Why I Stopped Networking, and What I Told My Neighbour Instead

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My neighbour asked why I don't network anymore. "Because I don't like most people," I said. He looked uncomfortable — the way you look when a polite question gets an honest answer by mistake.

For forty years I performed likeability professionally, as a condition of employment, regardless of what I actually thought of the people involved. Now I don't need the next contract or the next reference. I've simply stopped concealing what I've noticed.

This isn't misanthropy. I like people — more than I expected to, now that liking someone isn't a transaction I'm quietly tracking. What I've lost patience for is the manufactured sociability of a room full of strangers performing warmth at each other under fluorescent lighting.

Want something more practical?

I’ve created a collection of guides for people who still believe life isn’t over just because the calendar says so. You’ll find them here:

The Library

And if you’d simply like to support the writing, some readers buy me a pot of Yorkshire Tea.

It’s not mandatory. But neither is keeping the lights on.

Tea remains the official fuel source of The Old Grey Thinker.

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