Aurélie is away this week for a course, so it is mostly just me and Cléo.

Between daycare runs and work, I have been thinking about how we spend our energy. A mentor once told me there is a difference between speaking from experience (what you read in books) and speaking from experiences (what you actually do).

I’m reading a parenting book called Good Inside, but I’m going through it slowly. I don't want to give you a book report. I want to talk about something I actually did this weekend that changed my energy.

Most dads spend their entire lives playing defense.

If you love sports, you know the feeling. Defense is about reacting. It is about putting out fires, managing chores, and just trying not to "lose." But if you stay on defense forever, you will never score a goal. You end up feeling like a leaf in the wind, blown around by everyone else's schedule.

I decided to go on the offense.

For over a year, our family has used a “Sunday Sync” to plan our week. It was an idea inspired by The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and it helped us manage our time. But it was still a bit short-sighted. This weekend, I took that idea and expanded it to the entire year.

I printed a giant A2 calendar and stuck it on the fridge.

In permaculture, we talk about "Zone 1." This is the place you visit every day without trying, like the path to your door. For us, the fridge is Zone 1. You can’t avoid looking at it.

By putting the whole year on the fridge, we stopped reacting to life.

We can see the gaps. We can see when we are traveling, when we have visitors, and when holidays are coming up. We blocked out time for the things that actually matter to us, like camping trips and community festivals.

Family connection is the real ROI. If we don’t plan for it, it doesn't happen. We wake up at the end of the year wondering where the time went. This calendar lets us stay in the driver’s seat. It isn't about being perfect or starting on January 1st. It’s the end of March, and we are starting now because intention is better than perfection.

I want Cléo to grow up seeing this. I want her to see her own events on the calendar and know her time matters too. I want her to learn that we don't just let life run over us like clothes in a washing machine.

We are building excitement for the future instead of just surviving the present.

If you want to try this, I have a PDF of the A2 calendar I made. Just reply to this email and let me know. I’ll send it over so you can print it out and start playing offense.

Have a great week.

PS. I am also still running the 30-day "Cold Shower" trial I mentioned last week. If you want to get my short daily lessons for free for a month, just mention "I'm in" when you reply for the calendar PDF. I'll get you set up.

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