I once wrote:

When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-to books: How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein.

The book's main point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve them.

I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I'm sure I have that old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can't find it.

However, I do remember the A list.

I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book.

Well, I hate to break it to you … I am not a good man by any stretch of the imagination. Additionally, my marriage has been rocked with scandal since we first tied the knot.

There is also little doubt that my wife is a much worse person than I am, so I also have to deal with that every day of my life.

The only child — that I publicly acknowledge as mine — is as ugly on the inside as she is on the outside.

Friends of mine have committed suicide, left and right. Many of these unfortunate souls have even gone to such extremes as to shoot themselves in the back of the head.

As with my marriage, my political life was perhaps "successful," but also rife with scandal and controversy since it began.

And as far as being an author goes, my book — from which the above quotation is taken — is truly awful. I'm not going to kid myself: people bought it because of my fame and notoriety.

Yet, by the virtue of my own narcissism and the sycophancy of those who surround me, my contrived legacy leads most "normal" people to believe that I have been an enormous success in every walk of life.

I'm also a pathetic golfer.

Who am I?

Why, I am former president Bill Clinton, of course.

The lesson?

Act as if. You'll make a lot of hay in this world.

As always,

Brian

P.S. — While Bill Clinton is perhaps the most despicable man to live in the White House — and that is saying a lot with the long roster of creeps who have also been residents — he is not remotely close to being the worst person ever to call it home.

Remember, Hillary Rodham Clinton lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave at the same time.

I despise the very nature of the Clinton crime family and all it has done to degrade the character of an America that once existed. However, I have to admire Bill's dedication to get to the top, as deviant as his methods may have been.

He stuck to the plan. He failed miserably as a human being, but he achieved his life's goals, as shallow and self-serving as they might have been.

In the virtual masterminds that I run, however, our goals are much more noble and practical for living and achieving a virtuous life.

While those within the Clintonian power structure were rightfully afraid of death if they spoke up, in our small groups, we welcome rigorous discussion of the issues.

I call our program the "Inner Sphere" and within it exists an entirely different dimension than you'd get with an "inner circle."

Plus, you won't die for having a strong opinion.

For more: