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.

This is the secret to your hardest job.

It doesn't matter if you're the president, a doctor,

or an internationally touring musician. Everyone agrees that the hardest job is being apparent

because it's not just a job. It's the job that you have to do on top of your other jobs.

It's the one job you can't quit or get promoted or retired from. It's the one job where the

responsibilities are never clearly defined and always seem to be changing. It's the one job that

there is no training for that you don't get paid for either. So how do we do it? How can we do it well?

How can we get better at it? Can anyone show us the way? Should we just

read the latest parenting book until we have it memorized? Should we call our own parents every

time we have an issue? The philosopher Epictetus was once approached by a student struggling

with this exact problem. Tell me what to do, the student said. Epictetus told him that he

would not. It wasn't even the right request, he said. It would be far better to ask the teacher

to make him adaptable to any circumstances. The reason Epictetus explained was that there may be

events that call for you to act differently. So hold on to general principles

and you won't need specific advice. So what are your general principles? What's your framework?

What are your 10 commandments for parenting? What have you studied and learned that will allow you

to adapt and meet whatever circumstances may befall you. Your kids get in trouble. You lose your

job and have to relocate the family. He wants to drop out of school and ask your advice.

...