And I’m sure you do, or you wouldn’t be reading this.
So, how do we get on with it? Well, the easiest way is the same way we would get on with anything else we knew we had to do. We start with setting a target (a goal, an objective), make a plan, formulate a set of actions to take us toward the target, and then, well, get on with it.
Imagine you were a project manager for a big company that wanted you to organize, say, an exhibition. You would begin with clarifying what you wanted from the exhibition, what it was supposed to achieve (for example, to sell 100 items or to give away free gifts or to drum up 20 new customers). This gives you something to aim for. Then you would formulate your plan—booking the stand, arranging the staff, getting stuff printed, etc. With the plan in place, you would work out what you needed and then get on with it.
Life isn’t so different. It’s a project—albeit on a vast scale and much more important than an exhibition stand.
R U L E 2 4
I’m sure you get the idea. You have to get on with life, but it is so easy to wallow if you don’t have a goal (or goals) and a plan. It’s very easy for the days to blur into each other if you’ve no idea where you are going or what you want to achieve.
None of this, by the way, need take away any spontaneity from life if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t regard life like a work project, honestly. I do see it as a challenging, rewarding, exciting, rich and diverse, unexpected, and rather fantastic experience. But you have to give it a bit of thought if you want to get the best out of it. Without that thought, the days will blur. Without that thought, it’s easy to find yourself adrift—
floating downstream.
I used to think that whatever turned up would be fine. I was a sort of adventurous fatalist—I would be ready for whatever challenge was thrown my way. But, increasingly, I see the huge advantage of having a goal and working toward that rather than drifting aimlessly. It makes it so much easier for good things to happen.
YO U H AV E TO G I V E I T
A B I T O F T H O U G H T I F YO U
WA N T TO G E T T H E B E S T
O U T O F I T.
R U L E 2 5
Be Consistent
I had an email from a reader of the first edition of this book, who pointed out that an example I gave in one of the Rules in this book was in breach of another Rule. Nope, I’m not going to tell you which one. You’ll have to work it out for yourself like he did.
In my defense, I’d like to point out that this means I was following the Rule about not being perfect. However, there’s no denying that the reader in question had me figured out and, as he observed (very politely I must say), it’s important to be consistent.
Well, I’ve never been arrogant (or stupid) enough to claim that I never break any of the Rules. After all, they’re Rules that I know work from observing other people, not a list of personal preferences. So I try to follow them as closely as I can, and the older I get the more often I get, it right. But that’s not the same as always.
However, we certainly should aim to be consistent about following whatever Rules we decide to live by (the ones in this book and/or any others). There’s no point in choosing a path if you’re just going to wander off it at whim.
I find that my children are a big help here*. (If you don’t have kids, you’ll have to work that bit harder to identify your own inconsistencies.) If you’re debating a point of disagreement with the children (yes, that is indeed a euphemism), you can rely on them to draw your attention to any inconsistencies in your line of argument, or indeed any inconsistencies between what you’re telling them now and what you did yourself
* See! I always knew they’d come in handy for something.
R U L E 2 5
yesterday. It’s a fine line between inconsistency and hypocrisy, and the more clear we are about what we believe and why, the easier it is to be consistent in what we think, say,
So, how do we get on with it? Well, the easiest way is the same way we would get on with anything else we knew we had to do. We start with setting a target (a goal, an objective), make a plan, formulate a set of actions to take us toward the target, and then, well, get on with it.
Imagine you were a project manager for a big company that wanted you to organize, say, an exhibition. You would begin with clarifying what you wanted from the exhibition, what it was supposed to achieve (for example, to sell 100 items or to give away free gifts or to drum up 20 new customers). This gives you something to aim for. Then you would formulate your plan—booking the stand, arranging the staff, getting stuff printed, etc. With the plan in place, you would work out what you needed and then get on with it.
Life isn’t so different. It’s a project—albeit on a vast scale and much more important than an exhibition stand.
R U L E 2 4
I’m sure you get the idea. You have to get on with life, but it is so easy to wallow if you don’t have a goal (or goals) and a plan. It’s very easy for the days to blur into each other if you’ve no idea where you are going or what you want to achieve.
None of this, by the way, need take away any spontaneity from life if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t regard life like a work project, honestly. I do see it as a challenging, rewarding, exciting, rich and diverse, unexpected, and rather fantastic experience. But you have to give it a bit of thought if you want to get the best out of it. Without that thought, the days will blur. Without that thought, it’s easy to find yourself adrift—
floating downstream.
I used to think that whatever turned up would be fine. I was a sort of adventurous fatalist—I would be ready for whatever challenge was thrown my way. But, increasingly, I see the huge advantage of having a goal and working toward that rather than drifting aimlessly. It makes it so much easier for good things to happen.
YO U H AV E TO G I V E I T
A B I T O F T H O U G H T I F YO U
WA N T TO G E T T H E B E S T
O U T O F I T.
R U L E 2 5
Be Consistent
I had an email from a reader of the first edition of this book, who pointed out that an example I gave in one of the Rules in this book was in breach of another Rule. Nope, I’m not going to tell you which one. You’ll have to work it out for yourself like he did.
In my defense, I’d like to point out that this means I was following the Rule about not being perfect. However, there’s no denying that the reader in question had me figured out and, as he observed (very politely I must say), it’s important to be consistent.
Well, I’ve never been arrogant (or stupid) enough to claim that I never break any of the Rules. After all, they’re Rules that I know work from observing other people, not a list of personal preferences. So I try to follow them as closely as I can, and the older I get the more often I get, it right. But that’s not the same as always.
However, we certainly should aim to be consistent about following whatever Rules we decide to live by (the ones in this book and/or any others). There’s no point in choosing a path if you’re just going to wander off it at whim.
I find that my children are a big help here*. (If you don’t have kids, you’ll have to work that bit harder to identify your own inconsistencies.) If you’re debating a point of disagreement with the children (yes, that is indeed a euphemism), you can rely on them to draw your attention to any inconsistencies in your line of argument, or indeed any inconsistencies between what you’re telling them now and what you did yourself
* See! I always knew they’d come in handy for something.
R U L E 2 5
yesterday. It’s a fine line between inconsistency and hypocrisy, and the more clear we are about what we believe and why, the easier it is to be consistent in what we think, say,
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