The prevalent educational philosophy is that success skills are left to the parent(s) in the home (or arguably ‘the streets’, or the child’s peers); it is not the responsibility of our educational system to teach abundance and success. The skills needed to enjoy a successful life deal in the realm of the inexact, the intangible, and the arbitrary or capricious, as opposed to the realm of letters, numbers, empirical data, scientific hypothesis, and events in history. We can readily teach “uniform subjects” that are widely accepted as truths, proven, de facto empirical, but teaching essential emotional management skills, effective and realistic goal setting, and across the board abundance acquisition is messy, highly subjective, relative, and inconsistent. It appears that to our educators and those who determine proper educational curriculum, our school agenda and teachers cannot be adequately “equipped” to teach such controversial and “inconsistent” (non-uniform) subject matter. They cannot conceive of a universally acceptable curriculum to teach lifelong success skills. And beyond the educational philosophical matter, perhaps, is the political aspect. To enter into the responsibility of teaching “success” is intrinsically perceived as politically impossible; we cannot all “universally” agree on exactly what those skills to be taught would be – or what would be overwhelmingly acceptable – and conceivably it borders on the spiritual, or perchance the individual belief system, and therefore laissez faire.

Let’s take a peek at the murky waters of the subject of success (and why it is not taught in school). So much has been written about success. So many success programs, books, CDs, and other media exist on the subject. A Google search (conducted on 10/21/2009) on the keyword “success” returns over 312-million results. The term is like one tiny star in the cosmos. I think it’s safe to say that ‘success’ is/has been an over-used word throughout our human world and throughout (recorded) history. It’s also fair to say that success means something different for each and every person, and yet most would agree that a simple and accurate definition might be: to obtain a desired result (or results).

Perhaps Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) was among the first of the modern-day success gurus with his “Power of Positive Thinking” work (circa 1956). And today we have success consultants, coaches, lecturers, and millions more people who make their living in one fashion or another from/on the subject of success (I wonder if there would be fewer of these private instructors if success were a scholastic subject?). In just my amazing lifespan (I’m 47), the technology boom has contributed (information) so overwhelmingly that it has made our world smaller in many senses, and yet so much more confusing because of all the voices that are now heard, increasing sensory overload. But success has not changed, in and of itself; as mentioned, only the “terms of measurement” are ever changing.

I remember thinking as a teenager in school: why is there no ‘owner’s manual’ for living a successful life? I would ponder being alone in a cold world; born unto inadequate role models, cloned teachers, and empty influencers, and realizing that ultimately we must invent our own ‘success manual’ for living. An extension of much of my early thoughts was to be in awe of the humility of life; the more I learned, the more I realized how little I truly knew. As time progressed I studied the success gurus and motivational experts. It was then that a ‘success manual’ did emerge from my thoughts, and I committed it to book format; the content would easily serve as course curriculum.

As I’ve noted, the body of work on the subject of success is nearly limitless. Therefore it must be hubris to suggest that I have something of value to add to the issue of human success, right? No, I do not believe that to be true. I believe that I have conceived something of extreme value. At the risk of being perceived as turning this article into a promotional piece, what I have developed and refined is a six-step system that virtually guarantees success and abundance in all areas of life, and the ability to maintain success over a lifetime. It is only recently that I understand how effortlessly these materials could be hugely useful in our schools. In brevity, the six steps are these: 1) Motives/Motivation, 2) Preparation (emotional/mental/physical), 3) Goal Setting (workshops), 4) Research and Development (of a plan or vehicle for attaining goals), 5) Consistent Action, and 6) Flexibility (in order to account for the human element).

Every once in a while something special and unexpected comes along. True, not very often does something new appear on the scene, but it certainly happens. Yes, even though it might seem that success is an exhausted, and exalted subject – and thus far academically or scholastically taboo – I have assembled in detail the exact six steps that are necessary to achieve lifelong success.

The book is entitled: “Lifetime Success in 6 Simple Steps”. It is my sincere promise – as the result of decades of study – that this is a brand new approach, encompassing the very best of what is known about the components of success, and combining that knowledge into teachable, logical, and progressive steps that ensure sustained, lifelong success. I invite you to check it out for yourself. If this work helps a pondering teen, makes our educational system take notice, or helps any of the millions of unemployed to a new, successful life then I am thrilled! Here is the link for the book: http://success-dude.com/lifelong-success/. Let’s teach our children to be a success!

© 2009, . All rights reserved.

By the same token, focus can be blinding, paralyzing, or even disastrous. Consider the metaphor of the child learning to ride a bicycle. Suddenly the child has a front tire caught in a rut or trough and begins to fall. The temptation is to focus in the direction of the fall, which causes a crash instead of focusing the other direction (a new stimulus/idea), bringing the bike upright and back into balance. Once again, we see only as we focus.

In the world of modern business, a company must be flexible and open minded in its operational philosophy and overall approach, lest that business subsist or fail entirely. This flexibility means more than simply adapting to changing economic factors; it means a willingness to reexamine any or all business practices, from sales and marketing to all aspects of operations; it means listening and hearing as well as measuring and planning. Some enemies of flexibility are closed minds, a focus on the bottom line only, managerial incompetence, and selective blindness.

A healthy corporation that is indeed flexible and open to change must achieve balance, boundaries, exactness, perhaps genius-level ideas, and above all a genuine Cause, all of which bring about new focus, and a focal power that creates a winning combination for the company, as well as its adopted Cause.

When I was a child, I loved to watch a professional plate spinner entertaining a crowd. The plate spinner would balance multiple plates, each at the end of a stick, and keep adding more sticks with spinning plates, keeping them all balanced. The balance between gravity and centrifugal force would eventually win over the plate spinner and finally plates would begin to fall. I always mused that the plate spinner was a good metaphor for life; we rush around trying to keep all of our “plates” spinning (balanced), but it tends to become too much too fast, and we must reduce our spinning plates.

According to a current definition in Wikipedia, “balance” in the metaphysical or conceptual sense is defined as follows:
“balance is used to mean a point between two (or more) opposite forces that is desirable over purely one state or the other…” Sounds reasonable.

But as the plate spinner metaphor illustrates, balance is not achieved without boundaries. We achieve balance in all aspects of our lives by selecting exact limitations. Boundaries come from exactness, from limiting scope through a highly selective process. Another useful metaphor is the gymnast on the balance beam: without exactness of movement through limitation of scope, she forfeits balance and falls. Her highly selective process of developing balance is called practice.

Now I want to relate boundaries, exactness, and balance to an overused – in fact obsolete – concept called “networking” and “networks”.

Networks and networking – at their core – are designed to compound or multiply effectiveness or results through the power of multiple people and the resources of those in the network. The terms networking and networks are obsolete not only because they have become buzzwords, stretched and pulled into whatever shape is desired, but also because networks and networking typically means few limitations, the more the merrier, a shotgun effect. Most often the results of any given network are a function or reflection of the sheer numbers involved in that network. In this model there are intrinsic side effects, including chaos, lack of focus, lack of defined structure, lack of unity, and so many more negatives.

To achieve the highest levels of effectiveness and the strongest results, a network must have clearly defined boundaries and balance…it must be exact! In an Exact Network, each member is selected or recruited based upon their particular expertise, talent, and necessary contribution. In an Exact Network, the members are defined according to the essential and critical function that each serves within the network. One “macro” example of an Exact Network is government, although over time it has become a bureaucracy as opposed to a highly effective Exact Network. A better example is the hand picked executive team of a well-respected corporation, all focused on a coalition of goals and results. But even this is often times missing crucial elements in planning, execution, and vehicle for achievement.

The best imaginable results and desired return means Uber success, or the best possible success that can be imagined, nothing could be better. Therefore, an Exact Network that is focused on a coalition (unified and defined) of goals and results, is the best way to achieve “Uber Success”, provided they have an effective vehicle to reach their destination.

We create the opportunity for pure GENIUS, when we Generate Exact Networks to Institute Uber Success. Further, if such an Exact Network is provided with a clearly defined and entirely structured vehicle for attaining the goals of the Exact Network, the guaranteed result is uber success. I suggest that this vehicle is “Neologic Omnipotent Workshops” (NOW); a succession of goal-oriented, structured, pre-defined “workshops” wherein the most current ideas (Neologic), and all imaginable variables (Omnipotent) are entertained within pre-defined, structured workshops.

Focus, focal power, balance, boundaries, genius ideas / events, and a great Cause will grant a corporation uber success, and empower a Cause to create the miracle of change.

The result of all this is “G.E.N.I.U.S. NOW: The Mastermind Blueprint”, which is a guaranteed method for any business, group, or organization to easily achieve genius-level events, balance, boundaries, extreme focus, and Uber Success for their organization or group. This new e-book, will become a true groundbreaker when it is “discovered”. Right now it is too new and therefore unknown. Get your copy now and learn everything necessary to achieve uber success, leaving behind any past failures and negative economic conditions. There is nothing more to buy; this is the real deal, revealing all the details of this “genius” method for unimaginable success.

© 2009, . All rights reserved.

So here it is. I have discovered a method (stemming from 2 concepts that I conceptualized years ago) for any organization or business to easily create a “genius-level event” (or several events), resulting in huge revenue increases, a renewed, diamond-and-Teflon image, incredible name/brand recognition, and unimaginable ancillary returns. In fact, if every business were to use GENIUS NOW, there would be no recession, and chances are that all of our charities would see huge gains as well. I kid you not! This is everything I claim it to be.

My method, called: G.E.N.I.U.S NOW: The Mastermind Blueprint has no fluff, and is only 40-pages in length. If I were to spell out the details right here, nobody would have the need to purchase the book! But I also recognize, of course, that no one will pay for an unknown book from an unknown author! So I am willing to do something very special. But before I go there, let me add that GENIUS NOW is complete; there is nothing more to buy, and no gimmicks or scams of any kind involved.

Because I need people to read GENIUS NOW, and obviously I need endorsements and people to help promote this wonderful piece, I am willing to let some very select individuals download and view it absolutely free. I only need to be convinced that you are the CEO or one of the head decision-makers of your organization. I say this NOT because I want to sell you something, but because it is most likely that only a “project originator” will be able to use this method readily. And, I will only do this for a short time. After all, I need to make a return as well. You can email me (kurt@thedudebrands.com), or DM me on Twitter (TheDudeBrands), or call me directly (508) 826-2345 and I will talk to you. I can be found on TheDudeBrands.com, Facebook, and Linked-in as well.

Once again, GENIUS NOW is a complete, honest method for any group, business, or organization to create a genius-level event (or several such events) and realize “uber success”. To these statements I will add: every once in a while – and not very often indeed – a very special item comes along that defies being “too good to be true”.

Kurt Turrell
TheDudeBrands.com

© 2009, . All rights reserved.

Today I am as frustrated as a writer-entrepreneur can possibly be! Yes, I know that my story is familiar to hundreds of thousands of web-preneurs and bloggers, and yet it is different because it is mine! Because of all the data overload, empty hype, schemes and scams, and otherwise lousy products and information on the web, we’ve all ‘heard it before’ and therefore I am but one more lone voice in the wilderness. I feel like a tiny, single seal swimming in the oceanic ethers of the net, waiting for a great white shark to pounce (again) as I surf the web. What do you do when nobody is listening and you’re alone in the vast sea of bits and bytes?

My “accidental career” in hotel management had been eating me alive for nearly two decades, slowly at first, and then with a greater voracity. I had to end that living-death immediately with a re-birth into a golden online career and intentionally free lifestyle. We all share the dream. Yet (for me) abundant monetary wealth was/is only a bi-product of my intentions. A wise man once told me: “The only way to affect change in the world is to work on changing our own little corner of it.” God willing, I have such a goal and will achieve it. After all, I have strong integrity and founding postulates. Indeed, my first products are ground-breaking, of true-quality, and profoundly novel concepts, but again, nobody is listening. Suffice it to say that my plans go well beyond hotel management or realizing a profitable business, and yet I remain frustratingly lost at sea. Again, how does one get the world’s attention with no marketing budget, no useful contacts, and no website traffic…and an immediate need for success?

The catch-22: in order to attain my business goals for TheDudeBrands I must have funding…and yet to have funding I must have a profitable business. I know you feel my pain. Hence the extreme frustration: it has become a steadfast determination and passionate endeavor to build meaningful websites and write excellent e-books that comprise TheDudeBrands, yet the clock ticks on. I am completely confident that my products (e-books) and web business are both feasible and profitable. I am basing and staking my future on it. Often times, though, I feel as if I am staring through the window of my locked car at the keys in the ignition. If only the answer to my dilemma were as simple as calling AAA!

It is one thing to know the elements of what to do (much like the steps to success suggested in my first e-book: “Lifetime Success in 6 Simple Steps”), but it is entirely another matter to put that knowledge into practice and realize results! Again, my frustration is a comprehensive understanding of the elements necessary to build, operate, and grow my business, juxtaposed by the lack of immediate resources – or startup web knowledge – to make it happen!

Sure, there are those “out there somewhere” who are qualified to contribute directly in non-monetary terms, such as web marketers and startup experts that could be committed to my concepts, or some other form of sponsorship. Such a deal could be sweet! Here we are again, at yet another catch-22! Nobody is listening.

And finally I repeat the question that I have not answered: what does one do when nobody is listening? My suggestions: first I must practice tenacity! Never give up! Next, do all the usual promotional tasks. And thirdly, be unique and eye-catching, while NEVER compromising my sense of self, of integrity. Bottom line: keep working! Perhaps someone will listen and rescue me from the sharks, dragging me onto the shoreline of success.

© 2009, . All rights reserved.