The Rock Star Manifesto

As the author of this book, I find it is my duty to inform you all of the factuality within its pages. Therefore, I am notifying you right now, that everything, whether it is a word, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a teaching, a story, an opinion, or whatever, should be taken with a grain of salt. What I mean by this is that much of the material written here should be read with skepticism as well as critical thought. This book is not intended to be thoughtlessly accepted as wholly factual and should not be considered by the reader as an accurate source of information without a insinuation of uncertainty. Basically, what I am saying, is that you must use your own intelligence when studying my words and be sure to do your own research in the process of reading mine in order to fully take in all of the information that I am sharing with you. Only by doing this can you sincerely get a genuine feeling of understanding and truth.

All of the material that you will be reading here is knowledge that I have attained over the years of my own life, and therefore is knowledge that is a mixture of my own research in the field of life improvement, my own memories of lessons I have absorbed through an array of different sources, my own opinions about certain subjects regarding the material written here, my own understandings of the world I live in, and my own philosophies that have been constructed through all of the above.

This book is made up of the countless foundations I have witnessed during my life experience, and may not be fully accurate information in the light of the scholarly world that has such a strong grip on the necks of creativity and self-opinion as well as on the people like myself who choose to bend the rules of intellectual acceptability and the status quo of civilization’s understanding of what is the correct method of existing and what is the incorrect method of existing.

In stating this, I am excited to share with you my comprehension of how to be a Rock Star and how to be a successful individual in this immense world that we are a part of. I will be sharing with you wisdoms that I myself have learned over the years through a variety of different teachers, mentors, messengers, friends, experiences, and even numerous sessions of self-actualization that I have consciously utilized for my own success as a Rock Star.

Some of my writing can and will be considered parody. This can be said for the profiles that I have put together throughout the book of certain people throughout history that I believe justly deserve a place in this manuscript for their truly Rock Star-oriented minds. I will confess to you now that some of the information regarding these biographies may not be completely factual, and in fact may not be factual at all considering some of the unconventional methods I attained information regarding them.

This includes my earlier methods of learning history, dating back to the time when I was a curious child with the big dream of one day writing a full-length book on how to be successful in the world that was around me. My techniques of gaining information back then were much different then my now college-educated mind that knows the importance of researching accurate sources of information about the past, however, I still have the cynical belief that even scholarly sources can contain false information. However, I will not go into my conspiracy theories.

As a youth, I did much of my learning through listening to stories from older people who I had much admiration and respect for, such as my grandfather, who once convinced me that he was sure he knew history like the back of his hand. It was not until later that I realized that that was absolutely impossible, however the teachings I learned from his history lessons still hold an important place in the philosophies I have attained about success and prosperity. Considering that much of the information I will be sharing with you may be false in the eyes of an academic, and could even be considered a mockery to some, I will play it safe and tell you to assume that all of the historical information within this book is simply parody. Consider it fiction, consider it lies, and even go as far as considering it completely unrealistic and unaccommodating; I don’t really care. However, I will note that ignorance is not bliss.

The content within The Rock Star Manifesto is my own message to the world, whether it helps you or does not, and is a book that I have put together in the hopes of aiding you in your search for a more meaningful and fulfilling life: even if my methods seem to be at times a bit unconventional and rebellious. As you will learn though through reading, unconventionality and rebellion are not the enemies that so many of us have been taught to believe. They are our friends and they may very well be your ticket to finally breaking free from the prison of mediocrity and despondency that has convinced you to pick up this book in the first place.

Read this book, analyze it, appreciate its values, and consider how they may benefit your short stay in this reality that we have come to accept. Use them if you feel they can be advantageous, neglect them if you feel they are worthless, and remember to always follow the spirit within your heart when you decide to make the leap from being the person you are today to the person you will be tomorrow. The Rock Star Manifesto has worked wonders for me, and it will work wonders for you too if you maintain the positive attitude that is pertinent to your victory over the frustrations of your currently unwanted situations.

A Self-Portrait

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Chapter 2:Introduction

If you opened this book hoping to learn how to become a famous rock and roll vocalist, guitarist, drummer, or keyboardist, then you have undeniably come to the right place. If you opened this book hoping to learn how you can reach your full potential in life, then you have also certainly come to the right place. This book will not only help you to become better at all of the skills you have ever wanted to master, but will also teach you how to create a successful career through the use of those skills or any other method in which you would like to utilize in the attainment of fame, fortune, and whatever else you desire. The methods within this book will be your resource for learning how to be successful in almost every aspect of your life.

Do you want to be a better painter? Read this book. Do you want to be a better dancer? Read this book. Do you want to be a better businessman? Read this book. Do you want to be an all-around better person? Read this book. Have you ever had the dream of living a better life? Read this book. If you have ever wanted to improve your life in any way, shape, or form, whether it be financially, socially, spiritually, artistically, or any other area of being human with the potential for a greater development, this book is the book for you.

Successful people throughout history have made their claim to fame and lived lives full of luxury and happiness by using certain methods in their day to day lives, and within this book, I present my observations of these methods and explain how anybody can use them in order to be a Rock Star. The Rock Star Manifesto was designed to help you no matter which career you choose to pursue, whether it is a singing career, a medical profession, a law vocation, a teaching job, or any other field of work that interests you. By following the methods given here, your chances of succeeding in the future will greatly improve. Anybody can be successful, even you.

Many people believe that exceptionally successful people are larger than life super-human-mutants who live the lives that average people only hopelessly dream of living. To many people’s surprise however, it doesn’t only have to be a hopeless dream; everyone can be a super-human-mutant (By the way, super-human-mutants don’t exist, so obviously, I am just kidding). Becoming successful does not require you to possess super-human-mutant amounts of brainpower, years of expensive educational experience, or any type of great advantages whatsoever. Triumph in life is more of a task for the heart than for the brain (by the I mean the emotional heart, not the organ that pumps blood through your body). It is more of a task for your emotions than your experiential background or brain-smarts.

It is not what we are at the present time that defines us nor is it what we were in the past either. A complete low-life who lives in a box and begs for change at the street corner of a college campus does not have to define himself as a complete low-life who lives in a box and begs for change at the street corner of a college campus any longer. What defines us is what we think can be and how we go about becoming that.

Every success in life starts with the dream of a better future and yearning to make that dream a reality. Our achievement in the future will depend mainly on how we go about reaching it. Follow this book and attaining the future you desire will seem as pleasurable and simple as reading the words I have written on these pages. Now obviously, I am being optimistic in saying this, and clearly reading a book is much simpler and pleasurable than breaking out of the turtle egg of now and reaching the sea of personal success without being eaten by a bird or stepped on by a beach goer along the way. However, the more optimistic you are about making the steps up the stairs to your desired destiny, the easier this whole journey is going to be. So just go along with what I say and you will be fine.

My Friend’s band, Twelve O’clock Knob

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Chapter 3: Mediocrity

Nobody is forced to be an average person with a mediocre life. There is no guardsman standing at the foot of your bed each morning waiting for you to get up so that he can make sure that you do not do anything that is above average throughout your day. Nobody is born into an average brain at birth either. Some of us may have higher IQs than others according the ‘the system’, but ‘the system’ was just a creation of ‘the man’ who feared an uprising of the people below him and therefore put constraints on those people in order for him to continue bathing in his golden bathtub full of hot, bubble-filled power. The truth is, everybody, whether you are rich, poor, black, white, male, female, dyslexic, socially awkward, or whatever, has the potential to be above average in whatever they choose to do. Average does not define a person; a person defines average. The only conceivable reasons I can think of for such a word to ever be invented was A) ‘the man’s’ evil plan to keep the lower classes of people from ever rising against him, or B) the more believable reason that people long ago had a disbelief in themselves and their own true potentials.

People truly thought, and undoubtedly continue to think, that averageness is a disorder of the mind and that there is no overcoming it. People truly think that there are two classes of people, A) the lucky people who were given the gift of being above average, and B) the unlucky people who must always be below them. This is a terrible misconception and can be damaging to not only a person’s self-image and self-satisfaction, but also damaging to every aspect of their life. By reading this book, you too can become above average just like all of your role models, just like all of the great heroes throughout history, and just like the people all around you who seem to have their lives exactly where they want them to be. You too can live a life of fortune, fame, excess, or whatever you desire! You just have to get out of this mindset telling you that you can do no better than you have been doing in the preceding years of your average life.

It may be a long road to success, but at the end of the road, the benefits from achieving your goals are eagerly awaiting you. Success is only a hop, skip, and a jump away (that sounded kind of foolish and was completely exaggerated, but I’m going to leave it in here because it is the truth)! Don’t settle for less simply because you are afraid that you are just average. Don’t settle for less simply because you think that you can do no better than what you are currently doing. You can always do better and there is always a room for improvement. Everyone’s brain has a master bedroom with a sign on the door that says ‘Improvement’ on it. Successful people use that room and enjoy the King-sized bed, the Jacuzzi in the bathroom, and the walk-in closet; others never even open the door to see what’s inside.

Everyone can do better. There is no limit to the amount greatness you can achieve and there is no destination that you cannot reach using the car that the Rock Star mindset will buy you. If you make a true commitment to reaching your full potential, your seemingly average intelligence and average lifestyle will see improvements that you have only day-dreamed about under an umbrella in the pouring rain. Reading this book can be your first dedicated step toward reaching your desired destiny. Study it up and down and follow its lead. It will guide you to a world full of riches, delight, and much much more. It will lead you to a world where you are a true Rock Star. If you have the will to achieve, then achieve you will!

My Painting, Faces of Misery

(Rock Stars do not often show faces of misery)

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Chapter 4: The Rock Star

So what exactly does the term Rock Star mean anyway? After all, let’s face it; everyone that has opened this book probably wants to be one, but do we honestly have a true definition for such an important term that will give us the information we need in order to become one? Does the English language really lack a term that describes somebody who is able to wake up in the morning and say to their self, What should I do today? Well, I could do this, this, or this, but I think I will do this because this seems like the most desirable thing to do. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pick and choose what you want to do for the day? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to not have to worry about all of the hustle and bustle of an average lifestyle? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to just relax? Even if relaxing doesn’t sound pleasing to you workaholics out there, wouldn’t it be great to have the option of doing it or not, rather than being cursed with a predetermined plan for the day? It sounds pretty damn nice to me, and lucky for us, this lifestyle is achievable by utilizing the methods in this book.

Anybody who is willing to read the words within this manifesto is able to be a Rock Star (On that note, if you know someone who is illiterate, then be a nice person and read it to him. He will greatly appreciate it in the end). Reading this book can only do you good. It will make your days brighter, your nights more satisfying, and overall; life will become better than it has ever been before. Why? Because you will be a Rock Star.

In order to reach your goal of becoming a Rock Star, you will first need to know exactly what it means to be a Rock Star. Failure to identify exactly what you want to become can be an enormous handicap. The first step you must take in order to become what you want to be is identifying what it means to be what you want to be. It means recognizing the six Ws of problem solving that some of you may have been taught in kindergarten: Who, what, when, where, why, and how (Yeah, how isn’t a W but at least it has a W in it). You must figure out how to achieve a goal, where to achieve a goal, when to achieve a goal, what exactly the goal is you are achieving, who to become acquainted with in order to achieve a goal, and why you are achieving a goal in the first place.

Think of your goal of becoming a Rock Star like a road trip. In order to reach your destination, you must make a conscious decision to go there, you must know where it is, you must know how you are getting there, you must know when to go there, you must know what you are doing there, and you must know why you are going there. After knowing all of this you must then plan accordingly for your trip.

Similarly, before any of the dreaming, planning, or implementation of your strategy for fetching the life you want to live, you must first know exactly where it is you are trying to take your future. If you are not entirely sure what this future holds, you may very well find yourself reaching a destination that you didn’t spend all of your time and effort trying to reach. If you are trying to drive from Virginia to Las Vegas, you would not go south. If you were flying from China to Spain, you would not take a plane to South Africa. It just doesn’t make sense. Your method of travel and your set of directions will act as the guide to your destination. Always know the details of the journey. Don’t be ill prepared. If you want to go to Las Vegas from Virginia, head west. If you want to go to Spain from China, get on the correct airplane. The same goes for success in life. Take paths that you know will take you the right way. Logically, this is the only way you will reach where you want to be.

Now you may be wondering, What if there is no clear direction to where I want to go? The answer to that question is this: Be true to yourself and the path will automatically unfold for you. Search inside your heart to find the way you need to go and use reason and