Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast, where we provide one lesson every single day to help you with your most important job, being a parent.

I'm Ryan Holiday, and I draw these lessons from ancient philosophy, modern psychology, practical wisdom, and insights from

parents just like you all over the world. Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

Don't hurry them along. Even the most patient parent gets bored or has somewhere to be or doesn't

see what makes this flower, the 400th one drawn in a row so special. So we prod our kids along.

Dinner's almost ready. We're going to be late. The game's about to start. It's really hot out here.

The entrepreneur Derek Sivers has talked about how hard he works to override these instincts.

Because the truth is, as we've said, most of the stuff we're rushing to is not that urgent.

Whatever he's doing right now, that's the most important thing, Derek wrote. So I encourage him to

keep doing it as long as possible. I never say,

come on, let's go. Of course, my adult mind wanders to all the other things we could be doing,

but I let it go, return to that present focus. And there is a certain amount of Zen in that,

which is valuable for its own sake.

But with regard to our kids, it's also teaching them a valuable skill.

Shouldn't we want them to develop the ability to focus and pursue their curiosity?

Isn't it worth it for them to get a little dirty or for you to show up late to the birthday party?

Because they were really, really intensely alive for a few minutes.

Don't we want them to be present to not become someone who spends all their energy trying to

organize perfect quality time when there's so much ordinary, wonderful garbage time to be had?

Override your adult mind.

Resist the urge to hurry. It's not really time to go.

You're exactly where you and they need to be. That's my Tempice fugit coin that we sell for Daily

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