If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...: Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice

by Richard Reed

‘If you’re ever lucky enough to be successful in what you choose to do, don’t ever believe your own hype, and remember it could all stop tomorrow. Do whatever you do to the best of your ability. Take the job seriously, but not yourself. And most of all, be nice to work with.’

‘Music is the one enhancer in life that doesn’t have shitty side effects and doesn’t cost a fortune,

Discipline is showing up to work on time, doing the commute, paying your mortgage, getting your kids dressed, feeding them and packing them off to school. That’s discipline. That’s endurance. And it’s the most underrated, invisible, heroic fucking thing, just to fucking get through a day without reward or applause when all you want to do is fucking punch yourself in the face and throw yourself off a building.’

‘The community was such a gift to me. It was a safe place to discover that we are all interdependent, and we are responsible not only to God but to one another. I learnt I could put others before myself because I in turn was being looked after by others, and that by being prepared to let go and prioritise others, I was in turn held and treasured.’

‘What comes first is God’s regard for us, and that gives a sense of self-regard that doesn’t need to be generated or sought from external events. It means I am free and at peace and have purpose and hope.’

IT IS A CONSTANT REFRAIN IN SCRIPTURE: “DO NOT BE AFRAID” – DON’T LIVE OUT OF FEAR. OF COURSE, IT IS NATURAL THAT WE ALL SOMETIMES FEEL AFRAID. WE’RE AFRAID OF BEING ALONE, OF FAILING, OF NOT COPING. BUT IF WE LIVE OUR LIVES FROM A PLACE OF FEAR, IT IS DAMAGING TO US, TO OUR RELATIONSHIPS, TO OUR COMMUNITIES. ONE NEEDS TO FIND SOMETHING THAT GIVES A SENSE OF SAFETY, OF SECURITY, OF HOME. AND THAT COMES WITH ACCEPTING WE ARE ALL KNOWN BY GOD AND LOVED BY GOD. IF YOU ALLOW THAT TRUTH IN, IT ENABLES YOU TO FIND FREEDOM FROM FEAR. SO YOU CAN LIVE OUT NOT OF FEAR BUT OF HOPE AND GRATITUDE.’

‘Find the thing that drives you. It’s not easy. Most of us are not obvious to ourselves. But we occasionally pick up indistinct signals, some kind of vague longing, from something that feels like a ghost-self, deep within us, something that refuses to die but is not quite alive either. That ghost is our true self, trying to come out. Listen out for it. We have to turn our ghost-self into a real person. We need to bring the ghost to life.’

‘Analyse what you are envious of. It is very unlikely we actually envy a whole person, if you break it down you’ll find you actually just envy specific attributes of them, say their approach to graphic design or their ability to make cakes, and you can build up, from an analysis of your envy, a model of your ideal self.’

‘The important thing is to cut them some slack: at fifteen they may look like an adult, but they don’t have the brains of one, so make allowances for them. And don’t write them off. At any point. Someone who is showing no aptitude for learning could still come good: their brain is going to keep on developing, and what is a sieve today could be a sponge tomorrow. Allow them time and space for their brain to do its thing. Don’t hurry them. Their adult brains will thank you.’

ARE YOU WORKING AS HARD AS YOU COULD? HAVE YOU DONE EVERYTHING, AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, YOU CAN TO GET READY FOR THAT MATCH? AND THE ANSWER ALWAYS HAS TO BE YES.’

‘A society grows great when old men plant trees under which they know they will never sit.’

IT’S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH IF YOU DO NOT CARE WHO TAKES THE CREDIT.’

‘We’re all so much more alike than different. And if you don’t necessarily think of yourself as being particular to one country but as a citizen of the world, then so many issues are reduced. For example, you don’t think firstly how can we reduce immigration into our country, you instead think how can we make all of our countries better.’

STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN. ALWAYS WITH CONVICTION, WITH PASSION AND INTEGRITY. DON’T LET IDEOLOGY BLIND YOU, BUT REMAIN TRUE TO WHAT GUIDES YOU. AND SPEAK IN YOUR OWN VOICE, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE TO YOU AND THAT COULD NOT BE FROM ANYONE ELSE.’