The ABC's of Success: 26 Keys to a Successful Life

Appearance

Career

Daily Routines

Dream Big

Education

Effort

Enthusiasm

Expectations

Failures

Fear

Finances

Giving

Goals

God

Habits

Health

Hobbies

Laughter

Motivation

Open Mindedness

Organization

Peer Pressure

Perseverance

Persistence

Power of Impressions

Procrastination

Reading Ability

Relationships

Reflective Thinking

Regrets

Relaxation

Self-Condemnation

Self-Discipline

Self-Esteem

Shyness

Study Skills

Time Management

Vision

Worry

Introduction

This book is the result of over thirty years of teaching and experiences I have had in life. It is the culmination of what began long ago as ways to succeed in school and over time developed into ways to succeed in school and in life.

At the beginning of each school year, the first few days are rather hectic and unsettled. Students keep floating in and out of class until schedules are finalized. Along with class procedures and expectations, the ABC’s of Success slowly developed.

I certainly don’t claim to be an expert; but after experiencing life, I never came across a book covering most of what I learned simply by living life and observing the lives of those around me.

This book is the result of a challenge from one of my students. After presenting the ABC’s of Success in school by encouraging my students to make choices, set goals for their future, and find a purpose and motto for their lives, a student issued the challenge, Well, Mrs. Leonard, what are you going to do in your future life – I mean after teaching?

I told her I had everything I wanted and actually enjoyed teaching – teaching was my dream.

Her reply, Shouldn’t you model what you propose to your students?

Others in the class looked at us and smiled and said she was right. I told students I needed at least one day to consider her request.

I have always enjoyed being around young adults. I could never picture retiring and stopping life. So after some thought, I decided a logical thing was to continue what I enjoyed all of those years in another format. Therefore, the decision to write a book addressing items (the basics) everyone needs to know to succeed in life. True to my word, I presented a plan to the class – I would write eight to nine chapters a summer, completing the project in three years.

Furthermore, I stated I would like to speak to students in high school, junior high, as well as civic organizations. I made a deal with her. Since she gave me the idea, the first time I speak to high school students in France, I will pay her transportation there and one week of room and board in a hotel of her choice. In return, the only obligation she has is to sign a contract promising to introduce me before I speak. She smiled and said, Deal. We shook hands, a binding contract in my eyes.

In planning the book, I decided in addition to chapter titles, it also needed a topic list in the table of contents so one could read it from cover to cover and then focus on topics to explore in depth. Thus the title – The ABC’s of Success: 26 Keys to a Successful Life. Many of the topics are related – relationships and peer pressure, attitude and self-esteem, time management and organization. Each one is dealt with as a separate item; although, as you explore the keys, you will recognize some overlapping does occur in life

It is hoped this book will serve as a springboard for success in life. Once you have exhausted the information on a particular topic and still feel as if you need more, go online and do a search, visit your local library, or go to a bookstore and spend time looking for material to enhance your life beyond the basic information presented here.

Take the time to explore the ABC’s from cover to cover, then return to topics you need to focus on until you have mastered that area.

Since the information was presented in conversational style to students, the same format was incorporated here. Pour a cup of coffee or grab a cold glass of water. Join the conversation.

The ABC’s of Success:

26 Keys to a Successful Life

Chapter 1

A – Always believe in a Higher Power

God

Ask, and it will be given to you;

seek, and you will find;

knock, and it will be opened to you.

~ Matthew 7: 7

You will seek Me and find Me

when you search for Me

with all your heart.

~ Jeremiah 29:13

There is a separation of church and state. Since elementary school I have heard numerous times that people came here in order to escape government sanctioned religion, churches run by governments, or religious persecution. They wanted to be free – totally free – to worship God in whatever manner they wished or not to worship if they so chose.

I was shocked the first time I heard the prayer which caused all of the problems in the ‘60s because it was so harmless in my eyes. In fact, we all looked at each other and did not understand why – it sounded so innocent. It was a simple prayer to God to acknowledge dependence on Him and to ask Him to bless us, our parents, teachers, and country, as well as the person who was praying. That’s it!

We were angry because the Supreme Court decided in 1962 we could no longer pray in school. We were left with a moment of silence. We were in high school and didn’t understand why things had to change. Our whole world was turned upside down, and we were left with a void in our lives.

Why did things have to change? The prayer was composed by a government body, so clearly the line between church and state had been breached according to the Supreme Court. Following Engel v. Vitale, (I was a freshman at the time so I remember it well) prayers were no longer allowed in public schools because a school board in New York decided to address a decline in the morality of students, composed a morning prayer, and dictated the prayer be read and prayed every morning by students.

People came to America to avoid this type of relationship between organized religion and government. Our founding fathers did not want government in the business of religion nor did they want government to regulate or prohibit religion or free speech. Those rights are guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately, special interest groups have claimed the ruling means NO religion in the public arena. They are sadly misinformed, or those groups or individuals have their own personal agendas. If you walk through Washington, D.C., as I have, you will also come to this conclusion when you see Biblical passages and references to God on buildings. In fact, if you search the writings of our country’s founding fathers, you will discover they frequently made references to God in their writings.

I read various documents from the founding fathers every time I had a question, either in print or on the Internet. In fact, when I first went to college, I majored in Social Studies before changing my degree to English and Speech. I discovered nearly all of the founding fathers believed in God, the God of the Bible.

It is my personal belief the wall of separation of church and state was meant to keep the government from interfering with religion and to allow people the right to worship in whatever manner they wished or not to worship at all if they so chose.

Our forefathers, the framers of the Constitution, did not want the government to run a church or religion. They wanted citizens to be able to exercise their religious beliefs, even in the public arena. Proof can be seen in the writings of our founding fathers, including those of Thomas Jefferson, which are often used to build the argument of the wall of separation of church and state. Jefferson believed the matter of religion was between a person and his God, and the government should not make laws enforcing or prohibiting religion. Today, there seems to be a movement to curtail religious expression in public.

Fifty-six individuals signed the Declaration of Independence; fifty-five, the Constitution. I actually counted them on the copies posted on the wall of my high school library. In the past, American History began with a study of how our country was founded. While studying Social Studies in college, I discovered two of the founding fathers expressed some reservation about various parts of our founding documents in their writings. Most of the present arguments rely on those two, Jefferson and Madison.

Why don’t we hear of the other fifty-four? Good question, right? Why not check out the writings of the founders of our country and discover the truth behind our founding documents? You don’t even have to visit a library today as I did years ago to find the answer. You can research those documents from your home through the use of a computer. Do your own search and discover the truth. Make sure those documents are posted on a reputable web site. Anyone can post something on the Internet for a few dollars each month. It might mean you need to do a little research about the site you are viewing. Find out what person or organization posted the information. Is it informational and unbiased in nature? Is it an actual copy of the original documents or a commentary? Make sure you find the original copies, not commentaries.

Furthermore, look at the Bible’s history. The Bible has been attacked more than any other book. People still try to destroy the authority of the Bible. It has survived nearly two thousand years of attack. The Bible survived until the printing press was invented because monks from the Catholic Church gave their whole life to painstakingly copy each word by hand. Even some of those copies were hunted and destroyed, but not all. The Bible survives to this day. How could one book survive unless it was divinely inspired?

Our set of laws was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. They can be directly traced to Biblical references. The Supreme Court begins every session with prayer – or at least it did in the past. Many government bodies do – or also did in the past. In fact, Moses, the law giver is carved in stone on the Supreme Court Building. Walk around Washington, D.C. and you will see, as I did, references to God in abundance. So what went wrong? What changed?

It is my belief people with personal agendas and special interest groups which exist to curtail religious expression have twisted the intentions of the framers of our government to read there should be no expression of religion in the public arena. The Ten Commandments which hung in school houses when I went to school and prayer were removed. Why? A school board wrote a non-denominational prayer and crossed the line, and a government body was promoting religion in their school district. The decision opened the floodgates for other challenges.

Search for Engel v. Vitale and look for the document as well as the written decisions. All you have to do is type prayer in school in a search engine and the court case name will be displayed. There is always a dissenting response to Supreme Court rulings. Read the entire ruling (both sides) in order to gain complete insight. Remember to look for the primary documents.

Searches on the Internet and in print will produce an abundance of arguments on both ends of the spectrum. The same thing is true about many controversial issues. There are web sites that claim the Holocaust never happened because, supposedly, all of the physical evidence was fabricated – according to some sites, the Holocaust is a big lie.

However, there are people walking around with tattooed numbers on their bodies and physical deformities caused by horrific experiments. There are mass graves of thousands of human bodies. Furthermore, the Germans filmed everything they did for their records.

Yet, there are people who deny the Holocaust ever happened. Some want to wipe out that page from history. If you complete an Internet search, you will find both sides of the argument. However, the physical evidence proves some of those sites have alternative agendas other than the truth. There are sites on both sides of the separation of church and state issue. If one does not read the primary documents, it would be easy to set up an argument which sounds logical.

Sometimes good intentions can result in problems when people or groups of people try to correct situations by issuing edicts and passing laws without consulting our founding documents which compose the basis of our laws. With Engel v. Vitale, in my opinion, forces who wished to limit the exercise of religion began to use the case to remove public expression of religion. Instead of Merry Christmas, political correctness dictates Happy Holidays and Easter Break became