Fear causes many people to fail and not pursue their dreams. Happiness and optimism are the tools needed to help overcome fear. Presentation to Touro College Los Angeles, 2015

1. The
Pursuit
of
Success
By:
Yermi
Kurkus

2. “It’s
the
fear
of
fear
you
fear.
The
fear
itself
hurts
more
than
the
thing
you
are
scared
of.”
-­‐Darren
Hardy,
Editor
in
Chief
Success
Magazine,
Author
of
The
Entrepreneur
Roller
Coaster

3. By
pracIcing
happiness
and
opImism,
people
can
overcome
their
fears
that
disable
people
from
posiIve
and
producIve
outcomes.
Vs.

4. Water
FiltraIon
Mess-­‐Up
Darren
Hardy’s
First
Business
• $5000
iniIal
investment
(all
his
money)
• No
one
Bought
• Grandmother
bought
first
system
–
got
her
friends
to
buy
as
well
• Major
leak
in
Grandmother’s
home
• Fear
of
wrecking
18
other
homes

5. Out
come
• Grandmother
had
insurance
• Grandfather
and
plumber
went
to
fix
other
systems
• $5
Million
a
year
• $20,000
a
month
in
sales
and
commissions

6. Fear
Jack
in
Don
DeLillo’s
“White
Noise”
• Fear
of
death,
technology
and
society
– “I
WOKE
IN
THE
GRIP
of
a
death
sweat.
Defenseless
against
my
own
racking
fears.
A
pause
at
the
center
of
my
being.”
(DeLillo
79)
– “But
we
look
around
and
see
no
response
from
the
official
organs
of
the
media.
The
airborne
toxic
event
is
a
horrifying
thing.
Our
fear
is
enormous.
Even
if
there
hasn’t
been
great
loss
of
life,
don’t
we
deserve
some
agenIon
for
our
suffering,
our
human
worry,
our
terror?
Isn’t
fear
news?”
(DeLillo.
253)
“We’re
falling
out
of
the
sky!
We’re
going
down!
We’re
a
silver
gleaming
death
machine!”
(DeLillo,
146)
– It
is
surely
possible
to
be
awed
by
the
thing
that
threatens
your
life,
to
see
it
as
a
cosmic
force,
so
much
larger
than
yourself,
more
powerful,
created
by
elemental
and
willful
rhythms.
This
was
a
death
made
in
the
laboratory,
defined
and
measurable,
but
we
thought
of
it
at
the
Ime
in
a
simple
and
primiIve
way,
as
some
seasonal
perversity
of
the
earth
like
a
flood
or
tornado,
something
not
subject
to
control.
Our
helplessness
did
not
seem
compaIble
with
the
idea
of
a
man-­‐made
event.”
(DeLillo,
199,
200)

7. Jack’s
Fear
• Fear
of
death
consumes
him.
He
has
been
fearful
of
death
all
his
life.
It
bothers
him
from
sleeping
and
having
enough
energy.
• Technology
always
seems
to
be
blamed.
His
issues
with
Television,
Radio,
Media
and
even
TransportaIon
(Planes)
–
will
Jack
ever
fly
a
plane
again?
• Jack
believes
that
the
Toxic
event
was
man-­‐made.
If
those
labs
and
experiments
didn’t
exist
the
leak
would
have
never
happened.
What
about
all
the
breakthroughs
that
come
out
of
those
labs?

8. How
can
one
ever
live
a
fulfilling
life?
Is
Jack’s
life
considered
complete?
Happy?
Is
there
a
beger
way?

9. “Happiness
is
a
moral
obligaIon”
Happiness
is
neither
a
feeling
nor
an
emoIon
it
is
an
acIon.
Happiness
is
something
that
people
need
to
work
on;
it
is
a
habit
and
a
character
trait.
“Happiness
—
or
at
least
acIng
happy,
or
at
the
very
least
not
inflicIng
one’s
unhappiness
on
others
—
is
no
less
important
in
making
the
world
beger
than
any
other
human
trait.”
Dennis
Prager,
Radio
Talk
Show
Host,
Public
Speaker
and
author
of
“Happiness
is
a
Serious
Problem.”
(Prager
2012,
St.
Petersburg
College,
appliedethicsinsItute.org)

10. Finding
Meaning
–
Having
Faith
SomeImes
a
faith
in
some
form
of
higher
power
helps
us
believe
that
there
is
some
form
of
greater
good
in
play,
we
simply
don’t
see
it
yet.
By
finding
meaning,
people
tend
to
be
more
posiIve,
which
in
turn
leads
to
their
happiness.
“People
need
to
find
a
meaning
in
life,
a
reason
for
them
to
be
happy.
Despite
anything
and
everything
they
went
through.”
Psychologist,
Holocaust
Survivor
and
author
of
“Man’s
search
for
meaning.“
Victor
Frankl

11. Aqtude
People
who
have
a
negaIve
aqtude
will
only
look
to
feed
it,
they
are
not
looking
for
any
soluIons.
Fear
is
what
capIvated
these
individuals
from
their
negaIve
aqtudes.
Fear
of
the
need
to
change
their
thoughts,
acIons
and
views,
is
what
blocks
these
individuals.
Therefore
it
is
fear
that
does
not
allow
people
to
take
necessary
steps
to
achieving
their
desired
successes.
“Aqtude
is
everything,
those
who
are
angry
and
are
not
happy,
they
look
for
agenIon,
they
are
not
looking
for
soluIons”
(Ziglar,
Inspire,
YouTube.com
2008)

12. Naysayer
People
that
are
hurt,
are
suffering
from
pain,
cannot
forgive
easily.
How
can
they
be
happy?
Very
Valid
point!
“Take
this
fear,
take
this
pain,
take
this
hurt
and
mourn
it
for
a
short
period
of
Ime.
But
keep
it
short,
then
get
up
and
get
to
work.
Use
that
pain
and
rejecIon
as
your
building
blocks
towards
your
success.”
(Corcoran
2015,
Entrepreneur.com)
MulIbillionaire,
Real
Estate
Mogul
and
Investor
Barbara
Corcran

13. Conclusion
• Working
hard
means,
planning
out
your
happiness
schedule
by
acIvely
behaving
happy,
despite
your
emoIons
or
your
feelings.
(Gretchen
Rubin,
“The
Happiness
Project”)
• “Children
act
how
they
feel,
adults
act
how
they
should”
(Prager
2012,
St.
Petersburg
College,
appliedethicsinsItute.org).
• “OpImism
and
the
lack
of
fear
from
failure.
It
is
ok
to
fail,
it’s
all
about
how
you
get
back
up
and
do
it
beger.”
(Branson,
Why
OpImism
Pays
Off,
Virgin.com)

14. InspiraIon