One of my favorite features of Esquire magazine is the What I've Learned feature. This feature, often just one page in length, provides a forum for a celebrity to give advice and also to provide anecdotes about the significant events in their lives. While at 38, I can't hope to offer the same insight as Rod Stiger did at 73. And while I do have some renown in the Notes/Domino community, I'm nowhere near as famous as Johnny Depp. Anyway, I've offered up some of my own pearls of wisdom below... You'll probably notice that I didn't include any insightful anecdotes about the clients I've worked for in the past. As a consultant, I still view many of the clients I've worked for as potential future employers. (Whether they do or not is up to them, customer always being right and all.) As such, all anecdotes will have to wait for my "tell-all biography"!

• You must try to respect other people's opinions, even if you don't agree with them or even understand them.
• Always accept work when its offered. If you turn it down, it won't come back.
• Try to laugh at least once a day.
• Listen to your friends when they are telling you something.
• Having a bad manager can make any job unbearable. Your job will only be as good as the person you reporting to.
• Spending two hours a day driving to work is no way to live.
• Networking is very important. Always make time to keep in touch with your family, friends and colleagues. You never know when you may need them to help you find a job.
• I can't respect a person who's lazy. If you want to be lazy after work, that's fine. But don't expect me to treat you with respect when you spent all day bullshitting and then act like you worked your ass off.
• Shave with the grain. You may not end up with the closest shave, but it sure beats razor-burn.
• You should always spend time outside of work learning new skills. Your employer is only responsible for paying your salary, not managing your career.
• Save money whenever you can. You'll never know when you may need it.
• The easiest thing to do is to laugh at the handicapped. But when you have a child that falls into that category, those jokes are the unfunniest you'll ever hear.
• Taking shortcuts in your work only means that you're dividing the job between now and later.
• Bad news does not get better with age.
• Never try to do something behind someone's back. Its always better to ask first. You may be surprised at the answer you get.
• When you act like a shit to your spouse, always apologize later.
• No matter how long you've been married, you need to communicate your feelings. Never assume that your feelings are always understood at all times.
• The longer you live, the more you begin to act like your parents.
• When you find yourself in a bad situation that you can't change, its better to get out than to try to stay and fix it.
• Listen to your body. When you're tired, get some rest. When you're hungry, eat something. But that doesn't mean that you should sleep twelve hours a day or eat Snickers bars for breakfast.
• When you start a family, realize that you will have to let go of some hobbies. Whatever "me time" you had before your children arrived is gone...and will probably never return.

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