s a list of six ways to be your own biggest fan without resorting to face painting, binge drinking or crowd surfing:

1. Steel yourself against the thundering noise around you. Don’t let the validity of your talent hang in the balance of some wanker critic’s opinion. Instead, give up your obsessive need for approval from anyone other than yourself.

Develop personal standards for judging your own artistic talents. Visualize at the onset what a win looks like. That way, when the bedlam persists from the haters around you, the commotion dissolves from the groupie inside you.

Remember: As long as you’re your own biggest fan, you win every time. Unless you’re a serial killer. That’s totally different. I don’t care how skilled you are at decapitating people. How much of what you believe about yourself comes from what others believe about you?

2. Extend unrestricted mental hospitality to every achievement. Self-confidence comes from self-evidence. Here’s my suggestion: With every victory – regardless of size – constantly remind yourself: This is not a trivial accomplishment.

Personally, I keep a Victory Log. Been making entries every morning since 2002. From profitable business achievements like, “Landed a huge consulting contract!” to smaller personal triumphs like, “Didn’t pass out from massive dehydration in yoga class today.”

Hey man, a win is a win. I’m reminded of what Seneca wrote in Letters to a Stoic: “Call to mind things that you have done that have been upright or courageous; run over in your mind the finest parts that you have played.”

This provides you with a secure base – a context of sufficiency coupled with an attitude of self-confidence – from which to operate. That’s how you win, and keep winning. What victories did you memorialize today?

3. Regularly audit your self-belief. It is possible to be your own fan without believing your own in house press. As long as you digest proper doses of self-awareness and humility.

To become (not only) your biggest fan – but also your sharpest fan – consider asking yourself a few questions:

*What obsolete self-beliefs are trapping you? Because certain values you’ve held close to your heart will eventually outlive their usefulness.

*What would it take for you to believe in yourself down to your toes? Because the more you belittle your true self, the more your inner gifts atrophy.

*Which beliefs should you abort? Because some of those ideals may not be serving your goals any longer.

Remember: Being your own biggest fan is how you prepare the soil from which a harvest of meaningfulness grows. But only if you’re radically honest with yourself first. Why do you believe in yourself?

4. Smash through self-doubt. Like a sledgehammer through an Easter egg. Otherwise you short-circuit your momentum. And he who takes no action makes no money.

My question is: Why take up unnecessary mental disk space questioning yourself? Limits are for calculus teachers. Yes, you are the detonator of your own destruction – but you’re also the conductor of your own self-belief.

To free yourself from the fear of being found out, recite the following affirmation: “I am the person who can do this … I am the person who can do this.” I use that one all the time. And it’s a great tool when I need help convincing myself that I actually know what the hell I’m doing.

Otherwise self-doubt becomes the ultimate self-betrayal. Therefore: Your mission is to keep the faith. Like the diehard fan that refuses to leave the half-empty ballpark until the last pitch is thrown, stick with yourself.

And if you throw a hanging curve that gets tattooed out of the stadium, so be it. Learn from it and move on. How often do self-doubt and caution take hold of your decision making process?

5. Success alone is not enough to anchor you. First, you have to embody the unshakable, unbending belief that you deserve success. That it’s yours for the asking. Not that you’re entitled to success – but that you’re good enough to receive it.

My suggestion: Cure the waves of whoami. Remind yourself that who you already are – is enough to get what you want. You are worthy of this dream, and this dream is worthy of you. Otherwise you’ll never rein superior to the wounds and upsets of life.

As Karen Salmonshon wrote in Enough, Damn It! “Lots of pessimism will only get you lots of opportunity to be right about your pessimism. Don’t be a pessimist who succeeds at being right about being a pessimist.” Are you shaping your world or being shaped by it?

6. Stick around anyway.. Even when it’s late. Even when you’re tired. Even when it’s raining outside. Even when you’re sitting in the nosebleed section because your friend who got the tickets is a total tight ass.

That’s what real fans do: They pull on their ponchos and wait the out the storm. Even when nobody notices. Because it’s not about being noticed – it’s about being dedicated.

Fans like these came to see a performance and, damn it, that’s exactly what they’re going to get. And maybe some nachos. Your challenge is not to let the breaks break you. To relentlessly pursue an upward course, crappy conditions notwithstanding.

For example: When you discover that not everybody cares about you, be your biggest fan anyway. When you learn that not everybody is invested in your success, be your biggest fan anyway. And when you realize that not everybody will notice when you fail, be your biggest fan anyway.

Like Garrison Keilor said when I saw a live 2008 episode of Prairie Home Companion, “Never, ever give up. Because when you do, most of the world probably won’t notice anyway.” How are you building your resiliency?

HERE’S THE REALITY: You don’t need millions Twitter followers, thousands of Facebook friends or hundreds of LinkedIn connections to have fans that matter.

Start with you.
Become your own biggest fan first.
Before selling yourself to the world, invest the proper time selling yourself to yourself.

Because unless you believe in yourself more than anybody else on the planet, your career will be a pointless, empty journey.

Gooooooooooal!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you cheering for yourself?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “35 Things You Simply Can’t Do,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

HELLO, my name is Search!

Thanks to Sandra for sending me this video!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Who’s searching for you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “72 Ways to Take Your Blog from Anonymous to Award-Winning,” send an email to me, and yo win the list for free!

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

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

How to Help Your Personal Evolution Pick Up Speed

Public schools should teach evolution.

NOTE: I’m not referring to all that reptilian brain, vestigial organ, monkey-into-man stuff.

I’m talking about personal evolution.

Much more valuable subject.

THINK ABOUT IT: The word “evolution” comes from the Latin evolvere, meaning, “to unfold, open out, expand.”

Can you think of anything more important to your growth as a species than that?

Me neither.

Let’s explore a collection of practices for helping your personal evolution pick up speed:

1. Abandon the lifeless. When I turned thirty, I made a conscious decision: Surrender to the next chapter of my development as a person. Instead of turning thirty years old, I viewed my birthday as an upgrade to the 3.0 version of myself. I even memorialized the evolution by ordering orange silicon bracelets to commemorate this life change.

The cool part is, wearing that bracelet every day keeps me accountable to the best, highest version of myself – which I’m becoming. It also keeps me away from the lesser, former version of myself – which I’ve abandoned.

In fact, the bracelet is so effective that I’ve decided to order a new one each December to symbolize the growth theme for following year. Have you made a public commitment to relevant action?

2. Activate an aggressive growth campaign. Regularly ask yourself three penetrating questions:

(a) Which behaviors are preventing you from making progress towards becoming the next best version of yourself?
(b) Are you actually changing yourself or just changing the mask?
(c) Are you actually changing or just becoming more of what you were?

You might consider writing them on sticky notes and posting them around the house. By keeping the questions in front of your face, you help lay the groundwork for your next initiative. That’s the awareness-based secret to helping your personal evolution pick up speed. What reminders will you use to keep yourself growing?

3. Don’t assume you’re in charge. Instead, deal with whatever life presents itself to you. Because whether or not you want to admit it, whatever happens next is exactly what is supposed to happen. Accidents are not. As I learned in Shakti Gawain’s Reflections in the Light, “Life always confronts you with whatever you’re hoping you don’t have to deal with.”

The good news is, everything that shows up in your life can be used. All you have to do is ask the ultimately leverage question. Now that I have this, what else does this make possible?

4. Accept the prescriptions of nature. Certain things are going to be inevitable features of the landscape. Whether it’s your age, geography, health or personal disposition, evolution is learning to accept the unchangeable.

For example, I can’t play team sports the way I used to. In my twenties, I’d regularly participate in volleyball, basketball and kickball intramurals after work. Not anymore. I’ve come to terms with my own vulnerability.

And I recognize that, as fun as they are to play, it’s not worth hurting my (apparently) fragile body during a Sunday game of kickball to feel my knees ache during a four-hour workshop on Monday, thus letting my audience down with a less-than-best performance. Bummer. I had a cannon from third base. Are you a practitioner of unconditional self-acceptance?

5. Gradually release the old. Determine what you would like to have room for. Then, create the space you need by heeding one or more of the following pieces of advice: Avoid outdated frameworks. Conquer obsolete fears. Discard old scripts. Dismantle outmoded assumptions. Dispose irrelevant presuppositions. Eliminate useless answers. Reject aged procedures.

In the same way that productivity is about what you avoid, personal evolution is about what you discard. Sure, it’s hard to let go of a part of yourself – especially something that’s working. But sometimes you have to destroy yourself to reinvent yourself. What are you holding onto that no longer serves you?

6. Learn to love what’s good for you. One of the saddest days of my life was January 11th, 2010. That’s when my dentist gave me (and my teeth) an ultimatum: Stop eating sweets and start flossing – or endure an extremely painful surgical procedure.

As you can guess, my answer didn’t require much thought. Sometimes all it takes for a guy like me to evolve is the threat of excruciating pain.

Lesson learned: Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. Although I secretly miss Twizzlers like a long distance girlfriend. God damn it. What do you need to learn to love?

7. Risk looking at what’s not working. First, give yourself permission to have difficult conversations with yourself. Summon the self-confrontational courage to look at your life squarely and candidly. Try asking yourself the key question: “If my life were perfect, how would it be different from how it is today?”

Next, notice what answers, feelings and bodily responses arise. Write them down. Then, consciously commit to narrowing that gap.

Remember: Don’t let the pursuit for perfection stop you from trying. Become skilled at dropping the rocks that are slowing you down. Are you stuck doing what’s not working?

REMEMBER: The largest room in the world is the room for improvement.

If evolution follows involution, start on the inside and watch what happen on the outside.

Who knows? You might even like the new version of you.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Have you surrendered to the next chapter of your personal evolution?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “14 Things You Don’t Have to Do Anymore,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

9 Ways to Turn Your Pipe Dream into a Dream Come True

To execute is to put to death.

THAT’S THE KILLER QUESTION: What do you need to murder in your life that’s preventing you from taking action?

Excuses?
Illusions?
Assumptions?
Procrastination?
That annoying neighbor whose home cooking smells like hot trash?

Regardless of your situation, everyone can benefit from a few execution lessons.

Here: Your first session is on the house.

1. Finished is the new perfect. Perfect is boring anyway. As Mary Poppins taught us, “Enough is as good as a feast.” That’s your first execution lesson: To declare it done, throw your arms up in the air and say, “The hay is in the barn.”

Kind of like that night senior year when you were cramming for your calculus exam – somewhere around midnight while all your friends were getting smashed at Skipper’s – and you reached the point of diminishing returns. “If I don’t know it now, I’ll never know it,” you said.

So you packed up, walked home and got a good night’s sleep. Then you went to class the next day and made those derivatives your bitch. Way to go.

Remember: You’re the only one waiting for you to get everything right. Eighty percent is enough. Trust your resources. Nobody is going to notice the final twenty anyway. Did you postpone (again!) because you’re sweating something irrelevant?

2. Declare a stern deadline of no more. The hardest part about being an author is cutting. Deleting chapters that are brilliant but unnecessary. After twelve books in eight years, I still feel physical pain in my stomach every time I do it.

But that’s the secret: I wouldn’t even have this many books published at the age of thirty if I trapped myself in the eternal loop of pointless editing like every other author. Instead, I give myself “no more deadlines.” For example, “After the date of June 1, I will not add or subtract anything from this book.”

That’s the only way to get it done. That’s the only way to ship.

And yes, I find one or two typos in every book I write. But, in the words of Larry Winget, bestselling author of more than thirty books, “My crap is better than your nothing.” Are you stalling a product that, by the time it’s perfect and ready, some other chump company will have already finished, sold and shipped their version of it?

3. Exorcise falsehoods. End the barrage of lies. Be honest with yourself about these three questions: Are you making something useful or just making something? Are you creating problems you don’t have yet just to feel in control? Are you wasting your money solving an imaginary problem beautifully?

If so, you may be foreclosing on your own good efforts. Truth is: Execution is priceless; but when you’re miles away from meaningful work, it’s about as valuable as a used MC Hammer album. Does what you’re doing – right now – matter?

4. Establish real-world momentum. In physics class, you learned that momentum (mass times velocity) means moving without deliberate acceleration. In short: Moving, but only by using what you already have. Alex J. Mann, who blogged a series of articles on execution had this to say:

“Momentum doesn’t hit when you first edge off the starting line. But it begins to creep in when you start moving against the wind towards the unknown horizon. This is why momentum is so vital to a solid execution strategy. It proves one thing: that you are capable of getting things done with very little.”

My suggestion is to constantly ask the ultimately movement value question: Now that I have this, what else does this make possible?

5. Ship now, fix later, perfect never and bleed always. That’s the execution process for my creative practice. What’s yours? While you’re thinking about that, let’s turn to Derek Sivers of CD Baby for executional insight:

“Make it. Even if you don’t have the massive programming skill available, make a super lo-fi or no-fi version. Just get started with a couple friends and volunteers. It’s so much more impressive to hear someone say, ‘There’s this thing that I’ve started doing that a lot of people seem to like.’”

What can you do in the first half of the day to demonstrate focus and unstoppable action?

6. Find a way to start small. If it’s gathering dust, it’s bleeding money. Try this: Even if you can’t go the whole hog immediately, execute a small component of your idea early. Use social media platforms as testing ground. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that nobody even notices the minor flaws you’re losing sleep over. And know that the smaller and earlier you do it, the quicker and easier it is to hide your mistakes.

Besides, what’s worse: Hitting bumps in the road that project you forward, or go along sailing smoothly without realizing you’re actually standing still or worse, going backward?

Remember: Screwing up quietly beats sitting around loudly. As I learned in The Cult of Done Manifesto, “Failure counts as done, and so do mistakes.” Just admit it: You’re never really ready. Start small and win big. Will you let action eclipse excuse?

7. You don’t need more ideas. As a writer, public speaker and consultant, this is a huge problem for me. Especially since my idea inventory is slowly approaching 75,000 strong. I know. I’m like a chocoholic, but for creativity. Sometimes I get so entrenched in the joy of collecting and organizing ideas that I forget to do anything with them.

Whoops. Too bad I didn’t learn the secret until a few years ago. It simple: While ideas set the wheel in motion, execution is where the rubber meets the road. Your challenge is to regularly ask the question: When is it time to stop creating and start judging?

8. Action isn’t an afterthought. Engineer action into every idea you have. Otherwise they’re going to remain nouns in a marketplace where customers only buy verbs.

Incidentally, did you know the word “execution” has the same Latin derivative as the word “sequel”? Interesting. Maybe that’s what it means to execute – to make a sequel. After all, each experience contains the value of helping us decide what to do next. How are you entering into each endeavor with an attitude of action?

9. Jealousy is a waste of time. If someone else executes faster than you, it’s not because you’re incompetent or complacent – it’s because they have more resources at their disposal. Relax. Stop projecting. Stop resenting. Instead, focus on what’s standing in the way of accomplishing similar results.

For example: Creating busywork to avoid the important isn’t execution – that’s procrastination. Are you guilt of that? What about this: Remaining dangerously committed to not losing money is the enemy of execution. How are you in that department?

Remember: Be very careful about the expectations you set for yourself. Are you using your abilities constructively, or is your drive and ambition directed to unproductive and purely self-seeking channels?

REMEMBER: Your ability is only as good as its execution.

Ideas aren’t meant to stay ideas.

Don’t leave them that way.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Will your idea stay a pipe dream or become a dream come true?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “49 Ways to become an Idea Powerhouse,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you 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!

NametagTV: More Phrases That Payses

Video not working? Click here for Adobe Flash 9!

Watch the original video on NametagTV.com

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What are your Phrases That Payses?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “12 Ways to Out Service the Competitionl,” 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]

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

How to Create Something Worth Being Criticized

If you’re not polarizing, you’re not monetizing.

If you’re making people react, you’re not making a difference.

If everybody loves what you’re doing, you’re doing something wrong.

THAT’S YOUR CHALLENGE: Create something worth being criticized.

Otherwise you’re boring.
Just another slice of average cut from the mediocre multitude.

Otherwise you’re ignored.
Just another non-entity in the infinite grey mass of blah blah blah.

Otherwise you’re forgotten.
Just another flash-in-the-pan, all-shtick-no-substance, one-trick-pony.

AND THE TRUTH IS: Criticism isn’t something you draw – it’s something you earn.

If you want to create something worth being criticized, consider these ideas:

1. Change your reactions to criticism. In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield suggests that we recognize criticism (especially the envy-driven variety) for what it really is: Supreme compliment.

“The critic hates most what he wishes he would have done himself he had the guts.”

Lesson learned: Next time someone attacks you, smile. Even if you do so internally. Know that you’ve done your job and that it’s probably got nothing to do with you. In fact, consider keeping Criticism Log. Document daily victories of being hated – even in minor moments – as reminders that you haven’t lost your edge. What’s your definition of (and relationship with) criticism?

2. Assess the risk. There is an inverse relationship between your willingness to risk and the likelihood of criticism. For example, one of the questions I ask myself every morning as I sit down to work is, “What do I risk is presenting this material?”

If the answer is “not much” or “nothing,” I either rework it – or don’t publish it at all. It’s simply not daring enough. Too much ink, not enough blood. And whether you’re a writer or not, the challenge is the same: Create a filter for your own work that reinforces the importance of risk. You might ask, “Who will this idea piss off?” or “How much hatemail will this garner?”

Otherwise you’re just wasting your time. Otherwise you’re just winking in the dark. How do you assess the risk of what you release to the world?

3. Disturb people. The word “disturb” comes from the Latin emotere – the same derivative as the word “emotion.” That’s all you’re doing when you’re being a disturbance: Evoking emotion. Interrupting the quiet. Unsettling the peace. Upsetting the mental landscape. Could be positive or negative or neutral. Doesn’t matter.

The point is: You can’t go down in history if you’re not willing to shake things up in the present. Therefore: Learn to be constructively challenging – but without being ignorantly defiant. Learn to be delightfully disturbing – but without being painfully annoying.

After all, grinding the gears just because you love the sound doesn’t help anyone. And doing something just for the sake of being criticized isn’t worth being criticized for. Are your monkey wrenches well intentioned?

4. Wage an ongoing war against mediocrity. People who maintain a constant posture of challenging the process don’t just get noticed – they get nailed to crosses. Which, if you have thick enough skin – and perhaps some snacks to hold you over until the cavalry comes (no pun intended) – isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Take Bill Maher, for example. In the aftermath of 9/11, he refuted president Bush’s message that the terrorists were cowards: “We have been the real cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away,” explained Maher on Political Incorrect, “And staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, isn’t cowardly.”

Not surprisingly, Maher’s comments became a major controversy. Advertisers withdrew their support. Affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily. Even White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, according to the show’s Wikipedia page.

Sure enough, Politically Incorrect was cancelled six months later. Shortly thereafter, Maher moved to HBO to start shooting Real Time, which has recently been resigned for its ninth and tenth seasons. According to Nancy Geller, senior vice president, HBO Entertainment, “Bill Maher is one of the most sought-after opinion makers on TV, and I’m delighted that this fearless and provocative observer will return to HBO next year.”

Oh, and did I mentioned that since getting kicked off the air in 2002, Maher produced, wrote and directed the seventh most successful documentary of all time? Yep. Lesson learned: Violently refuse to become a follower of the common ways of the mediocre masses. Are you letting the world bring your average down, or are you dedicated to bringing its average up?

5. Negativity sucks – but silence sucks money out of your bank account. Oscar Wilde as right: “The only thing worse than being talked about – is not being talked about.” For example, I’d rather have my readers say that my books are drivel-filled hamster terds – than say nothing at all. And I’d rather my audience members tell me I was the worst speaker on the planet than sit there for an hour sexting their boyfriends.

Disagreement and doubt is a form of engagement. It means people heard you, and that’s what matters. Like Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz once said in a Rolling Stone Interview, “Happiness would be nice. Sadness would suck. But insignificance is the worth thing of all.” Next time your work gets beamed, consider it a victory. Better to be impugned than to be ignored. Are you earning criticism or hearing crickets?

6. Honesty scares people. Creating art is a simple process: Slice open a vein and bleed your truth all over the page. Note well: I used the words “vein, blood and truth.” That’s the difference-maker: Criticism is earned by people who are willing to dance along, happily cross and stretch miles beyond the line.

My suggestion: Go there. “Take a chance – tell the truth,” as George Carlin reminded us. Take your readers, audience members and viewers somewhere they didn’t want to go – or never thought they’d go – but then make them so grateful they’re there that they never want to leave. How are you branding your honesty?

REMEMBER: Anything worth doing is worth being attacked for.

Ultimately, creating something worth being criticized is a risky, demanding and unglamorous process.

But that’s what difference makers do.

Sure as hell beats being ignored.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
When was the last time you received hate mail?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “49 Ways to become an Idea Powerhouse,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you 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!

7 Ways to Convert Inertia into Demonstrable Forward Momentum

Execution isn’t a hobby.

It’s an effort.
It’s an attitude.
It’s an approach.
It’s an imperative.

And I know I write about it a lot.

In fact, you might even be sick of hearing about execution.

Too bad.

Inertia is a pervasive, expensive, urgent and real problem – in business and in life.

Here’s a list of eight (more) practices for converting your inertia into demonstrable forward momentum:

1. Accept inertia as an inevitable feature of the entrepreneurial landscape. Meet yourself where you are. Instead of making war with inaction, befriend it. Greet it with a welcoming heart. Put your arm around its shoulder and find out what it’s trying to teach you.

By partnering with inertia and respecting it as a natural part of the entrepreneurial experience, you’re able to move forward from an expanded (not contracted) mindspace. Are you ignoring, discounting or defriending the obvious?

2. Know that success (alone) is not enough to anchor you. Prosperity is the leading perpetrator of inertia. That’s the problem with winning: It often breeds complacency and dampens interest in innovative renewal. Lesson learned: Beware of the arrogance of success. Otherwise you’ll end up a victim of your victories, blinded by the bright light of your achievements, sitting on your butt in a blaze of self-satisfied glory.

My suggestion to build forward momentum mirrors Josh Waitzkin’s philosophy in The Art of Learning, “Make losing part of your regular experience.” That way you’re grounded in reality. Unlike our current educational system, which deludes kids into believing that there are no losers and winners.

Bullshit. Losing is part of life, and it needs to be part of your life too. Otherwise you’re in for a rude awakening the day you graduate. The cool part is, the moment you learn from your experience is the moment it ceases to be a mistake. So, failure actually is an option – but not growing from it, isn’t. When was the last time you were the loser?

3. Get the hay in the barn. My 12th book hits the shelves in the fall of 2010. But I know that if I don’t stop adding new material to it by July 1, it will never be done. Ever. I know me. And while it’s a painful part of the entrepreneurial process, you’ve got to put a creative stake in the ground.

Otherwise you’re consigned to career as a stock boy in the warehouse of inertia. In a recent blog post, Seth Godin riffed on this very topic, “People don’t like deadlines because they force us to decide. But they also create forward motion. And they give you the opportunity to beat the rush. They just have a lousy name. Call them live-lines instead. That’s what they are.”

Similarly, I teach this same idea to the people in my mentoring program. In fact, you might try writing the following reminder on a sticky note: Prepare to declare it done. Otherwise you’ll keep adding and changing and editing and improving until the day you die. Ugh. Why haven’t you put it on your calendar yet?

4. Breathe help in. Success never comes unassisted. You need to admit that it’s okay to ask for help. It doesn’t make you needy, incompetent or in the debt of the helper. Learn to ask for it proactively, accept it gracefully, act upon it swiftly and appreciate it regularly.

It could be as simple as, “David, would you be willing to email me once a week as a gentle probe to keep me on point?” or as complex as, “Wendy, can you offer some advice on how to drag my sorry ass out of bed every morning instead of lying like a piece of broccoli listening to Howard Stern for three hours?”

Accountability works. Ask for it. Are you willing to let it be okay that you need other people?

5. Decide how much discomfort you can absorb. Moving forward, establishing momentum and executing are uncomfortable and inconvenient actions. But you can’t expect to thrive only when things are safely within your comfortable grasp. All motion carries (some) risk of injury.

As Marshall McLuhan wrote in The Global Village, “Pain is the natural accompaniment to innovation.” So, overcoming inertia is a function of how uncomfortable you’re willing to make yourself. Not to the point of hurting your body, obviously. But knowing yourself well enough to recognize your pain threshold.

That’s why I love yoga: You stretch yourself (literally) to the point where pain is a possibility, but not a reality. And that awareness prepares you to handle future discomfort. What are you pretending not to be uncomfortable about?

6. Believe you have everything you need to begin. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Failure to move forward stems less from poor planning and more from the timidity to proceed. It’s a question of self-belief. And a practice I’ve found helpful over the years (from Eric Maisel’s Ten Zen Seconds) is to recite the following incantations each day:

“I am richly supported … I trust my resources … I am equal to this challenge … I am ready to proceed.”

Just accept the fact that you’re never ready, you’re never going to be ready, and that waiting until you are ready is like waiting on a train that doesn’t come through your town. May as well get on your bike and just start peddling. Remember: Who you already are is enough to get what you want. Have you ever asked yourself why you procrastinate?

7. Maintain alignment or risk wasting your energy. My friend Jim writes about this in Personal Brilliance: “Pursuing a goal that’s in conflict with your value system is kind of like trying to squeeze your feet into shoes that are a size too small.”

To prevent this from happening to you, I suggest creating a governing document for daily decision-making. This exercise changed my life – and my business – forever. And the secret behind it is, when you convey a thorough understanding of yourself, create a good working model of your own identity and maintain consistency of your actions, moving forward becomes substantially easier.

After all, it’s a hell of a lot easy to persist when you know who you are. Have you considered how you decide?

REMEMBER: Moving forward might be hard – but standing still is just plain stupid.

Fight the overwhelming influence of inertia.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Why haven’t you moved forward yet?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “13 Ways to Out Develop Your Competitors,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

NametagTV: Getting Called Back

Video not working? Click here for Adobe Flash 9!

Watch the original video on NametagTV.com

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Why aren’t your customers calling you back?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “10 Ways to Get Customers to Return Your Call,” 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]

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

How to Move Forward

Determination alone fails.

Just watch American Idol. Every one of those kids is determined to become the next international pop sensation.

Too bad their singing voices sound like donkey farts.

HERE’S THE REALITY: Progress is the product of attitude, focus, impatience, imperfection, avoidance and courageous action.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, salesperson, organizational leader or simply a person who’s tired of sweating it out on the treadmill of life, here are eight ways to move forward:

1. Mind over mattress. Davinci said, “Rouse yourself from sleep because lying down will not bring thee fame.” Ginsberg said, “Lying down will not bring thee forward.” Either way, the suggestion is the same: Wake up earlier.

You’ll get more done. You’ll avoid having to rush. You’ll prevent the need to launch right into your daily tasks. And you’ll activate a sense of momentum that will set the rest of the day into productive motion.

One hour. That’s all I ask. Try it for a month and see how easy it is to move forward. What time did you get up today?

2. Real progress starts with self. You’re waking up earlier. Cool. The next step is to practice winning the private battle before going into the public arena. I’ve been practicing this (daily) since 2002. But I didn’t understand the psychology behind it until I read Principle-Centered Leadership by Steven Covey. He wrote:

“Early morning private victories give you a sense of conquering, overcoming and mastering – and this sense propels you to conquer more public challenges during the day. Starting a day with an early victory over self will lead to more victories.”

Beginning tomorrow, I challenge you to use your first waking hour profitably. After thirty days, you’ll build reserves of emotional stamina to be called on during the inevitable stress that accompanies moving forward. Are you willing to take charge of your own development?

3. Announce your intentions to yourself. Moving forward means architecting a vision, then aligning your daily actions with that vision. Even if you don’t have a plan. Even if you don’t know how to do what you want to do. If you use a compass instead of a map, it’s easier to pinpoint your general direction.

Sure beats killing yourself trying to figure out longitudinal coordinates. Remember: How is not your responsibility. Fall in love with why and how will make its appearance when it’s ready. Like Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” What are you forgetting to be intentional about?

4. Focus activates progress. Throughout your day, beware of the distraction of the next idea. Shiny object syndrome is executioner of execution and the preventer of progress. Marcus Aurelius addressed this issue a few thousand years ago in Meditations:

“Give not the strongest foothold to anything else. Nothing will sooner prevent your true spirit from flourishing or be more difficult to root out than the distraction of divided loyalty.”

Look: You don’t need more ideas. Pick a lane, crank up the Alpine and drop some lead on the gas. Remember: Moving forward means investing time in things that matter – not burning time trivially persisting on inconsequential wastes of energy. How much time are you wasting (not) focusing on your priorities?

5. Make progress by making peace with inadequacy. Here’s a trend that’s not going away: Finished is the new perfect. As such, progress is a form of accepting. For example:

Accept that you might fail.
Accept that you’re never really ready.
Accept that you don’t need to know how.
Accept that you don’t need a complete script to start shooting.

The sooner you recognize that you’re the only one waiting for you to get everything right, the sooner you can move forward. What is your bottomless need for perfection preventing you from achieving?

6. Listen smarter. The biggest secret to moving forward is closing your ears to people whose toxic noise is holding you back. Don’t listen to people who nastily try to induce insecurity in you. Don’t listen to people whose imagination can’t encompass what it is that you want to do.

Also, don’t listen to people who put a damper on your natural versatility. And don’t listen to people who did something once and think they know everything about it.

People like this undermine your execution. Instead, learn to listen to people whose opinions matter. Surround yourself with a trusted team of life-enhancing high grade people. Spend your time with individuals who are examples of the way you want to live.

Growing bigger ears, after all, means growing more mature ears. Are you listening to people who mindlessly judge you or compassionately honor your perspective?

7. Wage a war against inertia. In The Paradox of Choice, we learned that the desire to avoid regret induces people not to act at all. Barry Schwartz dubbed this principle inaction inertia. So, your challenge is simple: Reduce your number of choices.

If you want to move forward, stop killing yourself trying to pick the best of everything. Stop plaguing yourself with post-decision doubts. And stop exhausting yourself running ridiculous searches of every possibility. Choices cause stress, and stress stops you. According to Schwartz:

“The more choices you have, the longer it takes to commit; the longer it takes to commit, the more you regret and reevaluate every decision after the fact; and the more you regret and reevaluate, the less satisfaction you ultimately receive from the choices you make.”

Eventually, there comes a point of diminishing returns. Eventually, you need to stop choosing and start moving. Remember: When massive resistance is marshaled against you, you’ll never run out of reasons not to choose. Decide anyway. Even when it seems senseless to others. Are you a great chooser?

8. Leap and the net will appear. Lastly, it’s impossible to make progress if your ego is too invested in trying to define what progress looks like. Just start moving. Let your feet do the talking. Progress will define itself for you.

Otherwise you’ll prematurely commit to a false definition of advancement. That assumption functions as an arrogant clamp that closes you off to potential growth opportunities.

I’m reminded of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. In the final scene, we see that only when Indy has courage (and faith!) does the path appear before his feet. The cool part is, when he looks back, the path was there the whole time. He just wasn’t tuned into that frequency yet. Are you willing to close your eyes, extend your leg and breathe deeply into the next terrifying step?

BOTTOM LINE: Your hands are tired of being sat on.

If you (really) want to move forward…

Stop sleeping in.
Stop wondering how.
Stop listening to idiots.
Stop striving for perfection.
Stop watching American Idol.
Stop making so many choices.

If action is eloquence, progress is a standing ovation.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Why haven’t you moved forward yet?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “99 Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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

The world’s FIRST two-in-one, flip-flop book!

Buy Scott’s comprehensive marketing guidebook on Amazon.com and learn how to GET noticed, GET remembered and GET business!

If You Seriously Can’t Execute (At Least) One of Your Ideas After Reading This Blog Post, Then I Am Just Going to Snap

I’m not an angry person.

My feathers err on the side of unruffleable.

But I am human. I do get emotional. And if there’s one thing that makes me want to slowly rip each of my toenails off with a needle nose pliers dipped in sulfuric acid, it’s people who spend their time flapping their gums instead of shuffling their feet.

To coin a phrase: The executionally deficient.

But instead of resorting self-mutilation (again), I’ve decided to channel my frustration into something a bit more productive.

Here’s a helpful list of seven reasons why you’re (not) turning your ideas into realities.

1. You’re too busy networking. Attending lunches, conference and coffee meetings is a great way to meet people – but it’s also a great way to avoid work. My suggestion: Stop playing dress up and go create something. Stop schmoozing and start shipping.

Not that face time isn’t valuable. Just don’t overlook the importance of workbench time.

Also, be careful not to get sucked into the vortex of online connecting.

Social media is great for guzzling your time, feeding your ego, finding mindless entertainment, causing additional stress in your life that you don’t need, helping you contribute more unoriginal thinking to the echo chamber, and allowing you to participate in (yet another) online pissing contest.

But when it comes to execution, social media is largely a distraction. Choose wisely. Are you too busy connecting with people who don’t matter to execute stuff that does matter?

2. You’re talking your ideas into the ground. There is an inverse relationship between the number of people you tell about your exciting new idea and the number of days before that idea (actually) comes to fruition. Julia Cameron outlined this concept in The Artist’s Way:

“The first rule of magic is self-containment. You must hold your intention within yourself, stoking it with power. Only then will you be able to manifest what you desire.”

Hey: I’m all for sharing your goals with the world. And memorializing your intentions. And bringing your dreams to fruition through visualization and peer accountability. I also think it’s easy to blow lid off your ideas by telling too many people about them. Will your lack of self-control slowly dissipate your idea into the quicksand of non-execution?

3. You’re dissipating yourself in useless activity. It’s amazing: People always seem to make time for what’s (not) important to them. My suggestion: Stop saying yes to everything. Learn to be discerning. (Not snobby, but discerning). Create an opportunity filter if you have to.

Otherwise your agenda will collapse too easily and you’ll never execute anything that counts.

Remember: If you don’t set boundaries for yourself, other people will set them for you. And then they will violate them. And then they will tell all their little friends to the same. All because you never set a precedent of value on your time. Are you a businessperson or a professional volunteer?

4. You’re trying to do everything yourself. Which means you’re a perfectionist. Which means you’re a control freak. Which means you’ve never going to declare anything done. Which means you’re never going to be fully sated.

For example, my friend Mara is currently redesigning her blog. When she sent me a ten-page document of comps, pictures and sketches – which looked awful, by the way – I asked her one question: “Mara, are you a blog designer?” As suspected, she replied, “No.” At which point I suggested, “Then you need to pay someone who is.”

Lesson learned: Next time you find yourself trapped in control-freak mode, simply ask yourself the same question: Is this what I do for living? If the answer is no, pay someone who does do it for a living while you go do something that matters.

Learn to surrender control of your ideas and let the pros do what they do. Learn to trust smart people. Execution will happen faster, better and cheaper. How much money is one hour of your time worth?

5. You’re not willing to pay the (financial) price. People come to me for help all the time. Some are entrepreneurs. Some are business owners. Some are corporate workers. Some are single parents. Either way, I’m happy to advise. For a fee, that is. Notice my one-on-one department is called Rent Scott’s Brain, not Waste Scott’s Time.

Interestingly, the minute I put a stake in the ground and set a precedent of value on my availability, people flinch. They back off. And they always feed me the same, stock excuse: “Well, it’s not that I don’t think you’re worth the money, it’s just that…”

Wrong. It has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with your unwillingness to commit with both feet. That’s exactly why I charge for my time: Because people who don’t pay me don’t hear me. I charge enough so people will actually listen to – and take action upon – what I say. And with financial investment comes greater commitment to execution. Every time. Who have you hired lately?

6. You’re placing too many cumbersome demands on yourself. I’m all for diversification. Pursuing multiple projects simultaneously is usually a smart move. But having too many irons in the fire does nothing but slowly melt your ability to execute into a steaming puddle of silver goo. Terminator 2 style.

The problem is, you’re your own worst enemy in creating chaos in your life. You have to be willing to hang up your Superman cape and ask yourself, “Where (and why) am I constantly trying to impress myself?” Remember: The dog who chases two rabbits doesn’t just go hungry – he looks stupid while starving.” Are you a victim of your own lack of focus?

7. You’re spending most of your time whining about the progress you’re not making. Sadly, this is a popular (but poor) energy investment decision made by entrepreneurs. It reminds me of an old Calvin & Hobbes comic I read as a kid. For some reason, this particular strip always stuck with me.

During a parent/teacher conference, Mrs. Wormwood explains to Calvin’s mother, “If he put half as much energy into his work as he did into his protests, he might actually score well.” Do you know someone like this? Work with someone like this? Marry someone like this?

It’s amazing: If people sat down and actually mapped out their energy investments, they’d be astonished at how out of whack their priorities were. My suggestion: Don’t let this happen to you. Beware of investing your finest energies running in place. Treadmills are great for a convenient workout, but the scenery never changes and your knees always end up hurting like hell.

Remember: If you’re wasting all your time externalizing the reasons for a lack of progress, you’ll never actually make any. Learn to greet obstacles as exciting challenges that you can creatively attack. Do you complain about the wind, hope the wind will stop, or adjust your sails?

REMEMBER: Failure isn’t due to a lack of ideas – it’s due to a lack of implementation.

I challenge you to plug yourself into these seven execution equations.

You’ll have those feet shuffling in no time.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How are you closing the execution gap?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called,”11 Ways to Out Market 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]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

Sign up for daily updates
Connect

Subscribe

Daily updates straight to your inbox.
Copyright ©2020 HELLO, my name is Blog!