Success Express for Teens: 50 Activities that Will Change Your Life

By Roger Leslie

OK, maybe you're young. Maybe you don't have that much experience. But you do have dreams—things you love to do, want to do, can't wait to do. Success Express is the way to get from where you are right now to where you want to be. Using 50 easy and fun activities, you find out exactly how to see your dreams clearly and then how to make them happen. “The best teen book for building personal success. Ideal for individual or classroom use,” says school superintendent Burnett. Roger Leslie, award-winning author and teacher, is nationally known for his original and dynamic techniques.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bayou Publishing
• Release date: May 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781886298859

Book preview

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CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

A Ticket to Ride

Departure Time

Mapping Out Your Journey

Checking In

All Aboard

Finding Your Berth

Ticket Confirmation

Non-Stop to Success

Reflections Along the Way

CONTENTS

About the Author

A Ticket to Ride

Departure Time

Mapping Out Your Journey

Checking In

#1. Relive Favorite Childhood Memories

#2. Know What You Like

#3. Redefine Work

#4. Organize Something

#5. Listen and Learn

#6. Watch a Cartoon

#7. Change a Routine

#8. Start a To Do File

#9. Let Go of One Issue That Is Not Yours

#10. View a Life-Affirming Movie

All Aboard

#11. Make a Lifeboard

#12. Decide Your Life’s Dream

#13. Keep a List of Ten Goals on an Index Card

#14. Commit to Excellence

#15. Allot Your Time

#16. Use Your Time

#17. Do Something Kind for Yourself

#18. Live by the Advice You Give Others

#19. Place a Trigger for Happiness

#20. Plant a Seed of Good Luck

Finding Your Berth

#21. Prepare Your Mind for a New Path

#22. Align Your Actions with Your Values

#23. Make What If’s… How Can I’s?

#24. Pick a Dream Theme Song

#25. Trust Your Courage

#26. Exercise Your Risk Muscle

#27. Balance Your Thoughts and Emotions

#28. Recognize Your Dynamic Relationship with Life

#29. Let Go of Judgment

#30. Take a Break

Ticket Confirmation

#31. Express Your Gratitude

#32. Learn the Art of Cooperating with Life

#33. Keep a Reserve of Something to Enjoy

#34. Test the Waters

#35. Find a Mentor

#36. Just Ask!

#37. Solve Problems Creatively

#38. Practice a Temporary Tithe

#39. Play

#40. Do It for Love

Non-Stop to Success

#41. Define Your Goal

#42. Write a Goal Statement

#43. Complete Your Goal Sheet

#44. Ride the Train You’re On

#45. Trust the Timing and Direction of Life

#46. Understand the Concept of NOT YET

#47. Cultivate Your Dream During Transitions

#48. Allow Yourself Quiet Time Daily

#49. Take My Advice, Please (bu dat bum)

#50. Self-Evaluate

Reflections Along the Way

Appendix: Suggestions for Teachers, Counselors, and Group Leaders

Annotated Bibliography

Glossary

Index

Ordering Information

When I was seventeen, a small moment changed my life forever. Until that quiet Friday evening, my teen years were miserable. I had started high school badly. Unsure of how to make new friends, I withdrew instead of reaching out. Rather than motivating me to make better choices, my loneliness became crippling. I felt isolated, bored, and hopeless. Having plenty to be thankful for—a good family, a healthy body, an intelligent mind—only added guilt to the mix of bad emotions. I was as depressed as I could be, and, from outward appearances, I had nothing to complain about.

Moving across the country with my family revived my spirits. In a different town, at a new school, I could start fresh. I began my sophomore year feeling hopeful. But with no real tools to show me how to make better choices, that hope didn’t translate into feeling confident and successful. My parents told me I was a good person. My teachers praised me for work well done. I even made friends with whom I could have great times. But inside I still felt like the lost freshman who believed that my shortcomings and insecurities were the real me. Because I had so little life experience, I also believed that I had no resources to deal with the emotions that began strangling me all over again.

The song gave my starving heart what it was hungry for—an affirmation of hope.

Then late one sweltering Houston evening I was driving alone down a desolate stretch of Little York Road feeling both emotionally wrung dry and entirely fed up with myself and my life. At an intersection I popped in my cassette tape of Styx’s Pieces of Eight and turned toward the freeway. As I crossed the overpass, the lyrics to a song I had heard numerous times sparked a flicker of wisdom inside me.

I’m okay. I finally found the person I’ve been searching for. I’m all right. I’m feeling good about myself and that’s for sure… I’m okay. I’m okay this way. Yes, I’m okay.

The song wasn’t poetic or profound, but it gave my starving heart exactly what it was hungry for—an affirmation of hope. Instantly I felt empowered. My old helplessness seemed to slink away. In that moment, I knew instinctively that everything in my life, including my emotions, was a choice.

Like going to a train station and deciding which train would take me to my preferred destination, I realized that I am free to choose any direction for my life, and I am entirely accountable for every decision that affects that direction.

In my early teens, I had boarded a self-defeating train. Then that night, I realized that I had the power to get off one train and pick up a ticket to board any other. It didn’t matter that I was young and fairly inexperienced about life. It didn’t matter that I still often saw myself as that lonely freshman who didn’t know what to do to make things better. It didn’t even matter that I still believed that no one in the world was going through the exact same experience, and thus no one could really understand.

It was my life, and I alone was responsible for how I felt about it. No matter what did or didn’t happen, I ultimately determined if my life was good or bad, fulfilling or empty, happy or miserable. No one and nothing could define my life but me.

I could choose any train, any direction, any destination. All I had to do was board.

I was fascinated that my huge revelation came from such a small moment, and not even a new one. I had driven down that road and heard that song many times. Until then, I thought people changed from big events: Somebody they knew died, or they won the lottery and were suddenly rich. But the truth I discovered that night defined my life. Although all of our lives occasionally take big, dramatic turns, they don’t define us. We are who we are because of our tiny, day-to-day experiences.

For me, a simple song was the inspiration to make a commitment to be happy. For you, an analogy to a train may spark the wisdom that’s been inside you all along.

Life has already laid the tracks for the trains that will take us wherever we want to go.

That night, I traded in my ticket of self-pity and picked up my ticket to be happy. The ticket folder was thicker, because this train had much more to offer. As a result, this trip also demanded more dedication to stay on the train because it moves faster and requires some assistance by me to keep the engine fueled properly.

When I selected the train, I knew it would take effort on my part, but I was willing to accept the entire package because I wanted the whole trip. Once I began my new journey, I discovered that I wasn’t breaking new ground. Life has already laid the tracks for the trains that will take us wherever we want to go. The stations are erected, the locomotive engines are running, and the tracks wind outward toward any direction we can imagine, and even beyond.

If you’re going to get where you want to go in your life, you must ride one train long enough to take in the scenery.

With this analogy, then, consider you are standing at a depot in front of an enormous wall covered with an awe-inspiring variety of tickets for trains leading absolutely everywhere. Any ticket is available to you, and the one price for your ticket is commitment. With your commitment, the train will take you to your desired destinations and even farther.

Are you required to remain on only one train all your life? Of course not. You may return to the depot at any time to pick a new train, or you may re-board old trains you once took but left earlier.

You have just one restriction. You may ride only one train at a time. There’s no reason why you can’t bring brochures about different trains to consider other journeys available to you. But if you’re going to get where you want to go in your life, you must ride one train long enough to take in the scenery, experience each station, and arrive at your desired destination.

So here you are, standing at the wall of the depot. Your first responsibility is to select your ticket. Choose wisely… and, ah, the distance you will go!

Any ticket is available to you; the one price for your ticket is commitment.

Throughout this book, you’ll find brief, action-oriented activities, then a few simple questions to guide you through the completion of each task. The best guidance I can offer is to suggest what can be. You alone, by what you do with that suggestion, define what you become.

This book is meant to be an interactive journey—a swift ride on an express train to success. We achieve by doing. We learn by living. After each description there is a line labeled I’ll Do It On… On the line, write the time or day you plan to complete the activity. Then, answer the questions that are either the activities themselves, or follow-ups to the activities recommended.

You alone define what you become.

Immediately after completing an activity, rate it following the instructions on page 8. By the end of the book, those ratings will help you determine your learning style, recognize many strengths, and highlight the areas of interest that inspire you to excel. You are your own best teacher. The more you know about yourself, the faster you will learn from what life offers.

You’ve found the depot. Departure times are posted. You can hear the engines revving. Step up to the ticket counter. Your journey begins now.

You are your own best teacher.

YOUR PERSONAL ACTIVITY MAP

Each time you complete an activity, find the corresponding activity number below. On the line beside it, write:

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?

RELIVE FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Activity #1

TELL ME HOW

Fill in the favorites list provided.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

The power of life is in the present. Your goals come to life by projecting into your future. But knowing who you are now and pursuing what you want from this moment on begins with the foundation you established in your past. If you are to know yourself, and live your life as completely as you can, you must strengthen the foundation that made you who you are.

Whatever your previous experiences or your perceptions of them, your past has brought you where you are today. You may be the person you are because of nurturing, inspiring role models and many joyful experiences, or despite a childhood of neglect and abuse. In reality, your life experiences are probably at neither extreme, but are a variety of incidents that you have labeled as good or bad.

Whether generally happy or sad, your past is as strong a guide as your intuition. You base all decisions on a combination of what feelings move you and the wisdom you gain as you live.

Use your past effectively. Be selective. Know when to remember the joy of your past to cultivate a richer garden, and when to recall old pains to weed out fear and plant new seeds of strength.

You always have ultimate control over what types of past experiences you draw from.

For this activity, we are going to focus on our positive past experiences OUT OF CHOICE. You always have ultimate control over what types of past experiences you draw from. Those choices will move you toward happiness or defeat. It’s your garden. What grows there is entirely up to you.

So, give yourself a gift with this activity. Take a joyful visit to your childhood. Fill in the following blanks and enjoy each response. Tell stories about them with someone you love and/or someone who shared the experience with you. Take the best of your life and nurture it, focus on it, and give it power to grow.

MY CHILDHOOD FAVORITES WERE:

© Success Express for Teens (2004).

I’LL DO IT ON

____________________________________________________________

WHAT’S MY NEXT RESPONSE?

1. How did you feel as you reminisced about your childhood favorites?

____________________________________________________________

2. With whom did you share your stories?

____________________________________________________________

3. What one insight did you learn about yourself and the other person(s) during the sharing?

____________________________________________________________

HOW CAN I USE THIS IN