A smile abroad is often a scowl at home.

Charm is a limited supply, and it is easy to spend all of it on people whose opinion you are still trying to win. The ones who live with you get what is left, which is often very little. It is not hypocrisy exactly; strangers get your performance and your family gets your fatigue.

Watch how you sound walking through your own front door compared with how you sound on a call with someone you want to impress. If there is a gap, close a little of it deliberately this week. Save one piece of your good humor for the last conversation of the day rather than the first.