Dear Edith,
Advice for my daughter, for when she’s a bit older.
Wealth
Career wise, the best investment you can make is in yourself and your education. Be ambitious and seek to be involved. Showing up, energized and ready to go, is 90% of whatever you do.
Spend less than you earn, and live minimally. This podcast by @Sammartino has helped your mum and dad enormously. This post by Jimmy Wales is also excellent. We’ll chat about it when you’re older and keen.
You’ll almost certainly work for yourself at some point. Embrace that as a challenge and opportunity to get to know yourself.
When you do take a job, take it at a place that offers you the chance to grow as a person. John Doerr had this advice recently.
“Seek opportunities to work in growth industries, because rising tides lift all boats.”
Find mentors and people who see work the same way you do. Their guidance and inspiration will help you when you lose sight of the bigger picture.
Finally, learn how to have integrity in what you do. Warren Buffet has some good advice on this.
“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has the intelligence and energy—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the integrity is up to you. You weren’t born with it, you can’t learn it in school.”
Education
Be curious, always, and relentless in your pursuit of that. Learning how to learn is possibly the most important thing you’ll take from your education.
Be engaged at school. Get involved in everything. Try it all, and see what you do and don’t like. Your grades don’t matter nearly as much as the things you experience at school.
Everyone today makes note of how important it is to learn to code. I agree with that - the ability to program a computer to do something is an important skill set that you’ll probably master much more than your mum or dad. But there are a number of other disciplines that we feel offer the same opportunity for a productive, enjoyable career. Consider learning:
Sales
Code is important, but for every amazing engineer out there building something there is also the need for a genuine sales person to help others make sense of it. This is not a career you’ll ‘learn’ through formal education, so offers much potential for making your own way. Also, many of those ‘growth’ opportunities that John Doerr mentioned above require amazing sales people to help progress an organizations purpose. Don’t be afraid to be in sales - it’s an immensely valuable position to hold.
Code
Whether you’ll like it or not, technology is going to surround you for your entire life. Learning to code will help you interface with that and shape parts of that landscape as your own. The best engineers tend to have a passion for learning and hacking their way through to find the best way.
Art
Art is one of those disciplines that won’t ever go away. Art helps us make sense of life and of our world around us. If being creative and interpreting the world around you for others is something you enjoy then consider how you can keep pursuing and perfecting a craft throughout your life.
Design
You mum’s side of the family is full of world class designers, and similar to the disciplines above, provides the chance for you to express yourself and your thoughts creatively. People like things, and as the world progressively becomes more full of stuff people will gravitate to things that have been designed and crafted with authenticity and gracefulness. Make beautiful stuff, and keep making it.
Hospitality
When your mother and I were growing up, hospitality wasn’t really viewed as a creative or rewarding vocation to choose. I think our generation got this wrong. One of the most special things you can ever do is invest your time with others whose company you enjoy and often this takes place in the confines of a restaurant, a cafe or another special place. You’ve probably already noticed my affection for good coffee! Being involved in that environment and providing a space for that experience is something to be proud of.
Health
You may live to 1000. Stay in a healthy weight range. Eat fruit and vegetables and generally eat less calories than you burn.
Learn to love a sport. This isn’t easy, but the joys of honing your approach to a game or discipline only increases as time marches on. It also keeps you fit and active. Learn to swim, and to ride a bike. Walk as much as you can in your everyday life.
Barrack for Essendon. It’ll be a better life than if you support Collingwood.
Be active in your communities - no matter what the medium is.
Learn to meditate. The health benefits of this are enormous.
Love
Love is infinite, and not something you have in limited supply. It’s also a skill and something you can get better at. The act of love is a beautiful process - a dance which is entered into by consenting people. Enjoy it :)
Family
Know that you’ll always have your mother and fathers love, unconditionally. Our family will always be proud of you and of the path you take. Our family gives us all strength to decide on much of what we've written above, and helps us by sharing in that journey. The map is not the territory, but as a family we can all help chart a course together.
Life in general
Enjoy it, it’s a magical thing. Don’t ever take it for granted, and recognize that you've won the cosmic lottery.
Travel
As Angus has mentioned in his comments, get out there and see the world. Or, as Brad has mentioned, get used to space flight!
Option X
What would your advice to Edith be?
