Welcome to the Daily Dad podcast where we provide one lesson every day to help you with your

most important job being a dad. These are lessons inspired by ancient philosophy, by practical

wisdom, and insights from dads all over the world.

Thank you for listening, and we hope this helps.

If you're not getting better, you're getting worse.

It's a sad sight when you see a dad who has

clearly stopped trying. He puts on weight. He checks out of his marriage. Maybe he starts drinking more.

He resigns himself to the fact that he hates his job. He accepts whatever grades his kids bring

home from school. He makes their behavior somebody else's problem. We see that dad and we think,

I don't ever want to be that guy. Good. Okay. But what steps are you following to make sure you don't?

In the startup world, they say that if your company isn't growing, it's dying. In a way, it's true for

people too. If you're not actively developing

yourself, what's happening? You're atrophying. You're getting worse. Epictetus liked to quote

Socrates that he delighted in attending to his own improvement day to day. Brilliant. And in a way,

the perfect thing for you to be thinking about as we head into a new year,

how are you improving yourself day to day? Are you working out? Are you reading? Are you setting

goals for yourself? Are you clocking in at home as well as at the office? Your kids will be better

served by a father that's getting better. More important, they will be inspired by your example.

Show them that you're trying, that we can never stop trying, and they'll follow you in their own

way. Speaking of which, I'd like to suggest that you check out our daily Stoic New Year,

New You Challenge. It's a bunch of challenges, many of which I think will help

make you a better dad and a better person. You can check that out now at dailystoic.com

...