Being a parent is life changing.

Everyone says it but when it happens, your world changes.

You finally understand why you’re living.

Your focus shifts from it’s all about me to the selfless perspective – it’s all about them.

When reflecting on my life there are specific things I want to instill in my daughter. A criteria she can live her life by through the lessons I’ve learned.

1. Be courageous/confident

I want my daughter to be courageous enough to do what she wants. To stand up for what she believes in. To stand up for the people she loves. To help strangers. To try everything. To be confident in her decisions. To act quickly and decisively. To speak up for herself. To believe in her abilities. To start and create something she loves. To never back down. To do things she is scared of. To run towards her fears. Willingness to take risks. Willingness to fail but the courage to try again and again.

2. Be curious about everything

I want her to be consistently curious. Continuously wondering and asking why. Questioning everything. Pushing back on her own beliefs. Curious to learn more. To work on hard projects. To problem solve difficult scenarios. To always be learning new subjects and getting better each day.  Curiosity about different ways of life. Of different cultures. Different races. Different countries. Constantly asking hard questions and hard topics. Having a willingness to continuous learning – intellectual curiosity to continuously learn.

3. Hard work lays the foundation

I want her to understand that she can have everything she wants in life as long as she works hard enough for it. To set the base for her future self. To understand that working hard now pays off in the long and short term. To have her work hard each day to achieve her goals. To believe that hard work sets the stage for her future. To not be discouraged by hard work and incremental results. To love what she does and work hard towards it. To see obstacles and difficult tasks as the path towards her goals. Problem solving combined with hard work will help you achieve anything you set your mind to.

4. Be patient

I want her to understand that things take time. Large, hard goals take time to achieve. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Patience and belief that things will work out is the key. That her hard work will pay off. That great things take time. There is no such thing as an overnight success. True success comes from small gains compounded over time to achieve great results. Be patient that it will all work out. Not hoping for things to workout but patiently working hard towards her goals. Persistance will help you with your patience – if you know it will take time to achieve your goals, you’re more likely to try multiple times.

If I can teach my daughter to be more courageous, more patient, more curious about the world, and work hard on difficult tasks I’ll have achieved my greatest goal of all – helping her succeed on her own terms.