I hope that when I’m a father, I’ll still remember these things at heart.
Why?
I think about what I would do differently next time, and I wonder if I will still remember the stories behind where my lessons came from… I think it’s funny to imagine telling these to my kids one day.
Once I’m a father make sure they hear that…
- All time is well spent.
- You can’t just keep throttling up. You max out and it burns you away. It burns the earth and the world around you.
- Everything in moderation.
- Things can become more important.
- Listen to those who love you.
- You have to believe that doing your best and doing a good job is enough. Do not worry about anything else.
- That this world and this life is too short to be unkind.
That it is a privilege to be able to love and to care for one another. We live in a world where systems and structures seek to automate and scale tendrils of optimization into every corner of our live.
Resist this.
Cherish the ability to waste time on someone, something.
We should be in pursuit of losing track and wasting time.
When someone says something you don’t agree with, treat it as an opportunity to learn and empathize with a perspective you may not be in touch with. It doesn’t mean you need to come to consensus - you may not always be able to. But there is always something you don’t know.
One my close friends used to often say that life is a game: but in my gut reaction to say that life is not about play (I still don’t think it is), I dismissed everything he had to say. But separately though, I do believe that it is a good analogy. Specifically, I think it is like an engine building game. You must learn what your fly wheel is, how to maintain and grow it, and how to kick start it when it falters.