This is excellent advice, Ben - and excellent writing, too! I love how you broke down the essentials. I have to admit - as you wrote about the impact of proper support in childhood, I got a little caught up in wondering how my own life and success would have been improved if mine hadn't been so toxic. There was no interest in nurturing me, no interest in finding out what I might have wanted to do - no encouragement to even think about what I might want to "be when I grow up" etc. I had the basics to survive, but my emotional life, support etc. were a mess.

That's not meant to be in a "whining, oh, poor me" way - just something I wonder about from time to time out of idle curiosity that can never be satisfied!

Thank you for an interesting read!