Ryan Freitas on 35 lessons he’s learned so far:
My father always told me that the day we stop learning is the day we die. I wrote this as a sort of preparation for my 35th birthday last week. Some of these are poignant, others are simply trite; I attribute the latter to my growing sense of sentimentality as I age.
For example:
Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.
I’ve always been impressed with Ryan’s stunning ability to put into words what others cannot name. He sees clarity where others only, even sort of, see a gray area. I’ve taken to keeping our conversational marginalia, best I can explain it — sentences on Post-Its — of this wisdom. This from him from a snippet of a past conversation, “When I’m throwing everything into the incinerator, I occasionally stop to make something beautiful.” If conversations had margins, their residue would be on my desktop. And sometimes I get to stop to read. Thanks Ryan.
