Rulers naturally have a negative connotation when mentioned in the Bitcoin space, but if you’re like us and have kids, are you not enforcing rules from breakfast until bedtime? It is not only an important step to parenting, but an absolutely vital one for raising kids who are capable of making it on their own in this world. One day your kids will establish their own rules to live by.

Parenting means raising your kids how you want. Which people influence them. Who you introduce to them. What movies, music, tv shows, or comic books they get to enjoy. What religions, if any, they are brought up with. Whether or not they’re allowed to buy NFTs or trade SHIB on Binance. 

Much like parenting, bitcoining is a leadership role; A journey fraught with peril and a steep learning curve. It will take education, learning, an open mind, and yes, plenty of healthy boundaries in order to wake people up from the Matrix and start taking responsibility for their lives. Why not start at home? Why not start with the next generation? The ones we’re trying so desperately to win this monetary revolution for. 

Proof of work is the natural order of the world. It’s doing your job so you can pay the bills, maintain the house, or keep your lawn greener than the neighbors’ not to compete with them, but yourself. Having a money based on this concept is by extension only natural. 

If you want to accrue value, you first need to figure out how to provide value. Living a life rooted in proof of work is a sure fire way to do this. Make your bed, do your homework, study like your life depends on it. Discipline will help you build good habits like exercise and lifelong learning. Only through a consistent practice of habitual discipline will you be able to find your way to provide value and make a meaningful life worthy of your efforts. 

If you’re providing value and living a life of values, ideally you will start to accrue money and build wealth for the future. Money can be a tool for freedom or a prison if you don’t understand it. The basics are really quite simple; spend less than you earn by paying yourself first. The rest will come in time, provided you do the proof of work required to purchase your own freedom. Do not become a prisoner of your own ignorance. Money is simply a tool, learn how to wield it to your advantage through learning financial responsibility.

Learning financial responsibility doesn’t always need to be so painful. Enjoy going to the beach with friends and having an ice cream cone. Create those childhood bonding memories playing games at the arcade. But each time you feed that quarter into the machine, pause and reflect on how much you cherish your friendships. However, if there’s a transaction that spends too many sats, while it can’t be reversed (forever settled on the timechain), it will lead to discussion of high time preference thinking and the true value of a brand new car or designer clothing shopping spree versus your life’s dreams and ambitions. Teach values and live a life of meaning.

I know this task may sound daunting but the discipline, the habits, the learning will all compound together and allow you to live a life of your choosing. Only through self discipline and proof of work will you be able to truly enjoy a life filled with value and abundance. Lack of discipline will inevitably make you a debt slave, living paycheck to paycheck in an unfulfilling life. If you remain steadfast in this practice of daily discipline and proof of work, you will counterintuitively be able to enjoy yourself more than those who do not follow the same practice. As Jocko Willink likes to say, discipline equals freedom.

A green lawn is proof of work. Proof of low time preference thinking. When properly seeded, watered, and mowed it demonstrates visibly thinking about tomorrow. Stop troubling yourself wondering if the grass is greener on your neighbor’s side of the fence. Your grass is greener when you water it. Now paint your fence with a worthy dose of respect and the kids will know not to tread on you when they’re hit with that fresh cut grass smell.