40+ Years of Grinding was worth the 5 seconds of Validation I got yesterday (I will not promote)

Yesterday was the first day of teaching Entrepreneurship at my kid's Middle School. As some background, I've been a startup Founder for 31 years and have worked nonstop to come from nothing. I opened with giving a talk about "agency," which was described as: 1. The belief that we can shape the world how we want it. 2. The tools to do it. I gave a mini "TED Talk" on my personal origin story, from the first time I made a dollar to feed myself when I was 8 to the first company I started at 19. The coolest thing about it was that my 13-year-old daughter was in the class, and she got to hear, mostly for the first time, her Dad's origin story and what he had to endure to create the life we have. On the car ride home, with just the two of us, she said, "Daddy, I'm so proud of what you've done and grateful for what you've built for this family. I had no idea." There are a few moments in life where every sacrifice becomes worth it - that was one of mine.