October 23, 2006

INTERVIEW: CURTIS G. SCHMITT

TURN ON TO LIFE

If you are joining us for the first time today. Welcome! Today is the last of a 3 part series of interviews with the co-presenters of Adventures In Abundance: Ignite Your Time, Money, Passion and Health, which will take place on Monday, November 6th. Please visit our website at www.adventuresinabundance.com. I guarantee you that it will be an evening you will not want to miss.

Curtis G. Schmitt and I met over the phone on May 2, 2006. We were on a business conference call with Best Coaches Inc. which we'd signed up for to "help jumpstart your business in 90 days." From that very first phone call we realized right away that we had very similar ways of thinking, interests and beliefs. The program was for three months-2 conference calls a week. We met face to face when he traveled from Shetler Island to be on my production team for my first seminar on July 31st. After Best Coaches ended we didn't know how but we knew we'd have to continue to work together. Throughout those three months what always impressed me about Curtis, besides his great heart, and want to make a difference in the world was his ability to always look at himself-what his part of the responsibility was for whatever was occuring. The sign of a true leader. True to Curtis one of the first moments of the interview he said:

"There were times in my life when I was a real dick. Very judgemental. The shift came when I read the author Robert Anton Wilson and he challenged my idea of certainty. From him I fell in love with the idea that nothing really IS. Everything is a paradigm. Everything is perspective. You can’t take that concept in without it changing how you look at yourself.”

Of course we know many people, ourselves for instance, that have many judgements and opinions but we never think that they apply to us.
For Curtis this was a simple truth. To not only learn about the concept but to apply it to himself. Please read on to learn how this man went from majoring in Math and German, to pursuing a music career to being the owner of Turn On To Life.


Samarra: Where did you grow up?
Curtis: Setauket, NY in Long Island.

Samarra: Do you have any siblings?
Curtis: Yes, I have a sister that is 2 ½ years younger than me. She has 2 beautiful daughters.

Samarra: Where did you go to college?
Curtis: I went to Williams College, a libral arts college and majored in Math and German.

Samarra: What did you want to “be when you grew up?”
Curtis: In Junior High School I wanted to be a writer-I wrote a lot of short stories and wrote for the school paper. In High School my focus shifted to music, I learned to play the guitar, I started writing songs and I wanted to be in a band. After graduating from college I moved to Arizona to pursue my music career. Until my late 20’s I never really had to make a real choice. Lots of people have had tough lives but until that point in my life I never really had had to work hard for something. For instance, I wanted to go to college. My parents had the money to pay for me to go to college. Life has always been comfortable…this mediocrity.

Samarra: Do you think being "comfortable" is "mediocrity"?
Curtis: When it’s limiting, yes. I became trapped by being comfortable. I had never pursued what I loved because it was hard-I’d pursue it to a point, but when it got hard, then I'd say, “Oh well, that must be the wrong thing.” After college I pursued my dream of music-that was hard- so then I got a job in a warehouse, that was easy-then the job wasn't satisfying-I started a web site design company-hard, run back and get an IT a job-easy. The result was that by my late 20’s I was in a very bad depression. By this time I had been an IT person for the last 4 years and I felt like the walls were closing in on me. Sometimes I couldn’t breath, there would be moments when I would hear a sad song and I couldn’t turn it off fast enough. It was overwhelming. Since college, I had always had a deep, underlying unfullifillment. An emptiness.

Samarra: What do you love?
Curtis: Moving people to take charge, To Turn On To Life.
There are a lot of people who are comfortable. They’re not turned on to life, not passionate. My core belief is that the more people who are pursuing their passion, the better the world will be.


When I was feeling overwhelmed my office mate at the time, Scott Foster (please see October 9th interview to learn more about Scott) told me about Kripalu Yoga Center. I went there for about a week. It was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. When filling out their feedback form, under “occupation” I wrote “unpublished screenwriter/filmmaker.” I didn't know where it came from but it was something that I wanted. When I returned home, my friend and I started to write a screen play and I knew we would make the film. It was the first time I felt like I was making a choice for myself. It felt different. The things I would do in the past, I felt like I was pretending, playing at things for the benefit of other people. This time it was a choice for myself and I knew that I would see it through. And I did. It wasn’t easy-the process was difficult, but I persisted because it was something I was doing for me.

Samarra: What is the name of the film?
Curtis: "What Remains" and it's about a drifter who can’t let go of the past. It was chosen in 4 festivals the largest being the Stony Brook International Film Festival where it was shown to over 500 people.

Samarra: How did you feel?
Curtis: Hmmmm-good question- I felt really good. Prior to this experience with most of my “victories” I only felt relief. They weren’t met with joy-because they weren’t my choices or my passions, I only felt relief that it wasn’t a failure. It’s not only important to find your passion and pursue it, it’s also important that you feel that passion. Otherwise you rob the moment that you’re in.

Samarra: Congratulations, I can’t wait to see your film. How did you transition from filmmaking to starting your business as a life coach?
Curtis: I started Turn On To Life in January of 2005. Although I was happy I made the film and loved doing it-there was something still missing. I realized it was very important that the contribution I make in the world had to be a direct line, and filmmaking wasn't direct enough for me. I remember even in college people would seek me out for my perspective. I love to learn. I have always been a problem solver.
When declaring my business I had a similar feeling-knowing this was a choice I was making not because it was path of least resistance but because it felt right for me.

Samarra: What is your advice to those that are comfortable but miserable?
Curtis: In my business I focus on time management because people will often say “I don’t have enough time.” When in fact "time" is not the issue-they are just not spending time on what is truly important to them and that is where the dissatisfaction is coming from.
First, start with asking yourself the question-is the problem that you think is the problem really the problem? Are you really pursuing things that you want to do? I look back at that film and I didn’t know it couldn’t be done-I didn’t know I couldn’t build a bathroom with running water in my dad’s garage. Those who’d done films said I couldn’t but I did because through ignorance I was forced to focus only on the steps in front of me. When pursuing or spending time on what you love, that passion forces you to simply move forward one step at a time.

Samarra: Hence your tag line at the end of all of your written correspondence:

“Peace and Passion.”

Curtis: (laughter) Exactly.





Thank you so much Curtis, Laura and Scott for sharing your incredible stories. Regardless of our backgrounds, income and experiences we are all connected...we've all started or thought we knew what our lives were going to look like. We pursued that and when it wasn't enough continued moving forward and have found that our businesses combine all that we've spent our lives doing from the very beginning. No matter where each of us are in the journey just keep tuning into YOU-be honest-are you fulfilled? That is the beginning.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: ANGELS FLY BECAUSE THEY TAKE THEMSELVES LIGHTLY!

FREE TELESEMINARS:

Curtis G. Schmitt: Register for Time Management Mastery: The 5 Master Keys to Effective Time Management & Planning @ www.TurnOnToLife.com
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006, 8:00 PM EST
Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, 10:00 AM EST

Curtis has created a home study course putting the ideas he talked about in the interview into a tangible system of steps just for you!

Nancy Feth: It’s the Pause that Refreshes: Register today at www.PassionClarityandAction.com.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 11:00 am EST

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 11:00 am EST

JOBS:

Morgan Contracting Company FT position. Must be able to multi-task, attention to detail and comfortable working in a face paced environment. Call Mark Wedderburn at 212-377-2100.

Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at samarra_am_management@yahoo.com.

Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues please post and join in the conversation. To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line "unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra Am Management."

Copyright 2006