The REAL Secret to IDOL Success

We've been given a Disney Fantasy that vast fortune is acquired by sheer "luck." Most people are keen to the fact that we're not working like our grandfathers did. These days, there are no company pensions, retirement plans, loyalty, or health benefits. Instead of progressing at a trade, inventing something new, or developing talent in a lucrative field, opportunity runs amok in rolling the dice for an overnight success.

We're given ample examples of people with no talent who have instantaneously "made it big." Prime time television is flocked with would-be hopefuls yearning for a chance at wealth. The media is quick to plaster pictures and interviews of those "lucky" people who have won the lootery or cashed out all their casino chips and gotten out alive. Corporations are savvy in planning marketing campaigns featuring the cash cow that keeps the register ringing through endorsements.

This is the modern work force. You don't need talent, education, or skills. Your job now is to just sit around and wait until you're "discovered." Only one will be chosen so you know you're pretty damn special or "lucky" if that happens to be you. And in the meantime: buy these sneakers, wear this cologne, listen to all these CDs, and make sure you look good because you never know when Ed McMahon (or Jerry Springer) is going to knock on your door.

When the glamour and the glitz are gone, it's just another sleazy grind. That's most likely why, in my opinion, overnight sensations turn to booze and drugs. Then the depression kicks in, and the questioning starts. And when the questioning starts, you're screwed. "Why me? What did I do? I've never hurt anybody in my life."

A new cycle starts for the dream pitchers to make another profit with the overnight success story. The announcer screams, "They made it once, they were abused, we can all understand that, now can't we? We've all been abused but, now, with this pill, you can get back on your feet again!"

People don't realize success isn't something that can be won in a random contest; it's something that's worked at and earned. The truly successful people were the nerds and geeks in high school. Yes, those kids that nobody sat next to for at least 5 rows in the lunchroom. These are the kids who were picked last in PE, and only because the teacher said, "You better pick or you're on the bench."

Since nobody liked these kids, they grew up having nothing better to do than to be successful in a less cosmopolitan way. These kids weren't cool enough to chase fantasy dreams. They chased their own dreams. And that's the REAL Secret to Success.

With that said, my bill is in the mail.