This weekend, I discovered Lex Fridman’s interview of Mark Zuckerberg. I had never heard of Lex Fridman until one of his YouTube videos was recommended to me. Realizing that I had never listened directly to Zuckerberg and the only knowledge I had of him was from The Social Network, I thought it would likely be beneficial to hear from the man himself. I wouldn’t call myself part of 50%+ that dislike him (the podcast mentioned this) but I also wouldn’t say that I am a big fan of his. I have given him, however, the benefit of the doubt. Navigating difficult topics such as free speech, privacy, and managing a massive company is difficult. There were, of course, several slip-ups that have gone too far, but to point to Zuckerberg as the cause every time a scandal occurs seems unfair.
Anyways, independent of whether or not I like him, it quickly became clear that he was a genius. He discussed these topics with eloquence and ostensible honesty with Lex. And while I learned a lot about the metaverse, there was something that stuck out to me more: his “goodnight things.” Before putting his daughters to bed, Zuckerberg asks his daughters a few questions. Among these is “what are you excited for?”
We don’t ask that question much. Instead, we often opt for the “how are you”s. The feeling of excitement is so important yet we don’t examine our own feeling. As Mark says, there’s a lot of bad things that are going on in the world. We all need to hold on to our excitement — find something that we are looking forward to.
In the past few days, I have found myself wanting in my goal system. Specifically, I wanted a nightly review — a way to look back on what I did that day. And while I have been playing with a morning gratitude session, I haven’t loved it. So, I am looking to create a new system. Instead of asking myself to think of three tings I am grateful for, I am going to WRITE DOWN something I’m excited for, something I am doing to grow, and something I am grateful for. Then at the end of day, I will repeat those same three questions. Maybe it’s simply an attempt to maintain my joie de vivre and my spark (which I have been lacking ever since I had to go back to school and was stripped away from my paradise of vacation learning to code).
So this morning,
I’m excited to edit my youtube video and get it published tomorrow.
To grow, I will make sure to publish my writing.
I am grateful for the new season of spring.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
