Capitalist Success Knowledge

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Capitalist Success Knowledge:

How to Be a Winner & Make Lots of Money According to Prosperity Gurus

Success Introduction

The operative term is to serve others. Give them what they want or need. If they don't know they need it yet, show them how it will help improve or simplify their lives. Don't be frivolous. Do something that helps people in some way. Find a need and fill it.

What can you do to help others so that they will pay for it?

Find hundreds of books #155-158 and #658 at the library.

The Dale Carnegie-Napolean Hill School

How may I serve you? In order to get what you want, you must first help others get what they want.

The way to success in Life and Business

Whatever you conceive, you can achieve.

Back in the early days of the twentieth century in 1935, Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) hired Napolean Hill to put together a course on how to be successful which he did over the course of twenty years which are summarized in his classic bestsellers Think Positive & Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Think and Grow Rich, etc.

There was a very simple concept behind success and wealth according to the Carnegie method. People are afraid of making fools of themselves around other people so you train for it by being the best public speaker and conversationalist you can be.

In order to make friends and influence people, smile, be a nice guy, go along with what anybody says, be like them, act like them, never criticize, never find fault, etc.

In business, friendship has nothing to do with affection but everything to do with getting what you want despite how insincere and hypocritical it seems.

These "rules of success in a capitalist world" seem basic but they have stood the test of time as to how to be successful in a conventional world. They might seem phony to some in that you're tailoring yourself to others and subordinating the real you but this is the conventional formula to business success, do whatever it takes to make your customer or employee feel really good regardless of how much of your soul you have to sell in the process.

These basic rules of how to be a winner from the conventional self-help point of view filtered through my mind are as follows:

Try to appeal to people's wants. The main motives of people are:

Anger and revenge.

Control of one's life.

Creativity.

Fame.

Fear.

Freedom.

Love.

Money.

Power over others.

Self-preservation.

Sex.

Have an optimistic, positive attitude.

Be enthusiastic and inspired about your work.

Set clear goals and work on them little by little day by day.

Be persistent in your efforts.

Be disciplined, work hard.

Your mental attitude is everything.

Keep your thoughts only on what you want out of life.

Don't burden others with your personal problems.

What separates the great from the average people is a sense of destiny.

Your soul is the greatest source of strength in the Universe.

If you master yourself through self-discipline, no one will ever master you.

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Never stop learning.

Move a mountain one shovel-full at a time.

Dreamers are visionaries.

Do not hate. It is self-destructive. The greatest revenge is to live well.

You were born with a unique mission given to you by God. Your job is to make it come to pass.

Keep your focus on the prize.

Always strive to improve yourself.

To be successful, simply provide a useful service.

The power or weakness of your mind will determine everything.

For every dream, a price must be paid through hard work. A few flakes fluke out but most success stories are the result of hard work.

Be an active dreamer then work hard at it.

Be an active thinker then work hard at it.

You won't do anything unless you take the first step and try.

Create ideas all the time.

To achieve it you have to want it enough to do the work it takes to get there.

Peace of mind is success.

Decide on what you want then become obsessed with it. That's how simple life is.

Time is finite. Spend it on the relevant things, don't whittle it away on frivolous, procrastination activities.

Make things happen. Take the initiative, take risks.

Always tell yourself how great, fascinating and noble you are.

Think like a winner in life, act like a winner in life.

You are your greatest ally and worst enemy.

Have faith in God and pray regularly.

Love your neighbor or at least act like you do.

Know who you are then live by it.

Don't listen to naysayers and critics.

Rely on yourself. Don't look to others for fulfillment.

The marketplace pays for results. They don't care about the blood and sweat it took to get there.

Keep your sense of common sense.

If you go into sales, you have to be a showman and sell yourself.

Don't wait for opportunities. Create them.

Have the courage to go for what you want rather than fear failure. Your destiny is up to you alone.

Be a people person. Be friendly or at least act that way.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

What you look for is what you will find, either good or bad. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Compliment people. Be easygoing or at least act that way. Smile.

Take the first step to the rest of your life.

Believe in yourself even when nobody else does.

Be a team player. Know how to get along with people.

Surround yourself with positive, hard working people in your business.

A belief in yourself and persistence are the keys to success.

On the road to success, you will fail. Learn from your failures. Sometimes failure will be just what you need to find true enlightenment.

Chances are your library has one or two of these books, probably at #158, the motherlode of self-help books.

Why Think and Grow Rich Seems Kinda Stupid

Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich was written in the 1930s. As I scanned it, I thought the funny things about it were:

1.) His idea of telepathy or karma, vibrations, the law of attraction. You supposedly give off vibes that determine how the Universe treats you.

2.) His idea of sexual transmutation, that sex and creativity are part of your lifeforce. Transform your sexual energy into hard ambitious work.

They're both lies. There is no supernatural force guiding anything in life. Maybe when you die but not while you live.

You can have lots of sex and be a dynamo in life. You do not have to sacrifice one for the other.

The Most Generic List of Success One-Liners Ever

Most business success books are at #155-#158, #332 (money), #380 and #650-#659 at the library.

The classic business success books are:

Andrew Carnegie, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920)

Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

Benjamin Franklin The Way to Wealth (1758)

Frank Bettger, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling (1947)

George S. Clason The Richest Man in Babylon (1926)

Henry Ford, My Life and Work (1922)

Jack Welch, Jack (2001)

John Paul Getty, How to Be Rich (1961) Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)

Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich, (1937)

Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking

Over the Top, Zig Ziglar

Sam Walton, Made in America (1992)

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich (1910)

Nowadays, there are thousands of business success books on the market, what I call softcore motivational books that do not teach you any particular hardcore skills.

I say none of them say anything more than I say in this article.

Have a sense of purpose.

Be persistent.

Have initiative, faith and the will to do what you want.

Don't quit when you feel discouraged. Sleep on it. When you discover your true nature, you have no choice anymore. Your life is reduced to following it.

Whatever you do, do 100%.

Failure is learning something.

Don't follow the rules of convention which say most things are not possible. Believe in your ideas.

Desire, motivation and inspiration are almost everything. I found them by discovering my true nature then I wrote a book about it called A Free Spirit's Search for Enlightenment. You have to tap into the natural power inside of you.

Whenever you're feeling down, always be thinking that your best self is your true nature. As long as you follow that, you're doing what your God created you to be.

Tap into your natural power then live by it until you die. That's the best way you can possibly live.

Learn and study knowledge you need to get you where you want.

Think up ideas. Keep them in a book. Edit them. Act on them.

Organize yourself. Don't be all over the place. Set a plan.

Procrastination is for people without a solid sense of purpose from their true nature.

Trust your intuition.

You will die so don't fear it. Live strongly until it happens. Everything else you fear is minor. You live then you die. Make the best of it.

TAct like you really care even if you don't.

Do your work with passion.

Build relationships with people in your field. Build trust over time.

Think big, great ideas.

Underpromise and overdeliver on what you do.

The best way to be good at what you do is for you to love it as part of your true nature.

Learn from people by watching them, talking to them and even reading good business books.

Be happy with your work for the sense fulfilment it gives you.

Set high standards, not perfectionist standards but a real good standard. Beyond 90%, the next 10% of quality may not be worth the added effort.

Be stable. Don't be moody. Never blow up on somebody. Calm down when you're angry.

You have to network around to meet people who can help you.

Help people help themselves.

Read both my business and my jobs books cover to cover.

Every night, plan the next day mentally in your head.

Have long-term ideas and visions.

Prepare for unexpected problems. Face them in a calm manner.

Admit you're human and can't do everything.

Constantly analyze your life.

Try to find people with similar attitudes to succeed to befriend and talk to. Preferably find an older person willing to mentor you.

Whatever you do, make sure it is something useful that people get a decent benefit from.

Be likeable.

When you feel weak or have a setback, have a rest and a cry then get back to work. Do not accept failure.

All failures are learning experiences.

Sometimes offer freebies like a free product or free time in helping someone.

Always learn new things in your field.

Be an innovator. Create ideas.

You have to be in sales and sell yourself.

Be a team player.

When people you barely know offer gifts, it means they want something from you.

Write out all your professional career/ business ideas on a publicly available blog.

Success is often disguised in failure or setbacks. Crisis is opportunity.

Control your emotions, especially the negative ones. Keep an even keel by living by your own standards not the standards of the world.

When in a quandry, make your best decision and go with it.

Fall in love with your life.

Develop a loose plan.

Act like a person who serves others to earn the money you want.

Be frugal.

Be as organic and natural as you can be. Chemicals are bad for you.

Forget your ego. Play the role of helper.

Live your life so everyday is interesting.

Avoid bad people as much as you can.

Don't waste time. If there are things you want to do, work at them everyday.

Don't allow yourself to be indoctrinated by anybody.

When people put you down, ignore them.

Be curious.

Be flexible.

Be a creative-intellectual thinker.

Plan your work and work your plan.

Don't do anything immoral.

Commit to what you believe in.

Fulfill your potential as a human being.

Be patient and persistent.

Be inspired which means to release your sirit but at the same time, keep one foot grounded in practical reality.

Use your mind, body and soul as a holistic essence.

Whatever you can conceive, you can achieve.

Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

Imagine and invent.

The act of creation is the best thing anyone can do. Human beings, made in the image of God, are by their very nature creative, able to create many new, unique, beautiful and better things.

Live as an unfolding masterpiece striving for excellence.

Discover who you are by nature then do it.

Meditate and think about your life and what you do.

Strive for health, wealth and happiness.

Meditate (Zen), search for awakening (Satori), pursue the transcendental wisdom (Prajna) that lies dormant within every person.

Be both wise and kind.

Have self-discipline.

Control your tongue when you feel angry.

Be careful. Don't jump into things without checking them out. Be brave. Venture into uncharted territory while being cautious.

Be honest.

Analyze your life to learn from it.

Be a good citizen.

Live a balanced life. Don't do any one thing to the extreme.

Do not live with an attitude of mediocrity, fear and failure.

Love and passion trigger your creativity. Live to release your natural potential, take charge of your life, live simply, be productive to reach your goals with enthusiasm and courage.

Ask for help if you need it.

Tap into the natural power inside of you.

Ignore criticism.

The American Dream Ideology 1

The traditional version of the American Dream is a lie in two major ways.

The first lie is that the acquisition of material goods and money will make you happier and happier in a direct proportion, the more money you have, the happier you'll be. The truth is that money will increase your happiness until you're out of poverty and have basic material comfort. Beyond that, money cannot increase your true state of happiness.

Beyond the status and worth you personally attach to material goods, they are meaningless once you have your basic material needs covered because happiness comes not from what you own but from what you do day by day to keep yourself feeling inspired, sensual, loving and good.

The American Dream is capitalist excess gone mad. It's not enough to aspire for one car, a nice house and good food but to fulfill all the whims money can buy no matter how frivolous. One guy owns over 90 motorbikes. Another guy lives in a big mansion yet he rarely uses more than three rooms: the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom.

Another guy has spent over $100,000 collecting little doll-like toys. A famous guy you see on TV most weeknights owns his own collection of antique cars in his house. Some girl on some TV show says she likes high heels so she buys over 300 pairs of them.

There is something wrong when a person tries to buy happiness through material goods. It's a signal that there's something missing in their lives. They are not living fun, inspired lives for its own sake.

They are trying to compensate for some emptiness by buying stuff to fill up the empty hole inside but it doesn't work because it's impossible to buy a sense of spiritual-esthetic well-being about one's self. It's something you have to discover and earn within yourself and money is not enough to get it.

I've seen capitalist excess spawn two overdoses in my own little circle of acquaintances. When people have a lot of money, many invariably turn to self-destructive behaviors like gambling, booze, drugs, going to stripjoints, getting involved with seedy characters for the excitement, etc. I know two guys who were decent guys until they got money.

One overdosed and died, the other blew a couple million up his nose, ended up going to jail for assault because he started getting paranoid that everyone was out to get him then seems to have smartened up when he got out.

He told me that when he had the money everybody came up to him trying to get something out of him. He had plenty of fairweather friends willing to do drugs with him. He even had a few lawsuits filed against him. The point is that if he had never gotten the money he never would done what he did.

There is another consequence of living in material excess that almost no one ever talks about. It's the human conscience aka karma or a sense of balance and righteousness.

Everybody with a brain knows that there are millions of starving, desperate, sick people on the planet right now, some of whom need less than a dollar's worth of medicine a day in order to survive yet they won't get it because of the greed and selfishness of the people with money on the planet.

We all know this. Most of us turn a blind eye to it but I'm willing to bet that even the most superficial, biggest phony hooked on status knows that what he's doing is wrong when he's thinking about his life freely in an unguarded moment. If you don't, you're not human.

This has a huge hidden toll on the well-to-do in our society. They love their money, their status and their toys but they intrinsically know they are violating the natural law of the Universe the native Indians lived by, take what you need and share the rest with others who need it.

The second big lie of the American Dream is that if you follow all the rules and work hard, you will get your just due and be rewarded with financial security. A large part of capitalist success is luck, chance, being in the right place at the right time.

Some people fluke out and get rich relatively easily by capturing the zeitgeist while others work very hard and never see financial security. Some are born with silver spoons in their mouths.

Hard work is not a guarantee of success. Hard work with intelligence is closer but there are intangibles beyond this, part of which have no rhyme nor reason.

Many jobs are structured to keep people in poverty. A large segment of the economy is low paying jobs. No matter how much overtime they work, people can never afford a down payment on a house by working these jobs.

Don't expect some genie to come popping out of a lamp to help you just because you will it so with good intentions like all that New Age, self-help junk the phony "Secret of Intention" preaches at you while turning a comfortable profit selling you this modern brand of snake oil.

Don't let yourself get brainwashed to the extent that you sacrifice who you really are for the system's version of success.

How many assholes have I known who think that the bigger the square footage of their house is, the happier or more powerful they'll be?

I knew one guy who was really impressed with himself at getting his backyard swimming pool deck built out of some fancy-assed Italian tiles which was a clear metaphor to me as to what's wrong with the American Dream.

It preaches at us to be arrogant, loud mouth show-offs worshipping excess who buy a lot of crap we don't need to impress everybody with how successful we are while half of the world is starving and there's some guy less than a mile away who's homeless.

There's a massive disharmony in the equation. We are violating the basic law of the Universe which is take what you need, leave the rest for others. Don't exploit anyone or anything.

The traditional version of the American Dream is me in my mansion on the hill with my fancy-assed tile floors and my pretensious appreciation of fine art saying I'm a winner, fuck the pleebes at the bottom of the hill.

Many people have worked their asses off only to end up destitute while their bosses got rich. Exploitation is par for the course.

The American Dream Ideology 2

Many people get brainwashed by glittery images on TV then end up making stupid investments or starting up businesses that are way over their heads because they think it will be relatively easy based on the indoctrination on TV where everything seems so easy and straightforward with characters in sit-coms working menial jobs living in lavish apartments.

Then there's this constant expansionist mindset capitalism is always pushing. If your business is going well, expand. Open a new location or start a second business. How many people got suckered into this one, expanding to bankruptcy?

If you're making a decent living, how much happier can you get by taking on more business? It never ceases to amaze me how so many people who work pretty hard and are doing alright want to expand their business in the mistaken belief that it will make them happier.

It's a lie of capitalism. Where is enough material goods and business enough? Expansion is not always good.

We will run out of our finite resources as a planet at some point in time. You will run out of your finite time trying to earn that magical sum that represents success to you.

How many of my friends from youth are now generic, middle-aged duds so far away from the charisma, freedom, fun and natural inspired power they once had? And I can't forget the one guy who got inoperable pancreatic cancer. He worked his ass off all his life only to die before he was 50.

What do you really own, your inspired sensibility about yourself or all that crap the world sells you?

Is anything worth becoming a one-dimensional generic dud for like all those supposed winners you see on the TV news every night all looking like well-fed, pasty-faced nerds with no spark or joy in their faces?

The American Dream has created a socioeconomic status system where some people are considered superior to others based on what they own and what position they have at work which gives them implicit favored status both out in the world and among some individuals who buy into this lie but it's not really true.

We're all just fallible human beings. Nobody is really superior to anybody else even though a lot of people give people with money and status preferential treatment.

This is unhealthy because it gives some people arrogant, superiority complexes and morally wrong in the sense that people use their money and status to control other people and get them to do their bidding, often unwillingly.

The American Dream has created a one-dimensional mindset in America as to what defines success. This limits a lot of people who would rather be doing something else. How many lawyers or doctors would rather be forest rangers or truck drivers but they got sucked into the status game of particular occupations?

There are very few free people left, the bohemian artists like me who want to live my life my way the way I define it regardless of how the capitalist ideology of the American Dream is pushing me to become some clone manager or some caricature of success in some generic department at some generic corporation.

The ideology of the American Dream teaches us to not be satisfied with our lot in life, to not be happy if we have our health, some food, a bed to sleep in and a warm body to be with.

The American Dream teaches us to always strive for more. A used sedan is not good enough. We should aspire to get a shiny, new sportscar. What this has to do with true happiness is negligible but this is the brainwashed mindset you're dealing with.

Native people who were relatively happy at one time all of a sudden feel deficient and unhappy once they get indoctrinated into the rules of capitalist living. They never have enough anymore. They now always want more.

The American Dream Ideology 3

The American Dream teaches us to set goals and go for them. When we achieve them, our happiness or success level is supposed to go up a little more for the rest of our lives but this is a lie because every morning when you wake up, you have the only thing you own which is your body and spirit. You have to create your own happiness and self-respect on that particular day.

It's not something you reach then you have for the rest of your life. You have to create your life every single day. No amount of money or trophies from the world can help you when you get up in the morning and face yourself as to the person you want to be or the phony image you want to hide behind.

If you're a generic dud who can't run around the block in an easy sprint or have no sense of inspired spark about your life, who cares if you live in a big mansion? It can't make you feel transcendent like you're taking your life for a great ride.

The American Dream is an easy way to blame the individual for the problems that society caused. The politicians and wealthy businessmen make decisions that determine what happens to millions of lower class people often exploiting them somehow but they pretend they don't.

Whenever they see people in poverty or need, they blame it on the people themselves, saying they're lazy or drunks insinuating they just have to work harder and follow the rules of the American Dream but the truth is that society is structured such that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer and more powerless by keeping the power in the hands of the few elitists who exploit the working classes.

And what about discrimination and the glass ceiling against women? There may not be overt discrimination against Blacks anymore but there's still covert discrimination and new groups have taken on the roles of the bottom feeders like the Latinos, the Arabs and disabled people.

They are purposely kept powerless both to fulfill an ego need of those in power to feel dominant and to supply the workforce with low paying menial jobs that no one really wants to do.

If you watch business talk shows, you should notice that all they interview are the few people who have made it big, not the millions who just make an average living or who have failed. This sugarcoats naïve people's ideas about how easy the real world must be.

Many millions of people live paycheque to paycheque. They make just enough to cover the bills of survival but never to get ahead and then we got pop culture TV seducing us into trying to be pop idols or reality TV champions and buying lottery tickets as our way out. They don't tell you about using your own common sense, wisdom and originality to get ahead.

How many millions of people watch silly television shows night after night filling themselves up with destructive ideas rather than focussing on doing something with their lives like living by their own standard?

I believe that current western, capitalist, pop culture society brainwashes us into being eternal consumers such that we get on a work treadmill to buy a bunch of crap we don't need then we get used to this stuff and fall to pieces when our comfort level is pulled out from underneath us as it does for millions of people every year.

It makes it doubly worse for you to deal with it than if you were a person of few material needs who doesn't buy into the hype of materialism or the phony cool image of pop culture entertainment.

Many people divorce. Many people lose loved ones to death every year. Many pension plans crash. The stock market crashes. The weather destroys crops. Your health goes. Your child gets a serious disease or gets arrested for selling drugs. You get into an accident. You get fired. Companies go under or are bought up by vulture capitalists.

Some business owners work hard all their lives only to get charged for tax evasion by the government or to be muscled out by the big, new department store down the street.

I've known a restaurant in operation for 30 years told by government safety inspectors to make expensive renovations which they couldn't afford so that was the end of a lifetime of building up a business because of some insensitive government rules.

There are no guarantees. Even if you do everything right and work hard, there's no guarantee they won't fire you at 50 and you won't be able to find another job in your field. There's no guarantee that your business will go on smoothly. All it takes is a competitor to undercut your price.

There's no guarantee that you'll ever enjoy your retirement. When I was a naïve, young teacher, two of the older professors at the college died of cancer before they ever collected a nickel of their pension. Why wait for retirement? Live now.

Don't listen to anyone. Be smart by having few material needs to start out with then don't listen to all the wanks hyping investments on TV. That's their business, to hype up the stock market. Be more conservative with your money. Bury it in the ground or buy a few rental properties in the middle to upper class part of town.

The high rate of crime in America is not just committed by loner individuals looking to score. It has been helped by the traditional version of the American Dream because it has spawned a huge rift between the upper class who oppress the lower class then wipes their faces in it.

A lot of crime is caused by envy and jealousy. The poor kid sees all the glitter on TV, all the snotty rich people around, gets jealous and angry, wants a piece of the pie too so he goes out and hits some guy in the head to get it.

Why are there half a dozen or more entertainment tabloid shows on TV every night glorifying the lifestyles of the rich and famous? The hidden agenda is to make you envious and think there's a better life over the rainbow which you must aspire to, work hard to get to and in the meanwhile try to imitate by being a good consumer buying a bunch of that crap they advertise in the TV commercials you don't need to enhance your look and perceived status out in the world.

Of course this is all a lie because every morning when I wake up I feel the same regardless of whether I'm in a mansion or a little room somewhere. I only start to feel good after I go for a good run and you don't need much money to do that.

The difference between me and the average American citizen is that I live by my own standard determined by who I am and what I do. I don't measure myself by the traditional version of the American Dream nor compare myself to all those flakes they parade at us on the entertainment tabloid or business shows as special, superior, rich or beautiful people.

If they were truly beautiful people of substance, they would have contempt for that charade, wouldn't flaunt themselves like they do and give most of their money away to help others.

The agenda is to keep the gulf between rich and poor wide to keep the rich protected in gated communities hoarding all their stuff while keeping the poor thinking that if they work hard enough they can get to this illusory place over the rainbow.

The problem is that some poor and oppressed people are so desperate they know they'll never achieve the traditional version of the American Dream by working low paying jobs so all this anger and envy builds up inside until they don't care anymore and go out committing desperate crimes.

A part of it is simply a feeling of getting back at all those wealthy arrogant people who drive cars bigger than they need, wear expensive clothes or talk in sagacious tones when they could get their message across by talking in plain English.

What do you expect if you drive your Jag into the ghetto? You're trying to rub their faces into your superiority. They'll shoot you or vandalize your car.

Once you have a basic roof over your head and all your basic bills covered, material things become useless for creatively inspired intellectual and artistic types.

I have my basic roof over my head and enough food to eat so my time is spent pursuing my inspired-esthetic activities not trying to get ahead in that phony rat race or the keeping up with the Joneses game out there.

I laugh at all the lost souls wasting their lives, playing that game many of whom will get some serious disease caused by stress at work then realize how useless it all is.

The pursuit of the American Dream makes us sacrifice our true natures for artificial things that don't really matter all that much.

Take a tip from your pets as to what's real in life. They eat, run around to get some exercise, sleep, have sex, get some lovin' and hang out with their friends for awhile. Anything else is bull like the kind of car you drive or how big your house is beyond what you need.

Beyond all this, what is the spiritual cost of buying into the American Dream? How many people get hardened, ruthless and brainwashed by the competitive mindset to stand on the pedestal at the top alone?

How many men destroy their relationships with their families to get ahead at the corporation?

How many fathers drive their sons to suicide or drug addiction because of the enormous pressure they put on them to succeed in a capitalist world as opposed to doing what they really want to do?

The American Dream is about money. The Artist's Dream is about feeling what's deep in your soul and connecting to other people but this is not really valued in America.

Pop culture entertainers are glitzed up and put on a pedestal but that's not true art. That's just another manufactured capitalist product meant to tillitate the stupid, empty masses and get them to spend their money on some silly illusion of a phony cool image.

This is where we stand. You got these one-dimensional people on the cover of Forbes magazine worshipping business but where are their desires to understand who they are, take their lives for a great inspired-esthetic experience and connect with others in a deep emotional way?

These things almost don't exist among our brainwashed culture of men who measure themselves and everybody else by the car they drive and their position at work. It's a lost society. There's no doubt about it. Despite our pretenses, most of us are a bunch of lost souls detached from our true natures.

Nobody fools me. I can tell what somebody's like by looking at them. Many of us look like a bunch of chubby, pale, soulless nerds not like healthy, strong, inspired people.

Be careful what you wish for. How much of your dreams are determined by others? How free are you to pursue your own destiny? How many people lose their souls trying to get successful, with success defined out there as opposed to who they really are?

Get it through your head what you're really all about before you go jumping into the rat race of the American Dream blindly. How many millions of people work hard all their lives only to realize at the end that that's not what they really wanted to do?

How many men feel trapped in soulless jobs where they've sacrificed whatever sense of youth, freedom, originality and inspiration they might have once had?

The American Dream is not all it's cracked up to be nor is the bohemian artist's dream. I've lived both. You have to have one foot in each world. Find a middle ground in there somewhere before you leap into a world that could crush your soul.

Read my books to help you become the master of your own destiny.

The American Dream Ideology 4

The Chinese cite the following five factors as determinants of success in order:

1.) Fate, destiny, what you're born with.

2.) Luck, chance.

3.) Feng Shui

4.) Charity, virtue, being good, karma.

5.) Hard work, knowledge.

I've been studying business and career success for several years in writing these books. In the West, we attribute our success to ourselves and failures to the outside world. There's a huge propaganda machine telling us that success is based on hard work, wisdom and education but it's not necessarily true.

Lots of people with equal abilities and equal effort end up at different places on the socioeconomic ladder but we in the West don't seem to accept this fact of life. They try to tell us it's all about ability but it's about destiny and luck too. That's an intangible X factor that nobody can anticipate and prepare for.

Why does the news on any given night tell us about some young person getting murdered or killed while in the business news, some other young person has just struck it rich with a fluky move or being in the right place at the right time as with the internet millionaires? Why does one actor become a movie star while another one with superior abilities never get the big break?

You can maximize your chances by working hard, getting educated and trusting your intuition but they are still no guarantee. We have to get it through our heads that hard work and education do not automatically lead to business and career success.

That's why I think the Chinese are superior to us in their understanding of the human condition. There are factors beyond your control that can't explain fate or luck. Until you understand this defect in the American Dream ideology, you will be living in delusion.

Another thing is the definition of success and happiness. Capitalist society gives us the view that material excess and status/ power are the keys to success and happiness but as an artist of my life, I don't buy into this.

I live alone in my head. I strive to earn money to cover my bills by doing something I love to do anyway. Other than that, my life is mine to do with as I please because that's my definition of success, to spend as much time as I can doing what I want to do freely.

I don't have expensive tastes. I prefer to own as little as possible because I think material things are mostly frivolous wants not needs, they do nothing for my state of happiness and they're a burden too.

Inspiration is my key to life, how I create it to earn my self-respect and feel good everyday.

I've been watching a few business start-up shows that I think are way over the top with their optimistic, positive outlooks. This is poison to naïve people, filling them up with ideas on how easy success is in starting a business venture. On these two shows, they interview only people who have been successful.

They never talk about business problems, failures or bankruptcies. They gloss it up and tell their stories through rose-colored glasses, never breathing a word about the hard work and uncertainty through all the lean years.

You only see one side of the story. Some guy or gal are going on some "success" business show so they play the hype up too to butter their egos since they are now a so-called business success by virtue of being on this show.

I'm warning you, don't buy into all the capitalist self-help hype out there geared to sell books and tape programs full of empty hype to fill your mind up with false hope.

Don't live in delusion. Be more prudent. Look before you leap. Some people say they made it because they were too naïve to analyze it therefore conclude it was a dumb move but many, many people fail this way and you never see it in the media. This is the dirty little secret of life in the capitalist world of material excess dreams.

Don't invest money in anything until you've done some serious homework beforehand. They call it due diligence. Know what you're getting into and know the truth about human nature which is to be self-centered and selfish by design.

We are all trained to be charming or at least functional with other people, to put on a happy, social face. In fact, wolves in sheep's clothing are better at this than anybody else. After 50 years on this planet, I can play along with anybody but I'm as cynical as hell.

If you claim that most people are basically good, you've lived a sheltered life up until now. Do not trust people. Pretend that you trust them but if they ask for something, just tell the truth, you've been ripped off before, you don't know them well enough to trust them. Good people don't ask for money or favors out of the blue.

If they try to make you feel guilty, break off relations with them. They're manipulative. If you put your faith in people, sooner or later, you'll get a knife in the back or a lawsuit. Be especially cautious about going into business with anyone. Business partners have a way of turning on each other. Go solo unless you really trust your future business partner.

I'm not overly paranoid. I've been around and I'm on the streets everyday jogging and biking. Why do people cut me off, almost killing me a number of times? Why do people beep their horns just to be assholes and then give me the finger from the security of their cars?

Just because somebody gets on some show saying they made millions selling colored nail polish, natural cosmetics or maternity fashions doesn't mean you will.