Words of advice from a father to his teenage daughters

Dear Freia and Reia,

When I was a kid there was this very famous song, which went, “When I was young, my father said, Son I have something to say, And what he told me I’ll never forget, until my dying day. He said … “

I’m not sure what I have to say will be as memorable, but I do hope you read it. And think about it.

I shall not bore you with a long lecture about what you should or should not do. That’s something I can do anytime. So here I shall stick to a few basic principles to live life by.

1.
Love your work. And you’ll be on a perpetual holiday.

2.
If you don’t love what you do, do what you love.

3.
Work hard. But have lots of fun.

4.
Never lie. It’s not worth it.

5.
Keep your commitments. And to make sure you can achieve this make as few commitments as possible, and when you do make them, ensure they’re realistic.

6.
Have the courage to admit your mistakes. And change course as required. You’ll achieve a lot more.

7.
Be nice to people. Life has a funny way of coming a full cycle.

8.
In whatever you do, do the best you can.

9.
Stick to your principles. Even if it makes you unpopular or makes life difficult.

10.
Listen to the world, but follow your heart.

And what’s interesting is that I practice what I preach and it seems to work for me. So I’m sure it could work for you too.

I left the most important one for last. And that is to “Be super nice to your parents.” There are a million reasons why, but I’ll just offer you one. You have the world’s second best parents (I happen to have the best), and you’ll love them.

Your loving Dad