Other than his strong Republican political views, Ben Stein had another motivation for speaking at the Ohio Union last night.

“I’m representing for the gangstas all across the world,” Stein said.

Stein, an actor, novelist, comic, lawyer, teacher and speechwriter for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, engaged in about 10 minutes of stand-up comedy before explaining to OSU students how to both fail and succeed in life.

Some tips from his latest best selling book “How to Ruin Your Life” include tips such as watching reruns of the Simpsons, not saving money, ignoring family and being ungrateful.

Stein’s inspiration for writing the book was his son, Tommy, for his laziness as a youth.

“No matter what anyone does for you, the answer is always ‘it sucks’,” Stein said.

He identified the single best way to ruin your life, which he addressed to the women of the audience.

“Have a relationship with someone with a lot of personal problems and believe in your heart you can change them,” he said.

His tips for how to save your life followed:

“Be grateful and not angry, bitter or envious,” Stein said. “Gratitude is one of the great attitudes of life.”

He encouraged the audience to stop and smell the roses, fall in love, be thrifty, not argue with loved ones and value life.

“Life is the supreme measure of human aspiration,” he said.

He explained: “Be good to those who were good to you” and used an example from his own life. Stein stayed by his father’s side after his mother passed away and gave him the motivation to meet people and be happy again. He lost his father a few years later, but is grateful for his time spent and urged students to have family values.

A question-and-answer session followed his speech. One student was lucky enough to get Stein to utter the infamous line “Bueller, Bueller” from the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

Another asked if his money was really up for grabs on his show, “Win Ben Stein’s Money” – Stein assured the audience it was.

But did Stein like having $5,000 of his money lost to the champions?

“F*** no!” he said.