Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

I broke a mirror last week. I don't believe for one minute it'll result in seven years of bad luck. I'm definitely a 'glass half-full' kind of person and also that luck isn't really a thing - your attitude to what life throws at you is the key. So, this morning, I awoke early and got ready for a conference call at 8am. Notes ready, mug of green tea ready in case it turned into a long one. Never happened. I just listened to ten minutes of muzak. Then the major project I was expecting to work on for the rest of the day was postponed. I can either whinge and moan and feel sorry that the landscape of my day has changed, or just get on with it. Use the time to clear the decks of other projects. It's a done deal. New To Do list created. Half of it ticked off already. So no, I don't believe I caused a run of bad luck.

It's exam results season, which always reminds me that it's really, really not about what any piece of paper says. You're defined by how you treat those around you, even those you just sit next to on the train who don't even know your name. Good luck to those who get loads of A*s, Firsts and Masters. I hope you end up loving the job they lead you to. I was never an A grade student. Too many other things going on in my life. The main thing was music. But I wasn't allowed to study at the Royal Academy of Music - I allowed my parents to 'guide' me several times during those career choices but I've ended up doing what I love and that's not down to great exam results. Once every six months, I receive a royalty payment for music I recorded when I was supposed to be studying. No-one ever asks what grades I got in exams or why I 'only' got a 2:2 at university. But at least once a week, someone mentions in person or online the music I've pla...

This week has featured some decluttering in my office. While throwing out a load of documents, I found some memories of the past. In July 1990, I had to visit an East Berlin clinic and this is the note I was given afterwards. I was working on 'The Wall' in Potsdamer Platz and can't remember what I did, but I ended up going across the newly-broken wall for treatment. I wish I knew German, so I could make sense of it now. I do remember it was like going back in time, just walking a few yards.

I don't think anyone ever said life was meant to be easy. It's definitely easier for some than others. Sometimes. Sitting aboard a flight to Belfast and enjoying what was actually a good cup of green tea made the 5am start and the hideous experience of Luton Airport bearable. You can either whinge and moan about stuff or you can just see it as a mean to an end. I hate wheely suitcases, especially at airports and stations, when people don't seem to know where they're going. But you just have to negotiate a route around them. Same with queues. Necessary evil sometimes. A bit of stress is probably a good thing for a brief period, as long as you can follow it with a mini relax. And I console myself with the fact that there is always - always - someone who's worse off.

An errant apostrophe says a great deal about you and if your profile is a bit jokey and inaccurate, that's fine. It's how people will see you. Which is fine, if you don't really care about accuracy and occasionally being taken seriously. People will pay a LOT of money for a good profile picture. And then they write their own profile and it's just a bit rubbish. Or they don't pay anything and even their profile pic is pretty poor. We all know that first impressions are important and you don't often get a second chance online. If you're not sure if your profile, brief as it must be, tells your story effectively, pay a professional to get it right. We're not always as expensive as you think and it'll be worth every penny!

For those of lucky enough to still work with printed magazines, the phrase 'Hot off the Press' means a love of that fresh magazine. It's not hot these days, but smells great. The expression lasts despite many people having no concept of print and what the process entails. It's similar to hearing people talk about 'upper case' when they've probably never seen a printer's collection of letters for the old typesetting process. I'm old enough to remember those days. There's no replacement in modern tech. Unless you know better?