Bet On Yourself — Jon Levitt on Endurance, Building, and the Long Game (@jwlevitt)

But before we get into today's guest, I want to start with where we always start, which is a check-in.

So here's what's been on my mind this weekend.

It's going to get a little philosophical and potentially a little heavy because I've really been thinking about my daughter a lot over the past... you know a couple months i've watched her grow she's going to be six months next month she's going to be six months old next week which still blows my mind i cannot believe she the baby that she is now the size that she is now because it feels like just yesterday she was my little potato who was just over five pounds in the nicu for five days and could barely eat so to see her thriving and just being the happy baby that she is learning how to babble and learning how to roll over and learning how to crawl.

And the smile that she gives me whenever she sees me, whenever I talk to her is just something that I never expected.

But I was thinking about this and I posted this on threads, I think last night in my insomniac kind of mood that I was in because it was like four o'clock in the morning.

And I remember like in my 20s, I would talk to people about having a kid.

And I mean, back then I was still unsure as to whether or not I wanted one because growing up without a dad, I didn't know I was capable of being one.

And I said, well, why can't I just like have the kid and then have like the mentality of like a three, four or five year old where they already have like cognitive skills.

They know how to talk.

They know how to walk.

They're potty trained.

Like I don't want to deal with all that stuff in the beginning.

Like I just I want them to be kind of ready for the world and that's it.

And I've been thinking about that a lot over the past week.

And I look at where Lulu is now and the struggles and like, obviously it's not easy raising a baby, right? It's not easy raising a newborn, especially one that's born with issues where they're in the hospital for an extended amount of time.

They're underweight.

You're being told by your doctor, like all of the things you're doing wrong and what you need to continue to do.

to be able to make sure that your baby is set up for success.

But I wouldn't trade these months for anything in the world.

And it goes against exactly what I said 10, 15 years ago about wanting to not have to deal with this because it is some of the most rewarding and challenging moments of my life.

The amount of growth that I have seen from her from just being kind of the baby who stares at lights and doesn't interact with the world to somebody who lights up when somebody enters the room or when Emily looks at her when I look at her, who is actually now starting to reach out for us when we want to pick her up, who has this piano toy that she will lie on the ground with and just like go to town on kicking it like she's some sort of karate master, dancing and giggling and having fun and knowing what her favorite toys are and chewing on them and having just the time of her life and seeing the milestones that she's been hitting.

It blows my mind that baby's It blows my mind that babies go from like not knowing a single thing in the world at all to picking up all these cues, digesting them without us knowing because they can't communicate with us and somehow becoming humans, right? It just blows my mind.

And you wake up one day and you feel like there's been some switch that turns on in their brain and they Gain some sort of skill.

It's like a video game character.

It's like they level up and it's so absolutely wonderful.