Be the Dad 1. Be the 'Famous in Your Family' Dad = true success
Today, I’m going to tell you about true fame and what success looks like in our lives.
In our World fame is often seen as being important, that you have succeeded in life. It is a modern day mark of success, you have made it, you are worth aspiring to, you are significant.
But what is Fame? It’s being well known by a whole lot of people that you don’t know who recognise you, point and whisper to their friends and try to take a picture with you.
These people are impressed because of the movie you were on, the song that you wrote or the trophy you won. They don’t know you personally, they just think you are great, from a distance.
How much harder would it be to impress these people if they did know you, personally, up close, where they could see everything about you, perhaps your great feat would shrink in their eyes a little if you weren’t that nice to be around day to day.
So maybe true fame, true importance is being highly esteemed by those closest to you.
Who would you rather impress and inspire - unknown strangers or your family?...
Your family. They see everything. They are much harder to impress. With your family it's not one big feat but many small ones, daily over a long time. It’s how you treat Mum, the kids, the words you speak; about people and to people. It's the self discipline you have, your fun, your help, the way you connect with people, your life.
Now someone who could achieve greatness in that, over days, years, they would be a legend, they would be famous and significant in the deepest sense, to their family.
So how do you become Famous to your family?
Have a vision to be great.
Write down what greatness looks like in your family and aim for that like an athlete aims for a medal or a world championship. To have a loving marriage, to be an inspirer, to tell my kids that I love them daily, to play together as a family. Write down your family goals and hang them where they can be easily seen.
Study to be great.
Books, books, books. Read about how to be a great Dad, a great husband. Read about the 5 love languages. Research the way to succeed before you go and as you go.
Find a role model who is great
Find someone with a loving marriage whose kids love them and want to be around, especially as grown-ups. Look at them and learn from them, how they treat their wife, how they interact with their kids.
Play to your strengths
What are your strengths? Bring these into your family. Do you love dancing, put on the music in the kitchen when you are cleaning up. Do you love history, tell them stories. Are you great at building, build together with them. Do you love sport, play fun games with your family.
Be real, be you.
You are human, you make mistakes. Apologise, give your kids context; ‘I got it wrong this time kids, this is something I am working hard on’. Forgive yourself and move on. Athlete’s get knocked down, the great ones get back up and keep trying.
Be consistent, Daily.
Do the little things daily, the important things. Kisses, cuddles, encouragement, self-education, training the kids in life, playing, spending time. Greatness in your family happens when you consistently do the good things.
Dad’s, the great thing about your family and your marriage is that everyone starts by being impressed with you. Your wife and kids. You are already starting with 100 points. Build on this strong lead and become a legend to the hardest people in the world to impress.
This is true fame.
Be the ‘Famous in your Family’ Dad