Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca
It's Dia's Birthday Today. 🥳
The Kite 🪁
I thought long and hard about what message to send in my last newsletter of 2025.
Another past year review? This time with pictures? A peek into what I want to happen in 2026? A Warren Buffet-style "shareholder letter" detailing the ups and downs of the development business?
Then it hit me... I'll dedicate the final newsletter of 2025 to my kids, Luna & Luca.
More specifically, I want to highlight my favorite story from one of their favorite bedtime book series: Frog & Toad.
It's called "The Kite". I hope the author, Arnold Lobel, doesn't mind me plagiarizing his work for the sake of this blog post because I'd like you to read it before I get into why I think it's such an important story.
Here it is... (total read time: <2 minutes)
Frog and Toad went out to fly a kite. They went to a large meadow where the wind was strong. “Our kite will fly up and up,” said Frog. “It will fly all the way up to the top of the sky.”
“Toad,” said Frog, “I will hold the ball of string. You hold the kite and run.”
Toad ran across the meadow. He ran as fast as his short legs could carry him. The kite went up in the air. It fell to the ground with a bump. Toad heard laughter. Three robins were sitting in a bush. "That kite will not fly," said the robins. "You may as well give up."
Toad ran back to Frog. “Frog,” said Toad, “this kite will not fly. I give up.”
"We must make a second try," said Frog. "Wave the kite over your head. Perhaps that will make it fly."
Toad ran back across the meadow. He waved the kite over his head.
The kite went up in the air and then fell down with a thud. "What a joke!" said the robins. "That kite will never get off the ground."
Toad ran back to Frog. "This kite is a joke," he said. "It will never get off the ground." "We have to make a third try," said Frog. "Wave the kite over your head and jump up and down. Perhaps that will make it fly."
Toad ran across the meadow again. He waved the kite over his head. He jumped up and down. The kite went up in the air and crashed down into the grass.
"That kite is junk," said the robins. "Throw it away and go home."
Toad ran back to Frog. "This kite is junk," he said. "I think we should throw it away and go home." "Toad," said Frog, "we need one more try. Wave the kite over your head. Jump up and down and shout UP KITE UP."
Toad ran across the meadow. He waved the kite over his head. He jumped up and down. He shouted, "UP KITE UP!" The kite flew into the air. It climbed higher and higher.
"We did it!" cried Toad. "Yes," said Frog. "If a running try did not work, and a running and waving try did not work, and a running, waving, and jumping try did not work, I knew that a running, waving, jumping, and shouting try just had to work."
The robins flew out of the bush. But they could not fly as high as the kite. Frog and Toad sat and watched their kite. It seemed to be flying way up at the top of the sky.
I LOVE THIS STORY for so many reasons. I try to explain the following to my kids every time we read it, but it's probably a bit much for them at 3 and 5 years old.
Key Players 🔑
First, let's cover the key players and their roles in the story.
Frog plays the unbothered mentor, fully focused on the task at hand. Toad plays the frustrated, but willing student. The Robins play the peanut gallery with so much to say, but nothing to lose. The Kite plays every obstacle you will ever face in your life.
Takeaways 📚
The first two lines are worth repeating. "Frog and Toad went out to fly a Kite. They went to a large meadow where the wind was strong."
I cannot stress the importance of choosing the right environment to achieve your goals. Swim with the current. If you need to study for a test, go to the library. To eat healthy, stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. Seek out the places (or people) that make hitting your goals easy and inevitable.
Next, notice how influenced Toad is by the Robins. After each failed attempt, he runs back to Frog and repeats the negative chatter.
“This kite will not fly, I give up.” “This kite is a joke, It will never get off the ground.” “This kite is junk, I think we should throw it away and go home.”
Toad clearly lacks confidence. Lack of confidence stems from a lack of evidence. One of my favorite Hormozi-isms is, "You don't become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt."
There's no need to focus on building your confidence. Simply add to your stack of evidence. Get your kites to fly over and over and over and over and over again. The Robins will still be there, but your ability and willingness to listen to them will be a distant memory.
I love how Frog doesn't even address Toad's complaints. He gives the negativity ZERO air. Instead, Frog insists on trying again while adding a variant to each attempt, which makes his mentorship brilliant, or at the very least, the opposite of insane. My preferred definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Don't be insane.
Speak your dreams into existence. This may sound contradictory to my point above about shouting affirmations into the mirror. But Frog directed Toad to shout "Up Kite Up!" on their final attempt. Obviously, saying the words out loud didn't make the kite fly, but it does set the intention. Don't be afraid to plant your flag.
I must also applaud Toad. Despite the Robins chirping negativity in his ear, he stuck with it. It reminds me of the quote by Winston Churchill, "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." One could argue that Toad would have likely given up without Frog's guidance, but that perspective doesn't give Toad enough credit. Frog led Toad to water, but Toad still had to drink.
Finally, F*<k them Robins. They are, however, a necessary evil in this story and in life. The Robins serve as the critic for The Man In The Arena. And like most critics, they face ZERO penalty for being wrong. They can't help themselves from chirping when Frog & Toad are failing, but they scurry like cockroaches when the Kite reaches heights they can only dream of... Pathetic. Losers.
You will have many opportunities in life to be a Robin - a passive audience member watching someone else try to achieve their goal. I beg you to take a different approach. Appreciate the effort. Learn from their mistakes. Encourage their grit. Offer a helping hand. Just... be kind.
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