Some life lessons for my two boys

Dear Luke and Robert,
You boys are growing up to be fine young men, and it has been the great joy in my life to have watched you grow up these past few years. While I’m thinking of it — and before you grow up too quickly — I thought I’d share with you some of the life lessons your dad has learned along the way.
My favorite job title: Dad. Not editor, not business owner, not journalist, not newspaperman. My favorite thing to be called is Dad. I never tire of hearing you boys call me Dad. It’s my favorite thing to be. I hope you get a chance to be a dad some day.
Best compliment your wife can give you: You’re a good man. Do things that will make her say that often.
My favorite slogan: Just do it. With acknowledgments to the old Nike advertising campaign, I find this slogan holds up in many job and life situations. There are always a thousand excuses NOT to do something. There were plenty of reasons not to quit my newspaper job to buy a weekly newspaper 2,000 miles away in Idaho. Along the way, I have found that just about every business decision — every life decision, for that matter — you make, there are plenty of reasons to keep you from making a move. Sure, be careful and studious and thoughtful, but at a certain point, after deliberate consideration, Just do it.
To steal another quote, this time from Woody Allen, 80 percent of success is showing up. Although meant as a joke, I have found this to be true in life. And just showing up is often the hardest thing to do. I think about attending every City Council meeting for the past three years. I think about getting up and out the door early in the morning to go to a school board meeting. I think about driving to Rathdrum for a state playoff game. Just show up and find out what happens. In a lot of ways, this one goes back to the Just do it lesson. Just showing up, you’ll find, puts you ahead of most people.
I have more in this week's Editor's Notebook in the Kuna Melba News.