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.

You have to come down. It's a wonderful state being in flow, getting caught up in your work, getting

caught up in the moment. And before you had kids, you lived for this. In fact, you may well have lived

in it. Life was simpler than you could get lost for days at a time and a project. You could

spend years, it would seem in retrospect, in the building stages of a company, in pursuit of a

dream, and finding yourself yourself and exploring the world.

And it's not that that is over now, but things are different.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, speaking of the birth of his daughter, Una, would explain that he found it necessary to come out of my cloud region and allow myself to be woven into the somber texture of humanity. He couldn't be the same self-indulgent,

selfish artist he had spent years becoming. There was more at stake, someone at stake. There is no

escaping it any longer. He said, I have business on earth now and must look about me for the means of doing it.

No one is saying your dreams have to die,

and actually we said the opposite a bunch of times. No one is saying that children have to be the death of your creativity or productivity or even your best work. Again, we've said the opposite.

It's just that you're going to have to adjust, figure out how to do it differently. You have

business on earth now too, which means you can't just live in the clouds full time. You have to

get better at re-entry at occupying two different worlds at different times of day because your

kids deserve a parent who is present, because your family deserves someone who can function in their lives,

someone who can operate inside of a system and a unit.

Hey, you're listening to the Daily Dad podcast, one meditation a day inspired to help you do your most

important job, which is be a great father. These are meditations inspired by ancient wisdom,

psychological research, and just great strategies from normal dads just like you. Thanks for listening.

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