From Fitzroy's Private Diary (Extract 118)

None of us know how many days we have left to spend. So, what matters, or at least what matters to me, is how we spend them.

I have never been a proponent of doing anything that I don’t want to do. Of course, I have (in nursery I was even made to eat Brussel sprouts, which are, without doubt, dredged from the very drains of hell itself). As I have mentioned more than once, I have done things that still give me nightmares. But I have always, in terms of my professional life, done what I have thought was right.

I am also most suited to my profession. And this is the advice I give to all who ever ask (which isn’t many) - if you wish, or you need, to work, then find something that fits your nature, that will give you satisfaction and that you believe in.

This doesn’t mean you have to be a great inventor, or some such overachiever. A cleaner may take great pride in making order out of chaos. A chestnut seller, who stands out in the cold each winter, may live for the smiles he sees on the faces of his customers as they warm themselves with his fare. A librarian may find a life’s work in providing knowledge to all. You get the idea. Whatever you do for work should bring you joy - and if it doesn’t then you need to find a way to bring joy into your employment. This can be no more or no less than the camaraderie you find there (though such is not my thing.)

And then there is the time you are not at work. This is much easier to advise upon. Do whatever it is that brings you joy and harms one else in the process. Life is a gift, and you owe it to yourself to find joy. If you can also bring joy to others in the process, then all the better (in my case, all those lovely ladies).