Is Perez Hilton a Success? That Depends...

I realize you may be thinking "who the heck IS Perez Hilton? Did she mis-type 'Paris Hilton'? Is Amy smoking crack??"

Up until 2 days ago, I didn't even know who Perez Hilton is.

If you're like me and you avoid Hollywood gossip like the black plague (which puts us in a tiny minority, trust me on this one), then you may not know the guy at all.

Apparently, he's spent the past two years of his life (maybe more) running a blog with celebrity gossip. He strikes me as a spiteful man (after hearing his name twice in the same week, I checked out his website...I was hard-pressed to find anything "nice" anywhere on it...even his comments that seemed sweet had sort of a backhanded quality about them) but for whatever reason, folks absolutely FLOCK to his website to read his latest comments on all the celebs.

He reminds me a bit of Howard Stern in that people who hate Perez Hilton seem to read his site just as much as people who love him (judging by the flaming comments and expletive litanies I saw posted under the comments).

I'll be completely straight-up with you here (as usual):

If it's success that you truly seek, you've got to leave bottom-feeding gossip like this behind you.

How on earth can you create massive amounts of money and success, if you spend time reading and listening to media that slams celebrities and completely picks apart people who are successful?

That's just confusing your subconscious mind, which is getting this message:

"I want success. Success = BAD."

And trust me, the "success=BAD" part is far stronger and goes deeper, because these media messages are designed to play into your insecurities. The media game has long been "Let's make fun of people who are wealthy and successful" because it preys on the insecurities of the average Joe.

Look, I could pull 3 people off the street and make fun of their clothes, their relationships and their behavior, here on my blog (not that I would), but no one would give a rat's patootie because those people aren't rich and famous.

If you keep reading Us Weekly and People Magazine and Perez Hilton's blog, I promise you'll spend the next several decades wondering why success keeps eluding you.

You've got to be absolutely judicious about what you allow to penetrate that brain of yours. Your subconscious mind is like a sponge, soaking up every little bit, so if you think "oh, a little magazine a week won't hurt" or "it's just a silly TV show" you are in grave danger of keeping your dreams at arm's length -- permanently.

My recommendation is to start an immediate media fast (or an "information diet" as the author of The 4-Hour Work Week suggests).

Do I refrain from 100% of all media? No, to be honest. This week, while we're readjusting to the time change from Australia to Colorado, we've been watching more TV than usual. I happened to catch an episode of Kathy Griffin, My Life on the D-List (which is absolutely a study in how to use the Law of Attraction to attract everything you don't want, but nevertheless I think she's funny) and we also watched part of Victoria Beckham's show. Perez was mentioned in both -- and checking out his blog reconfirmed my commitment to severely limit my TV intake again.

Beginning today, I'm back to watching strictly new episodes of Survivor (see? I don't even know when the season starts) and the occasional episode of Scrubs or Ellen! I know some people cut out 100% of TV, but you gotta do what works best for you. Just remember, media is like any other addictive substance...so if you think "I can quit any time I want to" then why not quit for a week, just to prove you can?

Now back to my original question. Is gossip blogger Perez Hilton a success?

Well, that would certainly depend on how you define success.

Is he wealthy? I have no idea. I know that the ads on his website sell for a small fortune, and there are heaps of ads already there. I also know he works out of a coffee shop. But that could certainly be by choice. After all, he loves the attention.

Is he happy? I have no idea. Sure, he smiles a lot, but I would think that (according to the basic Law of Attraction) someone who spends all their time seeking out misery and criticism would have a fair amount of self-criticism going on. In browsing through his media kit, I can see that he's certainly packing on pounds lately (generally not a sign of someone who's blissfully happy). I've never met the guy, but he traffics in pain and misery, so you do the math.

Is he good at what he does? Heck yeah. I heard that sucker gets 5.5 million hits to his website PER DAY and I looked him up on Alexa and he ranks 973 -- in other words, he is within the top 1000 websites on the entire INTERNET. (If that doesn't put things into perspective for you, consider that the top 100,000 websites account for more than HALF of all internet traffic). The guy is a publicity whore and he knows how to get media attention.

Apparently misery loves company.

Is he content? Doubtful. Gossip has an insatiable nature about it.

I'd be inclined to say NO, the guy is not a success. But that's by my own personal standards. You can decide for yourself.

So what's the lesson here?

First off, I would invite you to consider how you define success, and what your OWN success would look like.

Next, I would invite you to consider being more selective about what you allow INTO your precious mind. Remember GIGO? Garbage In - Garbage Out.

Why not make today Trash Day? Take out the trash and say goodbye to Hollywood gossip. Your success life will thank you.

QoD: Are you addicted to gossip? What would you do if you didn't watch any television or read any newspapers or magazines for an entire week? Would you find more productive ways to spend your time? Would you be forced to take a look at your own life, instead of disapproving the lives of others?

Go for it!