My two youngest children learned the origin story of Spider-man today. As endlessly redone as that story may be in popular media, it’s still a great story with a great lesson, and when it lands, it lands big.

I love these stories. I love that my children see these as true lessons, as their own modern parables that help guide their moral compasses. It’s a testament to the power of storytelling as well as the stories we choose to tell.

We owe it to the next generation to tell them good stories. It is, after all, our responsibility.

If a new object doesn’t improve your life significantly in the first few days of ownership, then you didn’t need it and it’s clutter. Make those decisions swiftly, or be buried.

A distraction requires two things: a void, and something to fill it. We so often focus on the “thing” that we miss the essential first component.

Did you open up your phone to check a notification, and then suddenly realize 45 minutes had passed? Sure, the flashing lights were distracting, but that ignores the fact that there was a desire in your brain. A need unfulfilled. Why was some new piece of content able to grab you like that?

We talk about the algorithm, how it learns our wants and fills them. But that’s because you starve yourself! Temptation only works on the discontent. What have you fed your hungry brain lately?

When my mind is racing with ideas, nothing can pull me from it. Ideas come from real depth – when I read a book, go for a walk, have an engaging conversation. They don’t spawn from two-minute bursts of color and sound.

Feed your head, people. Don’t try to shut out the distractions – replace them.