Community Highlights: Meet Skip Work of Happier U University

Today we’d like to introduce you to Skip Work.

Skip, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

This story begins with a happy ending ditty… that sets the stage for triumphant winning… never failing to reflect by always remembering… our southern comfort roots and humble beginning.

Creating Happier U University (happieruu.com) is one more impossible dream come true… in fact it’s winner-winner-chicken-dinner captured pipedream #62… chasing windmills instead of revenue… lassoing vision quests is what we do… hoping you smile before we’re through… for figuring out how to create a Happier UU.

My father (Robert Grant Work aka “Gunner”) was a United States Marine for 32 years. He fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He never hesitated to answer our nation’s call to duty. He was a highly decorated warrior. He was a leader. He was fearless. God bless his soul; he had a thousand-yard stare that encouraged a full-scale retreat.

My mother (Wordie Isbell Work) was a United States Navy Nurse. She served at Pearl Harbor during World War II. She was an orphan who found a home nursing wounded warriors back to health or holding their hand as they took their last breath. She was compassionate. She was a caregiver. She had a heart of gold. God bless her soul; she had a smile that could melt butter.

I was born & bred to be a diehard Tennessee Volunteer, in the literal sense. I was assembled in baby boot camp out of Marine Corps Warrior & Naval Nursing spare parts. A government issued baby boomer hybrid, conceived to swing both ways.

I volunteered and joined the Marine Corps in Memphis, TN. I spent 20 glorious years serving my country before injuries forced me to retire. I nursed myself back to health and hobbled home to the “land that I love” in hills of Tennessee, to reassemble myself & chase another impossible dream.

After finishing my MBA, I moved to our Nation’s Capital and went to work at Toffler Associates. TA was a consulting firm founded & operated on the principles of futurist Alvin Toffler, the sweetest gentleman imaginable, who wrote the book “Future Shock” in 1970 & “The Third Wave” in 1980.

For almost 16 years, I profited beyond imagination working with some of the most intelligent people on the planet. The money I made in the consulting universe was obscene compared to what I was paid to serve my country. The only problem: I never quite fit in with the upper class.

They’re an unemotional breed that thinks victory is achieved with “a lot more talk and a little less action” which is the exact opposite of how I & Toby Keith feel. Try to imagine a haggard military jarhead whose “Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading I denied” doing life without parole working 60 to 80-hour weeks in a profession that shuts down emotions with “Just the facts Ma’am, just the facts.”

“That leaves only me to blame ‘cause Mama tried…”

Feelings are strictly forbidden in the objective universe… (those not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering & representing facts) … of science, college, business, and politics. There is intelligence galore, but everybody has been reprogrammed into “those not influenced by personal feelings or opinions”. The upper class robotically loses touch with humanity by disconnecting emotionally, especially with their lower classmates.

It felt like intellectual elites were all being programmed into Artificial Intelligence Drones “considering & representing facts”, not representing, or caring, about the feelings of the people we were paid to serve. I found myself imprisoned, bogged down in an unemotional quagmire in a National Capital Region that: lacks empathy.

To be clear. We all know a complete lack of empathy under abnormal circumstances is the ugliest characteristic of man unkind. That’s not the lack of “understanding & sharing the feelings of another” empathy I’m referring to. Our Nation’s Capital lacks empathy simply because they lack experience in sharing human emotions. So, when I say lacks empathy, you say lacks emotional experience.

We were programmed to care more about facts and care less about feelings. That’s an objective fact. When ONE intelligent leader lacks empathy, it’s the leading cause of grief for the MANY.

Three years ago, I broke out of prison, cowboyed up, and made my getaway from the objective DC penitentiary. I rode into Nashville a red-headed stranger, a country outlaw, and bought me some Waylon next to my Highway 40 blues with a whole lot of Cash. I geared up to fight back against all “lacks empathy” sneak attacks occurring across the country by showing empathy and declaring war against grief.

The mere thought of fighting back against these dastardly deeds reminded me of a December 7th Sunday morning service where the preacher fired up a fearless nation by saying, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!” I vowed to SHOW mankind, especially my upper classmates, empathy.  I accepted the mission impossible to “Make Mankind Happier.”

To accomplish this mission, I needed a musical soundtrack and Music City is where our country’s emotions are put from heart to paper. Nashville is the magnet for every Honest-to-God songwriter in the world. If you are looking for Honest-to-God lyrics and real-life poetry of the heart, you head down south.

You go to Music City. Songwriters are the true-blues doctorates of empathy. Songwriters whole-heartedly share their emotional stories, so the rest of the world can share that feeling. That’s empathy in a symphony. Nashville is the heartbeat of the country. It’s emotionally sensational!

So, the million-dollar question I had to answer to make my impossible dream come true: How do I SHOW those who lack empathy (experience) the way out of their objective nature and help them turn human nature emotions back on… while at the same time SHOWING those who are battling grief how to escape to a happier state of mind?

We dug through the historical empathy archives and uncovered a 53-year-old treasure map crafted by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross that guides mankind through the 5 Stages of Death & Dying. Her compassionate end-of-the-road roadmap transformed into a travel brochure for the living with the help of David Keesler and morphed into the 5 Stages of Grief. The 5 Stages of Grief is the gold-standard template for the creation of the Happier U University empathy experience.

We expanded Dr. Kubler-Ross & David Keesler’s discoveries by turning the 5 Stages of Grief right side up to show the flipside of a troubled mind with the 5 Stages of Ex Nihilo (creating something out of nothing). It shows empathy for happiness, how to find new meaning, and a way to escape to a happier state of mind. The 5 Stages of Ex Nihilo is a grief counterattack. It is a declaration of war against grief and all its heartache.

The other ten SEE-READ-HEAR-FEEL Empathy Experiences took off from there. See for yourself. The crown jewel of all our efforts to show mankind empathy is the construction plans we give you to build a customized grief prevention homestead. We call it the 11 Stages of Happiness.

After we sensed everything felt just right, we shared our empathy experience on a free-for-all website called Happier U University and published it live from Nashville… in honor of all Tennessee Volunteers. On this website, we give the world a taste test for what it’s like to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly feelings we all share, no matter what gender, race, creed, education, political party, or financial status we happen “to be or not to be.”

We show mankind & all our classmates’ empathy. We let the world “see” the difficult journeys through emotional treasure maps with grief escape hatches built in. We follow up on grief by showing the gateway to the happier side of life. We let you “read” all about the lyrical comprehension of selected songs for each stage of the journey, so the style of music you hear doesn’t turn you off, it turns you on.

We let you “hear” all about it by listening to music that captures the emotions across all genres of music. When all is said and done, we let you get a “feel” for these emotions deep in your heart and connect with the entire human race.

Our southern fried premise is simple. Mankind feels the same. Our unique diversity blinds us to our emotional university. Our one-of-a-kind outside appearance fools us into thinking our inside emotions must be different too. They ain’t.

The only exception to this rule is man unkind.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?

The journey to conduct the Happier U University Empathy Experience symphony has been sensational. When people are open & caring about their emotions these deep connections are heartwarming. Those who think with their head… recite Charles Dickens, “It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times”.

Those who feel with their heart… sing along with Garth Brooks, “I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.” We discovered that mankind has touching emotions that we all share. It SHOWS that we are all the same when it comes to matters of the heart.

The struggle we currently face is the Dixie Chicks challenge of “waitin’ for the love of a travelin’ soldier.” Just like The Chicks, “we’re not ready to make nice” with our upper classmates. We have no choice but to call out their lack of empathy (experience).

We know the risks and we’re constantly on the lookout for the “landslide” that will bring us down. Yet, we have no fear because we love Dixie… no wait… we love the Dixie Chicks… no wait … we love chicks… no wait… we love Mankind… no wait… we don’t love Mankind like that… no wait… we do love mankind (but only if it includes the chicks) … no wait… I’m a happily married man & she’s the love of my life… oh, forget it.

If you can’t FEEL the struggles we face, “there’s your trouble”. At least you’ll know what’s holding you back from pursuing your impossible dream. Worrying about doing or saying the wrong thing means none of us gets to enjoy the “wide open spaces” that gives us room to make our big mistakes.

As a happiness detective newly assigned to the Special Victims Unit of Mental Health Lawlessness & Disorders, a common motive for emotional crimes against humanity pops up repeatedly.

Show me the money! If you want to capture the culprit who is causing the most grief, follow the money. When you examine the objective fields of science, college, business, and politics as a huge power-hungry, money-making operation through the looking glass lens of financial gain, the real money is made in the upper-class confidence game of “you need us more than we need you”. Science, college, business, and politics are supposed to serve us… and set us free. The objective organizations pot of gold is made in the life-long “treatment” that keeps you coming back for more… and not the… set you free “cure.”

Therefore, our mission impossible, that we choose to accept, is to find a non-objective institution who values feelings over facts, is dedicated to learning & not married to education, a non-profit business, a non-political party… somewhere in the world searching for the antidote to mankind’s lack of empathy (experience). A “we shall never surrender” band of brothers & sisters dedicated to winning the war against grief. An astronomical group that chases windmills & shoots for the stars willing to take… “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” We are on the hunt for the cure.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

We’ve been impressed with Happier U University, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I specialize in the art of troubleshooting & finding solutions to complex problems. I received extensive training in how to fix broken Air Traffic Control Electronics Equipment in under 30 minutes to prevent aviation tragedies.

I was trained to be a troubleshooting scientist using a repeatable Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) scientific method to solve complicated problems in highly sophisticated electronic systems. It turns out, that the 17^th Century scientific method was given a 21st Century makeover to solve complex STEM problems using the arts & science of troubleshooting.

Expanding on these troubleshooting skills, I published my first book: The Last Lifeboat – learn, unlearn & relearn to help solve the problems in our Titanic Education System. It shows off the six spectrums of pioneer learning and ties it all together in the learning & leadership link.

I used lessons learned in fixing electronics & pioneer learning to create TS4i (Troubleshooting for innovation, improvement, ideas, integrity). It is a tested repeatable science experiment that proves the power of empathy by solving people problems, meeting needs, satisfying wants and capturing the buried treasure of ideas in any organization. I did it by interviewing the “followers” to dig up innovation, improvement, ideas and expand the integrity & Emotional Intelligence of the “objective” management & leadership teams.

After all was said and done… I needed a mission impossible that would require every skill I had in my Vision Quest tool kit. I set out to solve the most challenging problem we face as a human race: how do we SHOW empathy to people who lack emotional experience… so they get a feel… for how it feels to have empathy, so we can finally win the war against grief, and figure out ways to “Make Mankind Happier.”

I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, that beating the tar out of grief and spending every day sharing our wealth of happiness with the rest of the world is as American as sharing a slice of apple pie.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

We discovered the best time to create a Happier U University website is during a Global Pandemic getting to travel freely about the country basking in the glory of our nation’s incredible beauty. We got to talk to people brave enough to venture outside and then write about it.

Nobody is around except the courageous who share their emotions on their sleeve. Airports were ghost towns and airlines had open seating. Everywhere we looked there were wide open spaces. Luxury hotels and restaurants were all dirt cheap and happy to serve anyone willing to help keep their business afloat.

Highways & byways were empty and gas prices were cheaper by the dozen. Parks & recreation were deserted. We got to cruise around free as a bird. We ventured deep inside the backwoods of the country. We discovered that the outback is arguably the safest place imaginable in a global crisis. My wife & I made sure to mask up, get old-timers’ vaccinations, and maintain at least six states of social distancing from all major cities to do our part to stop the spread.

What could we say to those insiders who zoomed out and said we were reckless & dangerous for going outside… thank you for your service? To those outside Nashville who asked if we ever tested positive, we gave them a southern comfort answer. “We have no idea if we ever tested positive, the only thing we know for sure is we stayed positive during the entire ordeal.”

Insiders have no idea why Honest-to-God Tennessee Volunteers don’t run & hide from danger. We were raised to ride directly into it. We’re born & bred to be fearless. The scientific community might have facts & figures to show the best way to protect yourself during COVID, or in any crisis, is to lock yourself inside your four walls of fear… patiently waiting for the stink of death to clear.

What they don’t understand is the feeling of undying faith Tennessee Volunteers carry in the psalm of our hand. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

There’s that… and then there’s Tim McGraw wishful thinking when he sings… “Someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dyin’”.

Our thoughts & prayers go out to those who lost loved ones to COVID. We all lost people we love. Ways of life were shattered. Death is “knock knock knocking on heaven’s door.” That’s life. But the truth is… COVID was the opportunity of a lifetime. It was a reset… a priority shift… giving all of us one more chance… to live like we were dying.

Pricing:

• Where the pursuit of money is of the essence, our professional fees for profit-driven, unemotional institutions of mass-production in science, college, business, or politics looking for ways to cash in on Emotional Intelligence (EI) are: $10,000 a day or $1,250 an hour
• Where the pursuit of happiness is of the essence, in honor of the Emotional Intelligence revolution, we offer our sensational Empathy Experience to mankind for free.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://happieruu.com
• QR Code:

Image Credits
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross & David Keesler, Chris Hill funeralresources.com (703-906-2446)