In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.
"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.
This week’s Lesson for Hannah
Hannah, sweetie. I want to talk to you about this amazing thing we call life. We live in a big world that gets smaller every day because of technology and the growing connectedness of everything. We are bombarded by interruptions throughout our day, from email to social media to push notifications from apps on our phone, to numerous other shiny objects. And I have no doubt that by the time you listen to this, it will have probably gotten worse, but definitely will have changed.
So, what does this have to do with life? Well, you only get one of them (at least as of now, we’ll see what happens over the next 20 years) and your goal should be to maximize every moment of it. I didn’t truly realize this until your mother and I brought you home and you started to grow. Every day brings something new and exciting. Life is truly about the experiences you have and the daily adventures that you get to unfold. It’s not about things. Years later, you won’t remember the fancy car as much you will remember an experience you had with it. My best advice to you is to seek out new experiences, travel to remote places, and see and feel the world firsthand…not through an app or VR or some other medium.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work very smart and hard to be able to give yourself the ability to do this (your mom and I will teach you as best we can to create your own success and the ability to fund the life you want), but it also doesn’t mean that the best experiences require a bunch of travel and money either.
And that is true point. Amazing experiences are all around you every day. Just hearing your contagious laugh and watching you figure something new out is so precious to me. Watching you learn to ski or swim and do these things on your own is just as good as visiting Hawaii. The key I want you to realize is to make sure you stay open in your life to see and be present for all the wonderful things and experiences you will have, big and small. Don’t get so obsessed with work or a vision that you don’t take the time. I’ve made that mistake and thankfully have had the right people in my life to wake me up from it. I’ll leave you with this….As Ferris Bueller said “Life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you just might miss it.” Don’t miss a thing in this amazing journey we call life, honey, I love you.