Career advice from a 6 year old...

I promise I'm not going to go on and on about my kids. But I had an interesting conversation with my six year old last night - one of those ones that made me glad I just sat and chatted with him at the end of the bath, rather than spend those 10 bath-time minutes rushing around folding laundry, washing dishes and picking up stray lego.

Anyway, he asked me what made me decide to become a writer. This was a good question, because I'd spent part of that day wishing I hadn't (an unhappy combination of writers block and a client who wanted to change my copy at the last minute).
I told him that it was something I'd always been good at, and that people said they liked reading the stories and words that I write. He thought about this.

"I think I'll still be good at sorting out those dinosaur bones then," he said at last. I should point out that Dylan's current ambition is to be a paleontologist. Although of course he can't spell it, let alone pronounce it.

"I'm very patient. And I'd be very careful with them, because you wouldn't want them to break."

This is true. He is patient and careful. He spent 7 hours on Christmas Day putting lego kits together.

"But I'm not always patient," he added. "I don't like waiting in queues. They're boring"

Well, not many of us do. But what Dylan has worked out is quite spot on. He had found something he could be good at. But also something that didn't bore him. And that's the secret to a happy business and a happy work/life balance.

So, if you're still stuck for ideas, just close your eyes and pretend you're six. Dylan's alternative career choice is to work at Legoland.

Not as a queue monitor though, obviously.