What Being a Grifter Means to Me

To me, being a grifter means being able to adapt, survive and sometimes thrive in whatever situation God or the devil drops on my doorstep.

It means moving between different worlds: different jobs, cultures, business environments and social circles. Sometimes you fit in. Sometimes you stand out. Either way, you work with what you’ve got and find a way forward.

A word with baggage

I know what the word makes people think: con man, shyster, criminal. That’s the baggage it carries. When I call myself a grifter, I’m talking about my own way of moving through life: resourcefulness, adaptability and keeping a code.

I’ve worked in different worlds, from teaching English in Japan to working on boats. You learn to listen, read the room and recognise that the way things worked in the last place might not be the way they work here.

There are grey areas in life, and plenty of chances to lose your way. For me, that makes having a code more important.

The Grifter’s Code

Help yourself by helping other people more.

That’s the line I come back to. There’s room to make your own way and still offer someone else an honest hand.

Why I tell these stories

I’m sharing what the grifter way means to me because someone out there might need a hand finding their way out of the frying pan—preferably without landing straight in the bloody fire.

The stories might be a little dirty and raw around the edges. So is life sometimes. I hope there’s something useful in them, something that helps you handle the next unfamiliar situation. And if we get a laugh along the way, even better.

To be continued…