This book is called The Keys to Life, Volume 1, and I received the first key from my father when I was about eight years old. My father was a bus driver then, and during that time bus drivers used a change maker in order to make change for the passengers. Therefore, my father always had lots of change lying around the house. I remember one summer day when I asked my father if he had any extra money so I could go to the store and buy a popsicle. That's when he said: "There is no such thing as extra money." I didn't know it at the time but that became my first key to life. As I grew older, I can recall several keys of life given to me by my father. Sometimes he would tell me: "You may not understand right now but when the situation presents itself, you will remember these words."

I remember being in college, calling my father long distance, and telling him: "Hey Pop, I remember a long time ago you told me such and such; man, it just happened, and I'm glad I knew what to do at the time." Sometimes he would drop a key on me without any situation occurring. For instance, I remember one day he said to me: "Rick, if you want to have a good life, just be good." I said: "That's it?" and he said: "Yeah, it's so simple it's like a secret, because most people aren't doing it." I would always scratch my head and say: "Wow, that's deep." As time went on, I began to develop my own keys to life. Some would come to me through life experiences, and some I would create by watching other people's experiences.

The keys that I learned from my father and through life experience were so valuable, I began sharing them with my children. At one point I was sharing some of the keys to life with my kids till one of them said to me: "Wow, Pop, that's clever. Why don't you put all this down in a book?" I said: "That's a good idea!" And before long I started to write this book called Keys to Life. I'm sure we all have looked back and said to ourselves: "I wish I knew when I was younger what I know now. I would have done things differently."

I hope that as you read these keys to life, they will give you an objective approach to situations that may occur in your life, and that they someday open doors to you that would normally be closed. My hope is that, as you read this book, you open your mind, think about the information being shared, and develop an objective approach to some of life's challenges. If you use these keys, I guarantee you that they will help you free your mind. And if I may quote my former boss George Clinton: "Free your mind and your behind will follow." I told my kids: "If you find The Keys to Life helpful...it's already a success."