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.

Imagine you're gone and able to look down now and see your kids from above. Or imagine that

somehow you had magical powers and you could see inside their heads and read their thoughts.

What is it that you would never want them to witness? What is it that you would never want them to

feel? Not failure, obviously, because you know that's part of life. Not suffering, because within reason, that is part of life too, as Buddha says.

But you would never want them to feel stupid or feel unloved or feel that they had to earn your approval.

You would never want them to feel worthless or find out that they really needed you but were afraid to come to you for help.

You would never want them to think that you were too busy for them or that you cared about their success more than their

happiness. This is basic stuff, right? Okay, but honestly, if you really looked at your behavior,

do you think you contribute to those exact feelings? They come to you and instead of listening,

you rushed in with judgment or a lecture. You criticize more than you compliment. You are cold

or easily disappointed because you're still dealing with your own issues. You lost your temper.

You said harsh things. Every father does this. We make our kids feel away that if we heard their

boyfriend or their boss made them feel we'd drive down and kick their ass. We do it because we're

not aware enough because we don't take our influence seriously enough. And that's not okay.

We can do better. We have to do better. Imagine you can see the world from inside your

kid's head and heart. Now look at their father. Look at the way you act towards them. It's not a

picture you want to see, is it? So go change it. Now.

My routine lately has been I run in the afternoon and then in the sweltering Texas seat.

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