Life can be a bit like advertising

Someone once said that half the money he spent on advertising was wasted but he didn't know which half. - Lord Leverhulme I believe

His point was of course that if you can't tell which half, then you have to keep on doing the whole lot, fully aware that not all of it will produce rewards. Life is a bit like that. Sometimes it seems so unfair. You put in loads of effort and get nothing back. You're polite to people and everyone seems rude back. You work up a sweat and others cruise it. Well, you have to keep on doing the 100 per cent because you don't know which bits will pay off. Your efforts will be rewarded eventually but you'll probably never know which efforts are being rewarded - or for what - and which aren't.

We tend to think we are being lucky sometimes when actually we are just being rewarded for some bit of effort long ago that we have forgotten about. We have to kep going. You can't give up on the grounds that you've had a setback or two because you don't know which setbacks are the ones which count and which ones aren't.

But whatever you do, don't lose heart because things don't seem to be panning out. Only by keeping up the effort will rewards come in eventually - and you'll never know from which bits comes the best reward.

Most well balanced and happy people will also tell you that sometimes you have to work at something without looking for a pay-off - apart from the immediate pay-off that we are being kept busy and thus can't get into trouble. Always looking for success, rewards, a pay-off, can be detrimental to our wellbeing when things don't pan out. Sometimes it's OK to do things just for the sheer enjoyment of doing them.

You'll never know from which bits of effort comes the best reward