The Way of Ken Goldstein
I’ve heard that a single thought can change your life. And that is just what happened to me today as I began my interview with author Ken Goldstein.
I’d been struggling with a few problems that have been casting a dark shadow on my overall well-being for years now; and I was convinced I’d continue to struggle with them for years to come. But within the first few minutes of my conversation with Ken –whose book The Way of the Nerd: Practical Advice for Impractical People has been downloaded over three hundred thousand times since leaking onto the Internet during the summer of 2011 – he told me to look at the problems that plagued me as opportunities for growth. “And in that way,” he suggested, “They won’t really seem like problems any more.” His simple directive took years of stress off my shoulders. And this was in just the first few minutes of what turned out to be a two-day conversation with him.
“Personal change doesn’t take years to happen,” he told me. “It’s the build up to the decision to change that takes time. And during that time we humans have a tendency to make ourselves miserable.”
His advice: “Hey man, if this shit is causing you so much pain; fuck it and move on. Clearly the universe is trying to tell you something.”
Yup - this inspiration to thousands of people world wide has narrowed hundreds of years of philosophical text and teachings to two words: Fuck it.
I have to admit that from what I’d learned about him through his publicist – that he’s an accomplished artist, Emmy Award winning director; music composer, performer and producer; internationally renowned speaker; counselor to celebrities, politicians and global CEOs; and the founder of The Six Shooter Company – I expected to be interviewing someone a bit more, well, refined.
But that’s not Ken Goldstein. This guy is raw and real and shoots straight from the hip.
I have to admit, though I’d heard of Ken Goldstein the TV director; and I recalled a Ken Goldstein hosting a series on Fox Television News called Too Much Information; I’d not heard of Ken Goldstein the author before his publicist called me to offer me this interview.
“It’s all the same guy,” she told me when we spoke. “Oh, and when you interview him be sure to ask about his stint as an overnight talk radio host on CBS radio, a Chicago beat reporter covering gang violence for the nightly news and his work as an intuitive crime scene investigator for the police.”
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