Say this instead of "be careful."

Photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash

I was on the phone with one of my mentors and he said something to his kids that surprised me.

His 2 kids were headed out to play. They're an adventurous family and so the kids are often building things, rock climbing, and riding mountain bikes off dirt jumps.

When I was a kid and I left the house on an adventure. My parents would say something like "be careful," or "be safe." And yes, they definitely had my best interest at heart.

But then my mentor said something different.

He told them "stay sharp."

It was such a small moment. Blink and you would have missed it.

I was blown away. I asked him about it.

I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like:

"yeah, the goal isn't to avoid risk. It's out there. Fun and adventure often come with risk, too. The goal is to stay vigilant and use your senses to manage risk and react to emergencies when they happen. It also lets them know that I trust their instincts and so should they."

Whoa.