Learning from our kids

We had dinner with some old friends that were in town last night. It was a real nice night out eating great food and just relaxing which is rare for us on a Wednesday nowadays especially with Colin. Our friends also have a young toddler and naturally our conversation centered around our kids and our experience the last year and half.

My friend’s wife is an impressive founder who I’ve always known to be very introspective. She mentioned one of the biggest learnings for her as a new parent is just how fearless her daughter is and how as adults we live life naturally very fearful. She drew on her experiences a founder being worried about everything and just scared of making a mistake, and vowed to try to live life more fearless like her daughter.

It was an insightful thought and had me thinking throughout the night and this morning. She’s absolutely right and I can see how I’ve started to live life a bit more cautious than perhaps I did even a few years ago. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the stakes are much higher and that has made me perhaps a bit more hesitant and fearful of the outcomes.

Simply put, I’m more worried about making a mistake now than I was 5 years ago at Secfi. It’s perhaps time to change my mindset a bit. Great companies are not built by people who live life fearfully and hesitant. They say you learn a lot more from you kids than you teach them. It’s good for me to realize that and learn from Colin.