--- title: Are you ready to be more like Jeffrey? url: https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/2026/blog/internet-psychology/are-you-ready-to-be-more-like-jeffrey.html date: 2026-10-10T09:00:00+00:00 modified: 2026-10-30T11:37:17+00:00 lang: en_GB --- # Are you ready to be more like Jeffrey? ![Are you ready to be more like Jeffrey](https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Are-you-ready-to-be-more-like-Jeffrey-LI.png) On Monday afternoon, my wife and I headed to London for a book launch at “The News Building” at London Bridge. We were looking forward to the event hosted by The Times newspaper and Times Radio in the home of [HarperCollins](https://harpercollins.co.uk/), the world's second-largest consumer book publisher. It was all very exciting. As we arrived at the [imposing building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_News_Building_%28London%29#/media/File:The_Shard_from_Nomura.jpg), in the shadow of The Shard, we noticed a small queue outside. A couple of security staff stood next to a sign which read, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the book launch has been cancelled”. The staff were very polite and explained that they only knew what the notice said; they had no other information. My wife and I headed back home, somewhat disappointed and concerned. We hoped that nothing dreadful had happened. Imagine our shock when we got home to the news that the person we were due to see, Jeffrey Archer, had suddenly passed away that afternoon between writing sessions. Back in February, I met Lord Archer and had a good chat with him after the ceremony in which his wife of 60 years, Dame Mary Archer, was “installed” for a second term as Chancellor of the University of Buckingham. I was one of the speakers at the ceremony as University Orator. As I [gave that speech](https://www.youtube.com/live/DTciFtqigak?si=YFFdk8SrEpGZbJ6J&t=3259), sitting right in front of me in the first row was Lord Archer. So you can imagine I was keen to see him again at his book launch. I also wanted to see his wife, Dame Mary, with whom I have shared the stage at several events where we both gave speeches. Sadly, it was not to be. Inevitably, that night and the following day, the news bulletins and newspapers were full of tributes to him. Naturally, they all included the time he was sent to jail for perjury. When I met Lord Archer earlier this year, a couple of students also came over to chat and asked him about his life with Dame Mary. He was full of praise for his wife, whom he clearly adored. But he added something that I wasn’t expecting. He told the students, who may not have been born at the time, that “due to my own stupidity” he had ended up being apart from her for a couple of years. His honesty about his criminal past extends to the fact that it is even included on his own [website](https://jeffreyarcher.com/) about his career. Interviews played on TV in the hours after his death included him saying that he’d [made a mistake](https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/2025/blog/productivity/are-your-mistakes-more-important-than-your-successes.html), but that you can’t dwell on it. That’s the first part of Jeffrey we need to be like. We need to admit when we've made a mistake. We have probably all been to meetings where someone who has made an error doesn’t own up to it. Or worse, they try to cover it up. We all make errors. Own up, say sorry, take your punishment and move on. As was shown in the Watergate scandal, “[The Coverup is Worse Than the Crime](https://archive.news.virginia.edu/content/watergate-miller-center-revisits-infamous-cover-worse-crime/)”. Indeed, it was an attempt to cover up that led Lord Archer all the way to [Belmarsh prison](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prison-Diary-1-Hell/dp/0330418599). Another aspect of Jeffrey that many people should copy is getting on with things. As he explained in a [2008 interview with The Times](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/jeffrey-archer-why-i-just-get-on-with-life-0kc623nz3vd), he just got on with life. I meet people in business who still moan about their poor decisions made years ago. Or they keep looking back on their lives, reflecting on memories but doing little now. Lord Archer’s [positive thinking](https://www.grahamjones.co.uk/2024/blog/productivity/will-you-kickstart-your-productivity-in-the-year-ahead-by-being-less-busy.html) appears to match that of the author Paul McGee, whose book called “[SUMO (Shut Up Move On)](https://link.amazon/B0ja1cZde)” explains that success is connected to getting on with things and not constantly revisiting the past. The final part of being like Jeffrey is to keep working by making it a routine. He wrote at regular times during the day. It’s like he had an appointment with his pen. As a result, over a 50-year writing career, he wrote 32 novels, 92 short stories, 11 children's books, three prison diaries, and three plays. His 32nd and final novel, *Adam and Eve*, was published the day after he died. Yet I know a handful of people who told me over 20 years ago they wanted to write a book. None of them has written anything yet. Unless they sit down every day and write something, the book won't conjure itself out of thin air. Lord Archer showed that success depends upon doing your work routinely. Of course, in the past week we have heard critics of Lord Archer say negative things about him. But that does not mean we should dismiss what we can learn from his life. Own your mistakes, get on with things, and keep up a routine, and you are very likely to succeed. This week, you could name one old mistake you're still carrying and let it go. Then book a fixed daily slot for the work you keep putting off. Lord Archer kept his appointment to the very end. Maybe you could make an appointment with your pen, too. *Image montage created by ChatGPT from works by Edwardx - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156128645](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156128645) and by Stephen Craven / The Place, south side / [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)*