When I was in my teens and knowing that a long Christmas break was at hand, I would take the opportunity to make a list of stuff I wanted to do or change for the new year ahead. I didn’t really wait until the stroke of midnight when the 1st day of the new year rolled in to make some spontaneous resolution. I knew even that it took effort, planning and dedication to make stuff happen. And the things I wanted to do and change were small, stupid teenage stuff like working out and building muscle (which didn't really happen until I was in my late 20s), learning French (got a 2.5 for it as a university elective which pulled down my average) and to succeed at literally everything whatever that meant.

I found this book you see, at my dad’s ancestral house, an old hardbound copy of Napoleon Hill’s The Law of Success and I was amazed that there could even be a blue-print for that, and explained clearly and painstakingly which was so unlike my mom’s unhelpful rebukes (after I had failed and then what?) or my dad’s silence (he was always busy).

But it’s a habit I’ve carried ever since and while I’m not rich, muscled or spectacularly successful, I am here and I am happy, and I am content, and I am still making lists, so…