One of the first things I think when I meet someone is ‘How will this person be useful to me?’

I’ve never had a mentor. Not in the usual sense of the word, anyway. I didn’t have that one person who excelled at everything I cared about, blazing trails that I hoped to follow, telling me “Someday you’ll be as successful as I am, if you play your cards right,” and “No, no, let me show you how it’s done.”

It’s a lot like the first day of school, actually.

Someone helps you put on a heavy backpack, gives you a bit of grave advice, cheerfully wishes you luck, and watches you climb the stairs to get into the vehicle. You squeeze into a seat among the jostling crowd, every member of which is much, much cooler than you are. You fold your hands in your lap, and you look out the window.

I distinctly remember walking home from the grocery store with my girlfriend one day when I lived in LA and seeing a tall, lanky, tattooed gentlemen ahead of us chug an energy drink before cavalierly throwing the empty can into the street to his right without missing a beat.

The clomping of my shoes is the only sound as I walk my way through Palermo. I pull back the sleeve of my jacket to check the time: 6:27am. I’ve been out all night again and I’ve still got about 40 minutes worth of walking ahead of me. Perfecto.

Last night, I was returning home from a wonderful night of social intrigue and gastro-intestinal charm. I had enjoyed the best salmon dinner of my life in a small sushi/seafood restaurant in Palermo Hollywood, just across the tracks from the relative safety and comfort of Recoleta (the district where I live).

I get a lot done most days. I wake up and check my email, make plans and schedule appointments as necessary, check out the blogosphere to see what’s happened in the world since I went to sleep. I’ll then get to work on whatever it is that’s occupying my time that week; a new ebook or guest blogs or design work or whatever. I usually try to have something social to do later in the day, be it a coffee date with a friend or Thai food with some colleagues.

In life you’ll come across many people who are adept at talking the talk, but don’t even own the right shoes to walking the walk. These people set their standards very high but in almost every case fail to measure up to their own standards.