Having what appears to be a good memory is a massive help in business.
Faces, names, places, interests, hopes, fears and numbers should be right there just when you need them. And that’s on top of all the passwords, pins, birthdays, anniversaries and other bear traps that lurk out there.
So what can you do? The situation, of course, calls for extra RAM and I’ll use anything I can from acronyms and crib sheets to my mobile phone to help bolster the memory banks.
Sometimes, though, as well as remembering who you are seeing and why, what you really need is a quicker way of getting from A to B. This is where space-time wormholes in London’s public transport system come in, and there are several time-saving routes I have got to know.
With so many meetings based in central London, the secret tunnel at Leicester Square is a great shortcut. Rather than follow the herd, go to the stairs right at the end of the platform to change lines. You’ll go against the human traffic and save yourself about two minutes of frustrated shuffling and baby steps.
And, of course, if you’re travelling between Leicester Square and Covent Garden, this is the ideal opportunity to stretch your legs – it’s much faster walking between the two stations than hopping on to the Piccadilly line.
The shortcut from the Circle line to the Central line at Notting Hill is another much-used favourite. And a tip for additional time-shaving – at some stations, you should wait where it reads "mind the gap" on the platform because often this is where the Tube doors align to and open at.
Finally, if you find yourself doing business in Texas, I recently discovered a brilliant shortcut in Houston Airport that is breathtaking in its cheek. A semi-anonymous but perfectly legal door behind the customs hall drops you pretty well at the street exit, cutting out a long winding walk around the terminal. A real gem.
Guy Sellers is the chief executive at Total Media.