When the credits roll on your life, who’s on the list? Start treating those people like cast, not extras.

A surprisingly small number of people do most of the work of your life, and they usually get whatever attention is left over. You save your best manners for strangers and acquaintances, then come home tired and hand the short version to the people who will still be around in twenty years. That is backwards, and it happens by accident rather than by decision. The ones who matter are easy to take for granted precisely because they are reliable.

Write down five names. Give one of them an unhurried hour this week with no phone in it, then do the same with the next name.