Lenny Rachitsky
The Long Game Beats Panic
Lenny's insight from Gina Gotthilf
Lenny spent nine years at his first job thinking he was wasting time—turned out it was the foundation for everything next. Kids have decades, not quarters.
Lenny spent nine years at a startup in San Diego. The whole time: "What am I doing here so long?" Turns out those years built everything that came next. Careers are long. Stop optimizing every quarter.
Your kid's been obsessed with dinosaurs for eighteen months. ONLY dinosaurs. Every book, every conversation, every drawing. You're worried they're falling behind on... what exactly? The childhood development roadmap you invented at 2am?
Your friend's kid already reads chapter books. Yours still thinks the letter B is hilarious and won't elaborate. You're panicking they've peaked at age four.
They have seventy years of career ahead. Maybe the dinosaur phase teaches research skills. Maybe the B obsession becomes comedy. Maybe it's fine and you're catastrophizing because other parents post suspiciously adult-made art projects.
Long careers mean there's room for random chapters. Let them be weird about dinosaurs. It's not wasted time. It's their San Diego startup phase.
