Read Part 1 of this post here!

38. Never apologize for ordering dessert. Especially if the menu offers one of those chocolate volcano brownie thingies. (Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound.)

39. Never apologize for pulling your triggers for joy. Screw it. If it makes you happy, do it. Unless strangling people with Ethernet cables makes you happy.

40. Never apologize for reclaiming what is rightfully yours. There’s a difference between entitlement and basic human rights.

41. Never apologize for rooting for the Yankees. Even if they do buy their way to victory. They’re still the greatest sports franchise in the history of the world. Do the math and show some respect.

42. Never apologize for saying how you feel. That’s like saying sorry for being real.

43. Never apologize for saying no. Especially when you’re doing so to reinforce your boundaries and create a space for the right “yes” to come into your life.

44. Never apologize for self-promotion. It’s not shameless when all you’re doing is transferring your love. That’s what self-promotion truly is: Transference of emotion. Remember: If you don’t make a name for yourself, someone will make one for you. Just don’t be too shameless.

45. Never apologize for setting high standards and enforcing them. Ditch those frightened people who tell you to play smaller just to appease their insecurity. Try telling them to play bigger.

46. Never apologize for sharing your gifts and talents with the world. This is the purpose of your life and the validation of your existence. To take whatever unique gift you’ve been given and re-gift it to the world. Not doing so isn’t just selfish – it’s stupid.

47. Never apologize for speaking your mind. Honesty makes people uncomfortable. Good. Comfortable people rarely take action.

48. Never apologize for sticking to your values. Especially if you’re only doing so to avoid making someone else uncomfortable. Tough shit. If people can’t handle someone who stands up for what he believes, that’s their problem.

49. Never apologize for taking a break. Learning to press your Off Button is the single most important lesson you could ever learn.

50. Never apologize for telling an unpopular truth. Honest trumps comfort.

51. Never apologize for telling the truth. You’re doing people a favor. Especially yourself. Honesty is the single source of all the world’s stress.

52. Never apologize for things that make you laugh your ass off. Funny is funny. Don’t feel bad for laughing. Don’t look to see if the King laughed. Just let the humor wash over you. It’s healthy.

53. Never apologize for things you can’t change. Instead, figure out what you CAN change and get to work.

54. Never apologize for thinking something was possible. That’s what possiblitarians do. They walk around the problems mentally and prayerfully and see what they see. They face problems artfully and lovingly enough to convert them into something beautiful. They believe.

55. Never apologize for treating yourself to something special. I call it a “Victory Dance.” It’s about celebration. It’s about ritual. It’s about rewarding yourself.

56. Never apologize for voicing a reasonable complaint. When everyone assumes somebody is going to say something, nobody says anything. It’s called diffusion of involvement, and it’s the murderer of the collective voice of man. Don’t feel bad for complaining. As long as you suggest three actions for every one complaint, you’re all right in my book. Unless your complaint is about my book. In which case we might actually have a problem.

57. Never apologize for walking away from a relationship that was holding you back from being the best version of yourself. Even when delivering the death stroke causes your partner significant pain. Don’t say you’re sorry. You might feel terrible. You might feel like a horrible person. And you might feel more guilt than ever before in your life. But don’t say you’re sorry. Those words help nobody.

58. Never apologize for what needed to be done. You were kind, honest and true; and it was the right thing to do. Good for you.

59. Never apologize for what you don’t feel. That’s a betrayal of your truth. And saying sorry for doing so compounds your inauthenticity.

60. Never apologize for what you’re about to say. Immediate personal discounting denotes lack of confidence and reduces listenability.

61. Never apologize for what’s important to you. If you do, then it’s probably not that important to you.

62. Never apologize for who you really are. Brag about it. Shout it from the rooftops.

63. Never apologize for your art. That defeats the whole purpose of creating art.

64. Never apologize for your attempts at humor. Even if they’re totally lame.

65. Never apologize for your boundaries. They are limits that promote integrity. And if you don’t set them for yourself, others will set them for you.

66. Never apologize for your brand. Branding is the best, highest version of yourself – (plus) – the way people experience themselves in relation to you. Not everyone will like it. And if everybody does, you’re doing something wrong.

67. Never apologize for your displays of affection. My quota is to say, “I love you” to at least one person a day. What’s yours?

68. Never apologize for your enthusiasm. Next time someone tells you to “tone it down” a little, look her straight in the eye and say, “How about you tone it UP a little?”

69. Never apologize for your faith. You’re entitled to your own definition of God. Just promise not to beat people over the head with it.

70. Never apologize for your fundamental values. That’s who you are. At your core. Your personhood. Your foundation. That’d be like a cayenne paper saying sorry for being spicy. Not cool.

71. Never apologize for your happiness. Especially when people get on your case for being in such a good mood. Just smile and hope it rubs off.

72. Never apologize for your natural abilities. Instead, leverage that which comes easy to you in the service of others.

73. Never apologize for your obsessions. As long as your obsessions aren’t hurting others or the world – have at it, hauss.

74. Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. If it touches your heart, ignites your soul or moves your spirit, it’s beautiful. To you. Doesn’t matter if it’s a bald eagle, a song by The Smiths or puddle of mud outside of Bob Evan’s. Beauty is subjective and nobody has the right to take it away from you.

75. Never apologize for passionately going for what you want. Stop kidding yourself about the things that you “need.” It’s all about what you WANT. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting.

76. Never apologize for your pricing. You deserve to be compensated commensurate with your value. State your feel confidently and shut up. He who speaks next, loses.

77. Never apologize for your success. Instead, figure out the lessons attached to your victory path and share them with others.

78. Never apologize for your taste. Guilty pleasures, schmilty pleasures. If you love reading trashy romance novels that use words like “throbbing member” and have Fabio on the cover, go for it.

79. Never apologize for your value. You worked very hard to establish it and you’ll be damned if you’re going to back down now. Stand up, speak up and sell the hell out of it.

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What do you refuse to apologize for?

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

If they can’t come UP to you; how will they ever get BEHIND you?

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In the beginning, there was a question:

“What do you do that brings people back for more of YOU?”

Dixie, my great friend, personal coach and consummate butt-kicker, recently asked me that question.

And after thinking about the philosophy surrounding it, here’s what I’ve come up with:

The best way to earn repeat business is to make yourself, your brand and your value more revisitable.

So, whether you’re an entrepreneur, CEO, service provider or small business owner, consider these practices for bringing people back for more of YOU:

1. Accommodate unusual requests. And before you do so, try saying this: “Let me make an exception for you.” You won’t just make people feel special – you’ll make them feel essential. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What are you doing to earn and ensure your status of trusted advisor in the mind of the customer?

2. Advance in earnestness. Vigor. Passion. Resoluteness. It’s hard to resist people like that. They simply provide too much warmth. As Richard Pryor once suggested, “Learn how to set yourself on fire.” Because when you do that (without freebasing cocaine, that is) people will come back just to watch you burn. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. Are you currently operating out of your passion?

3. Be a disturbance. Comfortable customers rarely take action. Your mission is to use your questions, statements, ideas and thoughts to disturb the hell out of them. Not in a dangerous, violating or illegal way, of course. But to make them SO uncomfortable, so squiggly in their seats, that they have no choice but to say, “Screw it – let’s go.”

Sure, it’s crushing to their ego, but it’s crucial to their practice. They’ll thank you in the end. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What action-inducing emotions will you bring to the surface?

4. Be fabulously versatile. Consider this question: What skills are you not currently leveraging to add value to your customers? My suggestion is to run an internal inventory. To uncover the diamonds that your customers have yet to see shine. And to go out of your way to tell your customers about the new ways you can help them.

Versatility is the driving force of evolution. And those who evolve are revisited. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. Will this risk put you (and your customers) in a position for major breakthroughs and growth?

5. Be plastered with perseverance. Repeat business doesn’t just automatically come to you. You need to make up your mind that you’re going to go the distance. My suggestion is simple: Wake up one hour earlier. That’s it. ONE hour. Single greatest piece of advice I ever got. You’ll be amazed at:

(a) how much you get done
(b) how much momentum that one hour activates for the rest of the day, and
(c) how much more revisitable you become.

Think about it: People can’t exactly “come back for more of you” when you’re in bed. Well, unless we’re talking about prostitutes. Which we’re not. Remember: Determination naturally builds momentum. Making a name for yourself is the inevitability of diligence. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What time did you wake up today?

6. Choose harmony over rightness. Stop being right. Customers rarely revisit businesspeople whose pathological hunger for rightness overshadows the achievement of interpersonal harmony. In short: Stop letting your ego vote. Trying listening with the ear of your heart instead. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. Are you known as “someone who really LISTENS” or “The guy who never shuts up”?

7. Declare war on destructive habits. First, name one bad habit you’ve broken in your lifetime. How did you do it? List out the steps you took. Next, identify ONE destructive habit you’re currently addicted to that’s threatening your revisitability.

Finally, redouble your commitment to daily self-cultivation. See if you can’t make that habit old news. Remember: If your habits are destroying you, they’re probably destroying your relationships too. Even if you’re too close to yourself to realize it. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What habits of yours offend customers?

8. 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.”

Remember this, and you won’t accidentally give customers a reason to switch. Remember this, and you won’t let arrogance and complacency sabotage your revisitability. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. If everything you’ve done up until now is just the beginning, what’s next?

9. Honor shifting cultural trends. Here’s what your clients used to want: “Good fast and cheap.” Here’s what your clients currently want: “Perfect now and free.” These are the three insatiable consumer demands, according to bestselling author Robert Rodin.

Now, obviously, I doubt you’re going to reformulate your entire business model to accommodate that trend. But repeat business is a function of client awareness. Perhaps it’s time to honestly assess what each of the three words (perfect, now and free) looks like for your customers. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What have you recently learned about marketing trends?

10. Live above the level of mediocrity. First, it begins with self-confidence. You have to believe that deep down you are able to give something extraordinary. Next, it continues with the identification of the status quo. Figuring out what other companies – who do what you do – always (or never) do.

Then, it’s about doing the opposite. Which doesn’t necessarily mean doing something remarkable; but rather, stopping something normal. It’s that easy. Remember: If nobody buys average, that means nobody re-buys average. Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. What are you doing consistently that average people aren’t?

11. Teach people how to trust you. I’ve been using the same web design company for seven years. They rock. And the biggest reason I keep coming back for more is because they taught me how to trust them. They proved themselves (over time) to be the kind of company I could give an idea to, let them run with it, then meet them on the finish line two weeks later – and be blown away.

All because they know my style, they know my brand and they know what their capabilities are to stay in alignment with those parameters. So, insanely curious about the process behind this, I had lunch with Wendy Gauntt from CIO Services and asked her how she teaches customers to trust her:

“Somebody never just ‘calls’ you,” she said. “That’s why we ask two simple questions at the onset: (1) What do you want to achieve? and (2) Why now? Then, during the project, we’re always steering to get back to that main goal.” Practice this, and people will come back for more of you. How are you teaching customers to trust you?

REMEMBER: To earn repeat business, make yourself, your brand and your value more revisitable.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What do you do that brings people back for more of YOU?

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

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In the past few months, I’ve heard numerous people use the term “Bullshit Artist” in reference to certain individuals.

And my personal policy is, whenever I hear a new word or phrase more than three times in three months, I research it.

So, according to Dictionary.com, UrbanDictionary.com and MyDictionary.com – and some helpful tweeters who shared their insights (thanks!) – the most prevalent definitions of a Bullshit Artist are:

• “A person expert at deception, and hype.”
• “A person with a talent for convincing lies.”
• “A person who habitually exaggerates, flatters, or talks nonsense.”
• “A person who lies/boasts incessantly, usually to comedic effect, intentional or accidental.”
• “A person who specializes in a field of feeding its surrounding persons with uselessness.”
• “A true master of verbal façade who gets off on selling worthless information as if it was fact.”

Now, obviously, I know YOU’RE not one of them.

But I’m sure you know somebody who is. And because it doesn’t matter what YOU think – only what YOUR CUSTOMERS remember – let’s explore a collection of practices that will help you avoid being labeled as a Bullshit Artist:

1. Punch people in the face with your credibility. Everyone has an unequaled background – but not everyone knows how to position it strategically. Your mission is to articulate your expertise as early and explicitly as possible. Customers rarely proceed without proof.

Whether you use testimonials, logos of big clients you’ve worked with, awards you’ve won or pictures of you doing what you do. Leave no question of eligibility. Also, be sure to follow up your initial punch with a timeline of credibility. Show people you’re not going away. Longevity isn’t a color in a Bullshit Artist’s palette. How are you closing the credibility gap?

2. Lower the volume. As Denzel Washington once said, “The loudest one in the room is usually the weakest one in the room.” And as the late Dave Matthews Band saxophone player Leroi Moore once said, “You can make a song sound smaller by trying to make it big.”

So, just relax. No need for aggressive self-assertion. The strong falcon hides its claws. Let go of the need to prove your superiority. If you rock, they’ll feel the music. Even if you don’t turn it up to eleven. What volume is your life at?

3. Talk with your pads. This was the motto of my high school football team. “You guys are bigger than trash talk,” Coach Parks would say. “Don’t stoop down to their level. And if you hear a player on the other team running his mouth at you, don’t say a word. When YOU need to let out your emotions and prove your worth, you talk with your pads.”

So we did. We talked with our pads. And that’s exactly why were we undefeated.

Lesson learned: When all you do is talk (without supportive action and ability) it’s extremely hard for people to hear you over the sound of your own inflated ego. On the other hand, talking with your pads is a LOT louder. Because it’s jolting. Because it’s honest. Because it’s self-evident. Remember: When you talk with your pads, people perk up and listen. What are you talking with?

4. Avoid unspecified attribution. Studies show. Research proves. Scientists say. Psychologists report. Experts believe. They say. There’s an old story that says. I’ve heard. Most people agree. It is said that. Critics say. Statistics show. Somebody once said. The reviews say.

No. No, no, no. None of that is good enough. In a conversation, speech, blog post, or opening statement to a jury, unspecified attribution doesn’t cut it. You need to PROVE your point. With facts. Sources. Numbers. Dates. And not statistics – because those are fabricated pieces of bullshit that people manipulate to make their case look better.

Remember: Specificity = Credibility. Ambiguity is the enemy. If you can’t back it up, pack it up. Are you speaking with meaningful concrete immediacy?

5. Pull back the veneer. Ever met someone that is an expert at LOOKING like she’s successful, but not actually successful? I know a few people like this. And I’m not suggesting that the “act as if” philosophy is wrong. Rather, I echo David Newman’s thought: “It’s OK to fake till you make it – as long as you eventually get around to actually making it.”

Therefore: Release your artificiality, reach back to pure self and rejoin the truth. Your truth. How do people experience you?

6. Recognize the distinctions. Bullshit Artists walk a fine line. Your mission is to detect the difference. Here’s a list of examples:

a. In-demand doesn’t mean highly paid – popularity doesn’t necessarily indication profitability.
b. Passionate doesn’t mean productive – some fires just burn with no purpose.
c. Cool doesn’t mean useful – baseline remarkability isn’t enough.
d. Desirable doesn’t mean satisfying – sustainability is the secret.
e. Activity doesn’t mean accomplishment – there’s a difference between motion and progress.
f. Attention doesn’t mean conversion – web hits are an acronym for “How Idiots Track Sales.”
g. Creativity doesn’t mean innovation – one is a state of being, the other is a practice of action.
h. Dazzling doesn’t mean sustainable – shtick must be supported by substance.
i. Knowledge doesn’t mean wisdom – information is worthless until applied and LIVED.
j. Experience doesn’t mean expertise – only reflection upon that experience does.

To avoid being labeled as a Bullshit Artist, beware of the fine line. What distinctions are you making in your business?

7. You’re more influential when you ask questions. Next time you attend a department or team meeting, notice two kinds of attendees: Those who quip and those who question.

Which of the two are most likely to be labeled as a Bullshit Artist? Veil your light until the proper moment, drop your bomb, then sit back and watch people’s brains explode. What questions are you known for asking?

8. Ditch the jargon. Articulate strategy and ideas in plain language. The less jargon you use, the more engaging you become. In the writing world, shorter sentences get read. In the speaking world, shorter sentences get HEARD. So, think like a writer. Watch those long and cumbersome sentences. Don’t construct your ideas in a way that overburdens people’s brains.

For example, some leaders spew one idea after another. Meanwhile, listeners are still stuck on the FIRST one, trying to figure out what heck you meant. Be careful. Non-brilliance might be forgivable, but time wasting isn’t. Keep your message lean, low-carb and plucked of nonessential words. How meaty are your messages?

9. If you have to tell people you AREN’T, you probably are. Beware of unnecessary declarations of authenticity, honesty and sincerity. Think about it. Wouldn’t YOU raise an eyebrow to someone who kept uttering phrases like: To be perfectly honest with you … I’ll level with you here … Honestly… The truth is … I’m not gonna bullshit you here…

How would that make you feel? Maybe a little suspicious of his credibility? Maybe a little curious why he keep reminding you how honest he is? Watch your language. Having a “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” attitude isn’t fooling anybody. Are poor word choices forfeiting your sales?

10. When you find yourself in the company of deceptive hearts, leave. Be careful whom you roll with. It’s possible to be labeled a Bullshit Artist solely based on proximity. So, if you suddenly feel the need to plug your nose or roll your pant legs up, get out. Fast.

Surround yourself with doers – not talkers – and they will both validate your credibility AND inspire you to continue executing. Are you being fair to yourself, your reputation and your business by continuing to be friends with this person?

REMEMBER: Bullshit Artists only need to be impeached once.

Don’t become one of those people.

In conclusion, let’s remember the words of Maya Angelou, who reminds us:

“When people show you who you are – believe them.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Do people believe you?

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

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

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You can’t make a name FOR yourself unless you honor the truth OF yourself.

As I learned in the book, Honoring the Self:

“The refusal to see what you see (and know what you know) is a betrayal of your integrity AND a commitment of treason to your own judgment.”

What about you? How do you practice honoring your self, your truth?

Let explore of a list of ways to do so:

1. Be genuinely committed to honoring reality. That’s the first step. The willingness to get honest with yourself about yourself. Which is not an easy thing to do if you’ve been saluting your illusions for so long that you actually believe in them. What reality are you feeding on?

2. Feel the existence of that which you have been evading. Ever seen those bumper stickers that read, “Go see a play”? I wish there was one that read, “Go feel something.” We need it. We think too damn much. And as a society, I think we’d learn a lot more about ourselves if felt a little bit more.

Might be a refreshing break to use our bodies more and our brains less. All we have to do is stop bullshitting ourselves and turn inward. It’s simple, but not easy. Remember: There is no thinking clearly if there is no feeling deeply. Are you spending enough time learning to listen to your own voice?

3. Relax into the feeling. My yoga instructor reminds us of this practice during every class. “Even if the feeling is fear, discomfort or dizziness, by relaxing into it – as opposed to resisting it – you partner with your emotions. Counterintuitive, yes. Effective, heck yes.

I started adopting this practice into my life several years ago. And what I learned was, by relaxing into (and partnering with) your feelings, you strip them of their ability to take you over. Ultimately, that gives you power to honestly explore the way you feel – then decide how to proceed from there. Are you constructively using this feeling or being used BY this feeling?

4. Allow yourself to experience what you feel. Even if you’re not a fan of the feelings you’re feeling, feel them anyway. And be available to any spontaneous emotions that begin to arise. Remember: Your body will never lie to you. It’s just trying to get your attention.

Kind of like the mechanic’s credo: “Your car is always speaking to you – but you have to listen.” Did you just get away with not having to face something again?

5. Don’t pretend to feel something. That’s a betrayal of your truth. And you compound the inauthenticity by apologizing for NOT feeling something. I know it’s tempting. I know it hurts. And sure, you probably feel like a jerk because you think you should be more upset than you really are.

But you’re not. Not feeling something doesn’t make you an jerk – it just makes you human. Weird, huh? You’re a good person because you feel miserable. What are you trading your authenticity for?

6. Don’t refuse to pause on this knowledge. This is a reality-evading strategy that will result in the slow accumulation of pockets of discomfort. That’s what happens when you don’t honor your first waking thoughts – they find a home in your body. And that’s when you find a home in the hospital.

Fortunately, writing Morning Pages is one of the all-time great therapeutic practices for pausing on your knowledge. Few strategies for listening to yourself are this effective. Morning Pages give you permission to pause, puke and poke around.

They help you shine the searchlight of consciousness inward toward your own being, as Julia Cameron suggests in The Artist’s Way. Best of all, they help catch up on yourself, pinpoint precisely what you are feeling and allow you to take accurate stock of your life. Start this practice tomorrow. What inner signals are you disrespecting?

REMEMBER: Nothing stings the heart more than looking back and realizing you were false to yourself.

All you can hope for is to embrace the whole, even if you wrestle with the parts.

To have faith that whatever you’re currently going through is exactly what you’re supposed to be – and NEED to be – going through.

And if you’re courageous enough to appreciate the rightness of every experience, you will never fail to honor your truth.

In summary, let’s remember what Ayn Rand suggested in The Fountainhead:

“It is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed. It is the unsacrificed self that we must respect in man above all.”

Find out what’s truest to yourself.

Stick with it, and stick TO it.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you courageous enough to extend honor TO yourself so you can make a name FOR yourself?

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* * * *
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!

1. The road to prestige is paved with pandemonium. Not everyone survives success. Becoming too successful, too early and too quickly will harm your health because although money loves speed – velocity creates stress. And stress kills people.

At least that’s what I remember thinking to myself after my left lung collapsed and I spent a week in a hospital bed with a chest tube.

Your challenge is to pace yourself. To get rich slowly. To (not) get sucked into the addictive vortex of success and achievement. What new challenges will arise once you become successful?

2. The road to confidence is paved with congruency. Nobody is going to put their trust in someone whose onstage performance is dramatically different then their backstage reality.

If you want customers to become confident in the value you deliver, you’d better make sure you’re the same wherever you go, whomever you’re with. Or at least close. Do you believe you behave in a manner that is consistent with your self-concept?

3. The road to fame is paved with flexibility. “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” This scripture comes from James 4:13, although the first time I heard that passage was actually during yoga class. That’s when it occurred to me that the most profitable benefit of doing yoga is flexibility.

Not physical, but mental. It’s amazing how much more pliant your mind becomes after a few years of practice. So, even if you’re not a yogi, consider these flexibility questions:

a. Are you focused or inflexible?
b. Are you uncomfortable in situations that call for creativity, flexibility, adaptability or originality?
c. Do you have the capacity to respond flexibly to what the world hurls at you?
d. Are you flexible with people who have different struggles than your own?

Just imagine: If you can do a full back bend with your body, what type of stretches might you be able to do with your thinking? Your brand? Your business? Your life? Promise: Flexibility builds profitability. How elastic are you?

4. The road to success is paved with surrender. Surrendering to your customers. Surrendering to your constituency. Surrendering to your purpose. Surrendering to your personal economy. So many things to surrender to, so little room in your ego to do so.

That’s the hard part. Getting past your fear of sticking yourself out there and becoming vulnerable to the world. Two words of advice: Risk it. What three things do you need to let go of to ascend to the next level?

5. The road to creativity is paved with curiosity. The #1 secret to never running out of ideas – even in the midst of frittering time – is a tilted head. You heard me: A tilted head.

Like when a dog looks at you’re crazy.
Like when you stop in your tracks walking down the aisle of Wal-Mart and think, “What the…?”
Like when the entire boardroom looks up from their Blackberries and thinks, “Is this guy out of his bloody mind?”

A titled head. That’s the universal gesture of a creative moment. Your goal is to experience five of those moments each day. Minimum. What dangerous questions will you ask today?

6. The road to originality is paved with murder. I was recently eavesdropping on a conversation between two businesspeople (whatever, you do it too) and I heard a powerful statement that I immediately wrote down so I could later claim it as my own material: “Innovation occurs through death.”

Wow. Amen to that. Amen to dying! Amen to killing outdated thinking! Amen to murdering antiquated strategy! What do you need to kill today?

7. The road to serendipity is paved with strategy. It’s not an accident. It’s not fate. And it’s not luck. It’s positioning yourself in high visibility locations. It’s putting yourself in the way of success. It’s being ready to pitch on a moment’s notice. It’s being in the right place at the right time by being in a lot of places.

It’s being more intentional in every experience while maintaining an attitude of positive expectation. Remember those keys, and you’ll become the luckiest person you know. In what ways can you prepare for the serendipitous?

8. The road to dominance is paved with discomfort. To dominate is to grow, and growth is the byproduct of discomfort. Therefore: It’s time to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Yet another powerful lesson from my yoga studio. Our instructors constantly remind us that it IS possible to simultaneously experience comfort and discomfort. Exertion and relaxation.

And when you learn to respond instead of react; to breathe into that which makes you uncomfortable – like touching your head to your locked knee, for example – you discover a pocket of stillness that supports your posture. And here’s the cool part: You eventually learn to apply that same principle off the mat.

You practice relaxing into your discomfort during your daily life. You practice responding instead of reacting to what the world hurls at you. That’s what paves the way to dominance. Are you at peace with discomfort?

9. The road to matchlessness is paved with relentlessness. Bound. Determined. Dogged. Dead set. Ferocious. Fierce. Inexorable. Ruthless. Unappeasable. Uncompromising. Unflinching. Unstoppable. Unyielding. Get the point? Pick an adjective and make the choice to go the distance.

And when you come out on the other side, caked in sweat and dirt and blood, you’ll be the last one standing. Game. Set. Match. Grab a Gatorade, take your silver cup and enjoy the applause. What are you the World Heavyweight Champion of?

10. The road to remarkability is paved with reinvention. Bob Dylan did it – from acoustic to electric. George Carlin did it – from AM to FM. Tom Hanks did it – from comedy to drama. And these guys were YOUNG when they reinvented, too. Young in age and young in career.

So, remember this: You don’t have to be huge to reinvent yourself, but you have to reinvent yourself to become huge. Make the decision to constantly reinvent your own better future. You know you’re getting bored with the current version of yourself anyway. When was the last time you reinvented yourself?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will your advance yourself?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “24 Ways to Out GROW Your 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!

“Freeeeeeebirrrrrrrd!!!!!”

There’s always ONE guy in the audience who HAS to yell it.

Every time. Every concert. No matter where you go.

Ah, Freebird. Without a doubt, the most requested song in music history.

Interestingly, in 2005, WSJ ran an 1. A forced brand is a forgotten brand. Requestability begins with branding. And by branding I don’t mean pumping some twenty-five cent shtick out of think air after three hours of brainstorming with your two teenage daughters.

The best way to get people to fall love with you is to help them fall in love with themselves first.

When you walk in the door for your next interview, just remember:

Depending on the situation, you might try any of the following Phrases that Payses to diffuse their negative energy:

My favorite scene in Steven King’s The Green Mile is when prisoner Eduard Delacroix and the Death Row guards rehearse their upcoming execution: