What legacy are you leaving?
Badass parenting, like being a badass business owner, requires commitment to doing the work—and part of that work is following the rules you set for your children.
I recently read the blog, Two Rules to Teach Your Kids, written by best-selling author and stoic philosopher, Ryan Holiday. His two rules, borrowed from the great American poet William Edgar Stafford, are as follows:
Don’t do the wrong thing.
Don’t live the wrong life.
Don’t do the wrong thing. This one is up for interpretation, determined by each individual family unit and their internal belief system and values. It’s something you can itemize (be generous, go to church, have patience, etc.) and by clearly articulating what “doing the wrong thing” means for your family, based on your core values, you create guardrails and a road map that will guide your kids’ decisions.
It doesn’t mean forcing your dreams onto your kids so you can live vicariously through them (that would actually be an example of doing the wrong thing). Instead, it’s about empowering your kids to make good decisions based on the things that are most important in life.
Hint: Once you start getting the famous “eye roll” that means it’s finally sinking in.
Don’t live the wrong life. There’s a good chance you could be living the wrong life. In Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying (a must-read for anyone who wants to live a profoundly fulfilling life) the most common regret is: I didn’t live a life true to myself.
In other words, I didn’t live authentically and I missed out on the chance to be joyful.
Common traits of someone with the “wrong life”:
Pining for the hocus pocus life. You spend a large amount of time on social media, playing the compare and despair game, wishing your life was as perfect as your old high school buddies’ who only post curated, positive fluff.
Mr./Ms. Crabby. You feel stuck in the wrong job, burnt out, tired. So you push through with a chip on your shoulder, playing the martyr.
Winning the game of “busy.” You have no free time. Instead, you pride yourself on being busy because that’s what all the “winners” are doing.
There is a life that you are uniquely built to deliver to yourself, those you love, and the world around you. And this is my definition of the “right” life.
I call it the 0.01% life, and it’s created from harmonizing the three big categories of human existence: business, life, and self.
I want you to live YOUR life. Not the life you think people want you to live.
I also want you to teach your kids this. Instill the philosophy of a right life onto your children and support them on their unique journeys—and at the same time, take responsibility for your own.
Then, your legacy will have a lasting impact.
Onward,