41. Be consistent

"I love the business casual look for the way it combines unattractive with unprofessional while diminishing neither." Dilbert

If you were to wear a smart business suit every day and then suddenly, without warning, turn up in denim and a worn T-shirt, chances are people would look at you askance.*

If you turn in good work and then one day hand in a pile of rubbish, people are going to think you've blown it.

If you treat the staff courteously until one day you blow your top and shout at everyone, they won't trust you any more.

If you usually get in early and then one day stroll in around noon smelling of beer, they will stop taking you seriously and accuse you of being a drunk.

People need to know what to expect from you. You have to be consistent. You have to treat all staff the same. Do your work the same. You must avoid drawing the spotlight of gossip down on you. You must be blameless, above reproach (that's probably the same thing), honest, reliable and dependable (again that's probably the same thing).

But you don't have to be grey or dull or boring. You can be exciting, dynamic, stylish, adventurous, innovative, challenging-just make sure that whatever it is you decide to be, you stick at it and be consistent consistently

42. Set realistic targets for yourself- no, really realistic

"Your goals need to be realistic and achievable. If you set yourself unrealistic goals, you are only setting yourself up for the possibility of failure and disappointment. Larger tasks should be bro­ken down into smaller, more manageable ones. This will make the large projects seem less daunting. It will also give you a sense of achieve­ment on completion. When calculating how long you will need to complete a task, leave extra time in case the work takes longer than expected. This will relieve the time pressure."

We're not talking budgets here or corporate targets. We're talking personal goals, personal objectives, personal bottom lines. You have to set them or you won't be able to determine whether or not you are a success. There's no point, by the way, of judging yourself against anyone else. I always wanted to be terribly good at sport but I can't run and fail miserably. It has always led me to believe I am a failure, but I found out the other day that there is a gene for good sporting skills and it is one I obviously don't have. Am I a failure? Nope, just genetically challenged, and I can't beat myself up about that. I am good at other things and I measure my success against:

how I was doing last year

how I was doing five years ago

how I'm doing against my personal targets

how I'm doing against my long-term plan.

There isn't another person in sight because measuring yourself against anyone else is a mug's game.

I once owned a motor bike - a rather grand one and I loved it very much. I came alongside another motorcyclist at the traffic lights and looked his bike over. 'That's the one I want,' I cried to myself in the splendid isolation of my crash helmet. He was looking at my bike and obviously thinking the same thing. As the lights changed and we both roared away together I realized he and I were riding identical bikes. Ah, the fickle mind, how it winds us up, beats us up and plays tricks. Look at anyone and chances are there will be something to envy, but you don't know what goes on inside them. Walk a mile in someone else's shoes, they say, and chances are you'll be a mile away; but you've got their shoes, make a run for it.

So set yourself some targets but be realistic about them. I'm going to be Emperor of the World may sound impressive but it is totally unrealistic (unless you're an American president perhaps?)

Make your targets challenging but attainable, realistic but a bit of a struggle - no good making them too easy, nor too hard.