The most productive days create the most productive moods, and vice versa.
Though they’re uncommon, I do occasionally have “lazy days” where I accomplish very little. Truthfully 100% of these days are “hang out with the kids all day” days, so I certainly don’t think they’re wasted (in fact, I think they’re vital and wonderful), but I certainly wouldn’t call them “productive.”
That tends to make them infertile soil for growing ambition. Late spring days with no agenda with my children are just about paradise, and the thing about paradise is that it’s the end goal. It’s the Last Thing, not an input to something else. Sure, time marches ever onward and these children I’m raising will one day navigate complex lives with impacts all their own – perhaps even on their own children. And so even on these days I must attend to fatherly duties and make sure I’m raising heroes. But the very time itself, the natural way we interact, already gently propels us towards that end. By and large, what I get to do on these days is enjoy them.
It means my writing on these days tends to be less “advice” and more “reflection,” because without crashing into challenges and obstacles, I learn very little that’s useful in avoiding them. That’s okay, though – the world is not short on obstacles, and I need not wish more into existence. They’ll come.
But not today. Today, my life is not interesting. But it’s vital and wonderful, and I am thankful.
The Opportunity Machine 