[Antifragile 4 🔥] Die with Zero on squandering life or money, a suggestion for walks, Roger Federer 🎾 on failure, a reminder 🏡 on balancing work & family
#56: a weekly 4-item newsletter created to inspire dads to use the challenges of fatherhood as fuel for building an incredible life & an antifragile mind.
Welcome to the 56th edition of the antifragile 4 🔥.
Yesterday was my wife and I’s fourth wedding anniversary!
We celebrated lavishly by taking our baby to the pediatrician for an ear infection followed by a late night bonanza at our older son’s preschool parent orientation.
And they say you can’t party after having kids…
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My wife and I are in the middle of this Category 4 tornado called Toddlerdom + Baby and this is just what life looks like right now.
But you know what? It was a great day. I absolutely loved it.
I wouldn't trade this insanity for anything.
Because I got to take care of our baby. I got to play baseball with my son. I got to stand at the kitchen counter with my wife late at night talking about how we think moving back to Denver was the right move.
So while perhaps not the hot & steamy anniversary of old, it just may have our best one ever.
With love,
Chris
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Here’s this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:
Die with Zero 💸 on squandering money or life
a suggestion 🎧 for walks
Roger Federer 🎾 on failure
a reminder 🏡 on balancing work & family
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1.) Die with Zero 💸 on squandering money or life
Here’s your reminder to choose memories over money sometime this week.
Although we all have at least the potential to make more money in the future, we can never go back and recapture time that is now gone.
So it makes no sense to let opportunities pass us by for fear of squandering our money. Squandering our lives should be a much greater worry.
Bill Perkins, Die with Zero
Imagine the regret you would feel if you got to the end of your days only to realize you haven’t managed to live a life full of satisfying experiences. In the wise words of Carson, the butler of Downton Abbey, “The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that’s all there is.”
Bill Perkins, Die with Zero
2.) a suggestion 🎧 for walks
What’s the first thing you do when you go out for a walk?
Pop those headphones in. Fire up [insert podcast/audiobook/YouTube audio here].
Here’s a suggestion; leave them at home.
Try to reconnect. Both with your environment and the humans inhabiting it.
Turn into, as Craig Mod put it during his walk across Japan, a “hello machine”. Say hi to the neighbors, truck drivers going past, the mail carrier, the yappy dog. Whoever.
We’re already so disconnected. And those headphones are yet another barrier between us and actual connection. To other humans and the world around us.
It’s not revolutionary act. But it’s a step towards connection in a world that serves us a lot of unfulfilling substitutes.
Just a thought.
3.) Roger Federer 🎾 on failure
1.) I love this tweet
2.) I also love this commencement speech by Roger Federer. If you haven’t seen it, it’ll likely brighten your week.
4.) a reminder 🏡 on balancing work & family
If you’re a parent … your role as father or mother will outlive you.
I know for a fact that even though my Dad has been gone 26 years and my Mum 10 … their presence and impact in my life continues. And the older I get, the more I realise, respect and am grateful for all they did to ensure they were active and present in my life. Whatever the challenges they faced – and they faced a lot.
Now compare this to work life.
However popular you are, if you’re lucky … you’ll be remembered for maybe a few weeks after you’ve left.
So while I am not saying work or ambition isn’t important – for all manner of reasons – it’s a good reminder of what deserves our focus and who will actually value it the most, for all the right reasons.
Rob Campbell, A Lesson In Work/Life Balance From Someone Who Absolutely Sucked (Sucks) At It
Many thanks to AJ for sharing! Your taste is unmatched.
Two last things for you this week:
Find an opportunity to choose making a memory over making money this week.
Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥
With love,
Chris
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