Rules of Life, The, 4th Edition

RULE 21

If you’re going to jump off a bridge, make sure you know how deep the water is

Me, I’ve always been a risk-taker. Too much of a risk-taker some might say. In the long term I haven’t regretted the things I’ve done in life because they’ve made me who I am, and anyway you never know where the alternative would have got you. In the short term, however, I have often caught myself thinking, ‘You numbskull! Why didn’t you see that coming?’

The answer, of course, is because I didn’t check how deep the water was before I jumped. There was the time I gave up a very good steady job to become a writer. Didn’t think about how long it would take to make any money as a writer.^* Didn’t plan out whether my savings would last. Didn’t calculate what the ...