“Why does that matter so much?”
“Because I want my kids to have choices.”
If you’re a parent, you know the weight those words carry. I don’t want to raise entitled kids, but I want them to have opportunities I didn’t have.
“Why?”
Tears were rolling down my face by now. And I said it out loud, the thing I didn’t even know was there until that moment. “Because I need to be in control. I need to be in control of my decisions. Of my calendar. Of my life.”
And it hit me all at once where that came from.
Growing up, I never had control of anything. My parents were married multiple times. We were always moving: new house, new school, new situation I didn’t ask for. Money was tight, and when money is tight, it doesn’t just limit what you can buy. It limits your choices. I watched my parents want things for themselves and for us that they couldn’t have, not because they didn’t care, but because they didn’t have the options. Their happiness was capped by circumstances they couldn’t control. I promised myself I would never live that way. And I promised myself my kids would never feel that way. That’s why I cook breakfast for my kids every single morning. That’s why I never miss dance recitals. That’s why I don’t miss date night with my wife. Those aren’t items on a schedule. Those are proof that I broke the cycle. That I have the one thing my parents never had: the freedom to choose. When I said I would rather die than miss my daughter’s recital, my team went completely silent. And in that moment, I knew, for the first time with total clarity, why I had worked so hard my entire life. Why I had never quit. It was never about money. It was never about fame. It was about being the dad and the husband I know my father wishes he could have been. It was about control, not over other people, but over my own life. The kind of control that only comes when you build something that gives you the freedom to be fully present for the people you love.
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THE CREATOR’S MINDSET | CHAPTER 3 THE FOUNDATION
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