People Who Make Things Happen

‘All you have to do is not be a dick.’

Photo by Antenna on Unsplash

The older I get, the less I believe in universal advice for life — which might be a sign of maturity in its own right — but the more I believe in personal rules, that is, things that work for me.

And while I am typically wary of advice (though a decade ago, I would be seeking it under every brick, like a drug addict searching for a hit), I think there’s some value in reading other people’s thinking processes. I love reading the way other people think, not because I’ll agree, not necessarily, but because it’s like having an intellectually stimulating conversation in your head. Each sentence allows the reader to weigh things down: true or false — for me?

So this thinkpost will be about my rules, things that have worked for me, and not universal advice that Everyone Must Hundred Per Cent Follow For a Successful and Easy Life because, I mean, who am I to be writing such things?

Jesus?

So take whatever I say below with, as they say, a grain of salt.

Better yet, take it with an entire spoonful of salt, the way my grandfather used to eat tomatoes and cucumbers with vodka.

When I think about my life — what’s worked, what hasn’t — I see a pattern. Every good thing that ever happened to…