If you're like me, a trip to a record or book store often results in a complete brain fart; I can't remember why I'm there, what I want, or what I potentially might have wanted. It's farcical, and it often leads to stupid impulse buying instead of picking up what I'd really needed.

I get around this parietal deficiency by using my Amazon wish list as a parking lot for some of the books and records I want to buy (no, I don't want you to buy me anything; I'm just showing you).

Then, evey month or so, I print out and re-stash a miniature version of the list in my notebook so I'm always up to date when I'm out of the house and happen by a store.

So try this:

A boss and a good friend recently told me something really instructive. It went something along the lines of:

Y’know, Merlin, we’re really satisfied with the actual work you do, but is there any way you could do it without showing so much…I don’t know…mental sausage?

I knew exactly what he meant.