Most people never discover what they truly love because the school-to-college-to-job pipeline provides almost no exposure to the full menu of possible passions — the real gift a parent can give is sampling the world before the cookie is crispy.
Shawn argues that the structured school system (8 hours of identical curriculum) and the funnel toward college and jobs prevents most people from ever finding what they genuinely love. He reframes the parenting goal not as hyper-training but as exposure — letting kids 'sample the Costco samples' of life so they can recognize a passion when they feel it. ✦ AI generated
Shawn · My First Million · 2026-07-31 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 23:14
What I meant was really I'm going to give them exposure cuz I think most people the problem isn't that you found what you love and then you didn't keep doing it. Cuz when you really love something, it has a great amount of pull. You just do it anyways. I think what most people don't do is they don't really get to walk around Costco and sample the things. And I think that's actually the more interesting thing is like, how do you get somebody exposure because I would say the vast majority of people never even find out if they really love something cuz by the time you like school is such a regimented track, right? You're spending 8 hours a day doing the same exact things as every other kid. Did you happen to love photosynthesis? Did you happen to love trigonometry? Like, probably not. And so, by the and then and then it's all just funneling you to get into a college. When you get into a college, it's about getting a job. By the time you have a job, now you're working and you're trying to like pay for life. And by the time you're 30, you're like, well, I didn't really get that one that that opportunity to go figure out that actually it was podcasting that I really had an affinity to. I actually really loved that. Or it was, you know, whatever it is. Like, baking. It was this. It was that. It doesn't really it's hard to even know. And I think most people never even know. And so, the thing I want to make sure I do for my kids is get you to at least feel and see what different what the world is. What are what's even on the menu of options so that you have some exposure in life cuz I don't think the world by default does a good job of giving you exposure.
verbatim transcript · starts at 23:14
22:54can do this where you can like balance like being a good a good nurturer and also a pusher. >> clarify one thing. I'm not saying I'm going to like hypertrain them for greatness on like, you know, hey, get up, we're running sprints every morning. Like, you know, whatever up the hills. What I meant was really I'm going to give them exposure cuz I think most people the problem isn't that you found
23:14what you love and then you didn't keep doing it. Cuz when you really love something, it has a great amount of pull. You just do it anyways. I think what most people don't do is they don't really get to walk around Costco and sample the things. And I think that's actually the more interesting thing is like, how do you get somebody exposure because I would say the vast majority of people never
23:32even find out if they really love something cuz by the time you like school is such a regimented track, right? You're spending 8 hours a day doing the same exact things as every other kid. Did you happen to love photosynthesis? Did you happen to love trigonometry? Like, probably not. And so, by the and then and then it's all just funneling you to get into a college. When you get into a college,
23:51it's about getting a job. By the time you have a job, now you're working and you're trying to like pay for life. And by the time you're 30, you're like, well, I didn't really get that one that that opportunity to go figure out that actually it was podcasting that I really had an affinity to. I actually really loved that. Or it was, you know, whatever it is. Like,
24:07baking. It was this. It was that. It doesn't really it's hard to even know. And I think most people never even know. And so, the thing I want to make sure I do for my kids is get you to at least feel and see what different what the world is. What are what's even on the menu of options so that you have some exposure in life cuz
24:20I don't think the world by default does a good job of giving you exposure. >> You and I have a great friend, Ramon. So, Ramon van van Meer. And um he Ramon had a difficult situation where he became a single dad when his son was only 2 years old. And I met Victor when he was, I think, 3. Now, he's actually a sophomore or junior in college. And um
24:46he Ramon was crazy. Um partly he did this out of necessity, partly because he's a really amazing dad. And he would bring Victor, starting at the age of maybe seven, to these really big business meetings. I remember he sold one company when Victor was something like 10 years old. He sold it for close to $10 million, and I remember he would go to LA from San Francisco, and he would take Victor