How My Dad Inspired My Entrepreneurial Journey (And How You Can Do The Same), Why Your Obsession With Finding Your Passion Is Ruining Your Life, & More
Thursday Three: Episode 23
read time 5 minutes
Here are three interesting ideas you won’t find doom scrolling.
TL;DR
Story: How My Dad Inspired My Entrepreneurial Journey (And How You Can Do The Same)
Observation: Why Your Obsession With Finding Your Passion Is Ruining Your Life
Story: How One Quote Transformed My Approach to Listening and Success
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How My Dad Inspired My Entrepreneurial Journey (And How You Can Do The Same For Your Kids)
I don't have kids yet. But I know that when I do, I hope that I'm able to inspire them to be creative, curious, and entrepreneurial — just like my Dad did for me.
The other day I was reading Nathan Barry's newsletter where he wrote about how to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in your kids. For context, I think Nathan has like seven kids or something. So he's put in his reps!
Here's his advice for inspiring your kids to be entrepreneurial:
Pay attention to the times your kid says they want to do something and you start to say, “Oh, not now…” If you want to foster an entrepreneurial spirit, the most important thing is early momentum. If you see them enjoying something, or you hear them express an interest, go with their energy.
Many kids have entrepreneurial tendencies but aren’t encouraged or given the opportunity to explore them. Or they have parents who are always busy when they’re excited. It’s easy to miss if you’re not actively looking for ways to support them.
My Dad always pushed me to be creative and entrepreneurial. And he had an eye for identifying, and executing on that early momentum…
In first grade, I blew up water balloons with my mouth and sold them on the side of the road. And guess what? People actually bought them. They were either some high quality, air-filled water balloons, or my customers actually felt sorry for me — a seven year old selling water balloons that he blew up with his mouth. Comical.
In third grade, my Dad pushed me to enter this invention contest. My invention? A juice dispenser. Kind of like the ones you see in dining halls. Genius. I know.
In college, my Dad inspired me build Napkn — an application that allowed you to share your phone number, email, and socials all at once. I bootstrapped it with cash I had gotten from my first communion, birthdays, confirmation, and a Kickstarter campaign I ran. The idea failed miserably, but I learned a ton in the process.
When the time comes, I hope to inspire my kids to be entrepreneurial just as Nathan talks about and as my Dad did.
Seems like it all comes down to listening to your kids, going with and matching their energy, and pushing them outside of their comfort zone.
Why Your Obsession with Finding Your Passion is Ruining Your Life
Have you ever read something and thought "Damn. I 100% resonate with that."
That's what happened when I read this tweet.
When people don't have important stuff to work on, they start creating artificial problems. I do this in my life all the time. Most recently, not so much because I have a lot of stuff going on — preparing our house to rent, getting married, and moving to Florida.
I don’t know about you, but once I start getting a bit comfortable or don't have something meaningful to work on, I start manufacturing problems in my head like…
There’s all these people travelling the world right now. I’ve only been to four countries…should I be travelling more?
There's all these dudes in their 20s, starting businesses and making millions. I’m behind the eightball…why haven’t I started my own business yet?
There’s all these people investing in building their personal brands online. I may have a few thousand followers on Twitter, but what about the other platforms…am I leaving money on the table?
This type of thinking can really mess you up. And honestly, I think it's the reason our world is in such a shambles today:
People aren't having kids.
People aren't getting married.
People aren't prioritizing their faith.
And what does this lead to?
Trying to find meaning in other things — like work, politics, social issues.
Let’s dig into work for a second…
The reality is that work is work. Some people are fortunate enough to do what they love for a living and find meaning through their work, but most people aren't.
This whole idea that "If you find your passion, you never work a day in your life," is relatively new in the grand scheme of things. For hundreds of years, people just worked. Why?
Because they had to take care of their families — the that that matters most in life. And their work had meaning because they were solving problems that actually mattered — like putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their family's heads.
There's no doubt we live in a different world today — one that is a lot easier and simple. But that doesn't mean we have to create artificial problems to find meaning in life. It just means we needs to keep the important problems front of mind and continue tackling those.
How One Quote Transformed My Approach to Listening and Success
When I was ten years old, my parents sent me to basketball camp to learn basketball, but I left with a lesson that would change my life. It was the summer before fifth grade. I was attending basketball camp at the Peddie School — a private high school, and my father’s alma mater.
We were in a large field house with 5 basketball courts. We were organized in 10 rows — seven to eight kids per row — and it was chaos...
Kids running to get their water bottles. Kids dribbling their basketballs. Kids wandering around out of line.
Then a loud whistle blew, indicating it was time to put your ball on your hip, shut your mouth, and put your eyes on coach.
Everyone did as they were told. Except for a few kids who couldn't resist the urge to continue dribbling their balls and chatting about what they were going to get for lunch.
The whistle blew again.
The kids continued chatting away.
"Looks like some of us don't want to listen!” said coach, glancing in their direction.
“For those following directions, I'm going to teach you a valuable lesson you'll never forget. Listen up." I stared at coach, waiting for the wisdom.
"You have two ears and two eyes, and one mouth," coach said, pointing at his eyes and ears.
"So you should be listening and watching, twice as much as you should be talking," he said, a little louder than usual, in the direction of the peanut gallery.
Silence.
All you could hear was the sound of large industrial fans, preventing us elementary schoolers from overheating.
A light bulb went off in my ten year old brain. It made perfect sense — you have two ears and two eyes, so of course, you should listen twice as much as you should be talking. And it didn’t only apply to basketball. It applied to how I interacted with my parents, teachers, and anyone.
I think back to this moment at least once a week, especially when I’m with someone who seems to talk a little too much or when I have the urge to not stop talking.
You should always default to listening and asking questions instead of just yapping away.