For as long as I can remember my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, assured me that to have a good and satisfying life I needed to work hard and make appropriate sacrifices. I got years of that propaganda loaded with a lot of generalizations. As a preteen when I pressed for more detailed information they just patted me on the head and offered very little useful tips. When I got a little older I just got a pat on the back from my mom and a official-grownup handshake from my father. What I really needed was meaningful guidance to help me escape from the western Pennsylvania lifestyle and mindset offering a future much like that of my parents. I worked it out as best I could over the years but I could have used some advice early on that would have helped me. Here are a few tips taken from a 1970’s book on “How to be Successful in the 70’s”. Go back in time and answer the following questions with a “True” or “False”. There’s no right or wrong answers but they can get you thinking.
- The vast majority of the truly unsuccessful or unemployed today are art least 80% responsible for their difficulties.
- When provided with good education the majority (80%) can accomplish reasonable success in any vocation they choose and really want.
- Ones mental heath state of mind is almost totally what you make it with your personal attitude and strength of character.
- One’s ethical and moral conduct in a particular situation is purely a function of the character and moral fiber a person brings to the temptation.
- Bad environments do effect persons negatively, but only if they choose it and allow it to pull them down.
- Everyone is basically the captain of his own ship called life. He can steer it where and how he wants it to go, in most ways.
I’m certainly glad I wasn’t handed this little book as I was maturing. It would have offered me very little helpful assistance all too similar from what I was hearing from my family.
