Be the Best Barista

Seth Godin's friend Tim is a famous jazz saxophonist. He schleps city to city, plays to half-empty rooms, deals with endless hassles. No job is perfect. Not even playing jazz for a living.

Seth's philosophy: you're never going to have unlimited freedom. But what would it be like to be the best barista in the world for an hour? What would it be like to fully commit for sixty minutes?

This reframes every tedious parenting moment.

You're changing your eighth diaper of the day. You're doing bath time again. You're sitting through the same Bluey episode for the fortieth time. You're not going to get this hour over again.

So what would it be like to be fully present for this one hour? Not perfect - present. Not optimized - engaged. To add a little delight instead of just getting through it?

Seth says when your boss forces you to be mediocre and bored, there's no amount of money that compensates. But when you have a chance to add delight to someone's day - even in the most ordinary moments - you're doing that for yourself, not because you're getting paid.

That's the parenting version. This one bath. This one bedtime. Be the best at it.