I was just on a flight from the east coast back to Los Angeles and thus I had some time to work, pitter patter, and watch the Expanse. I had never seen the Expanse before but it was on some list of recommended science fiction shows. I like science fiction but I am picky about it.  I understand that not all can be like Battlestar Galactica (the new one) but they do have to have some decent quality to them. I can’t watch sci-fi just to watch sci-fi.

Anyway, as I watched the Expanse on my iPad I was working on my laptop. I like to keep busy on all fronts. I was bored with answering emails and thus decided to purge my email. Well, not all of it. Just a few hundred here and there. I have way too many emails across too many email accounts.  Every year or so, I go through an email purge. The need to de-clutter can come on quite strong at times. And, then I get quite irritated with myself for accumulating so many worthless, useless and tedious emails.

Although, occasionally I am glad to have saved an email or two. As I was purging I came across an email I sent to myself several months back. It was meant to be a motivational bit.  It was a tweet a mother had put out about her three-year old daughter that had received over 400,000 likes.

The text of the tweet was as follows “My 3yo said she wanted to be an astronaut, and I said she had to study hard, go to college, learn a lot of science, and take a physical fitness test, and she shrugged and said, “That’s just 4 things.” So she’s basically a nonchalant motivational speaker.”

I saved that tweet for several reasons. First off, I like to make lists myself.  Second, my lists are way too long and thus her list is refreshingly simple. Third, I need to remind myself to bring my three-year old self to my meetings and in life, in general.  Of course, us adults are amused and bemused by this tweet. We think it is cute. And, we also think she is naive.

But is she really that naive? No, if we break everything down into micro components, we may be efficient but we are not aspirational.  And, we may be efficient if we are a hard-worker who isn’t afraid to roll up our sleeves and get down to business. But if long lists scare us, the three-year old perspective may do wonders for our lives.