A Perfect Day At The Office.

The perfect day begins with waking up in your own good time.  If you need more sleep, take it.

When out of bed, do some stretching or other exercise.  Have a shower, not a bath.  A bath is soothing, a shower perks you up.  Clean your hair and nails, put on a bit of aftershave or perfume.

Mediate for 15 minutes to half an hour.

Have breakfast. You haven't eaten for hours. Eat natural cereals, like porridge, drink fresh orange juice, have some protein in the form of a boiled egg or bacon, eat toast or brown bread and butter. It's quite dull, but it would be better in the long run if you just drank some warm water instead of a stimulant like tea or coffee. Do not eat sugary cerals or juices.

Why not just go straight to work?  Well, if you avoid breakfast you'll find yourself feeling tired early in the day. You need starch and protein to keep your body going. Not eating a proper breakfast is idiotic, and makes tasks seems harder because you're run down. It's bad for health in the long run.

Conversely perking yourself up with legal stimulants like coffee or tea means you have to keep dosing yourself later in the day to keep going. And you'll probably have a sugary snack to go with your coffee too.

This is the equivalent of taking a hit of cocaine or amphetamine on a long march. Except you're just an office worker, and you've been doing this for years, and your body will deteriorate as a result.

You dress for work.  Wear clothes that make you feel confident and smart, and which don't make you look like a clown. If you have clothes you habitually wear which are frayed or humble, but which you feel 'comfortable' in, get rid of them.

Clothes maketh the man. They affect your behaviour and how people react to you.  If you feel confident and look smart - you look affluent, and your clothes show off your best physical features - others will treat you with respect.  Smart usually means a suit for men, and high heels for women.  You can supplement your wardrobe from charity shops; you needn't spend a fortune.  Just avoid worn or frayed clothing, or artificial textiles.  

Similarly, shoes should be made of leather, including the soles [you get a rubber oversole put on to stop them wearing out].  Polish your shoes until they shine.   You first apply the polish with a brush, then buff them up with a cloth; a lady's nylon stocking works best.

Conversely, if you dress like a slob or a clown you will be taken for one, no matter what the 'real you' is like.

Brush your teeth, and gargle with a mouthwash. Use dental floss to get rid of food between your teeth. Your breath will smell sweet, and you'll save on trips to the dentist.

So out you go to do your daily work.  How do you behave in the street?  The best way in a city is to walk purposefully, head and shoulders erect, chin up, but not challenging people by looking them in the eye, unless you're feeling quite vital. This way you can avoid encounters with pests of various sorts. The hyenas target the stragglers in the pack, the slouchers, the sickly. It's the same in human society.

Along the way, and when you do arrive at work, greet those you have to interact with heartily.  It's a great day!  Quite likely they're not having a good one, so you can have a laugh by seeming to be on top of the world. 

They expect the dour reply "I'm OK, thanks", whereas you say "everything is FANtastic!", and give a cheery smile.  If you are sincere, they'll be impressed, and smile back, and assume you have some trick up your sleeve,  are doing well, or know something they don't.

If you radiate true happiness, you send a spark of it to other people.  They'll appreciate it.  Especially in a city, where aggression and alienation are the norm.  Even the meanest bulldog likes his ears scratched occasionally.

Most people you'll meet are worried about something.   Here in London the streets are full of whey-faced people dressed in dark blue and black, speeding along and worrying about their mortagage or job or health.  They're miserable, and yet historically they're the lords of creation.  Ironic, isn't it?

You arrive five minutes early at your place of work, you show enthusiasm for the tasks in hand, and bustle around.  You may of course not actually DO any real work, but you look and act sharp and smart, and that's half the trick. 

Quite a lot of jobs are meaningless paper-pushing, so don't lose the big picture.  You have a career plan. The money is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Here's a big tip:

SAVE UP ENOUGH MONEY AS WILL KEEP YOU FOR A YEAR AND A DAY.

If you lose your job or have an accident, have enough put by to keep you in comfort for a year and a day.  The more you have put by, the more confident you'll feel.  You can then rehearse just HOW you'll tell your boss to get stuffed if he's giving you a hard time, instead of grimly holding on until the next pay cheque.  Start saving today.  Aim as well to own your own house, or to find cheap accomodation over which you have some control, such as social housing.

At the time of writing here in London there is a fetish for home ownership via mortgages.  People basically take out enormous loans to have a roof over their heads. Note: interest rates change, however tempting the introductory rate is. The house may be over-valued, due to it's location, or the shortage of housing.

Banks are not your friend, a loan is not a present.   They'll charge you for every interaction with them, and make an obscene profit from your desire to have an artisan's cottage in a smart part of town.  Do not try either to play the property market with your sole dwelling, which the bank really owns anyway.   There's a good chance you'll get burned, and where will you go if property prices DO go up?  You can make some cash, but you'll have to move to another, cheaper, area.

GAMBLE ONLY WITH WHAT YOU CAN CHEERFULLY AFFORD TO LOSE. Better yet, don't gamble. Do thorough research instead, and talk to wiser heads than yours. Avoid running with the pack, unless it's only for show, and you've got a trick up your sleeve.

Don't throw good money after bad, or good effort after wasted. If it doesn't work after the second attempt, consider leaving it.   Humans fool themselves like this; 'I've invested so much in this project, I must keep going'.

Down that path lie Death and Destruction, scythe and hammer in their hands.  There is no reason a business will make money if you've plowed all your own money into it. 

Just stop.  Take a break.  LISTEN TO YOUR CONSCIENCE; the higher part of you.  It knows, 'though you ignore its promptings.  Doubts should be given a fair hearing, instead of being ignored.