It's something of a cliche this days to suggest that lessons learned early in life (say, perhaps, Kindergarten) are most important to success as adults. But since things don't become cliche unless there is a grain of truth to them, I thought I would share a bit of wisdom I found as I was going through some old emails. I wrote this originally in response to a question on www.linkedin.com.

Should you stimulate your children to be successful in life or to have fun? Yes! stimulate them both.

Don't teach your children to be successful in everything they do. Teach them to strive for excellence. Teach them that striving for excellence is fun. Don't teach them to do whatever they want. Teach them to want to do good and to do well. Do teach them to have fun, because an important part of being successful is doing something you enjoy. I also believe that "having fun" is and ought to be one measure of success.

I wrote that originally back in July and I think I believe these things even more strongly after a few months of entrepreneurship than I did before. Success in any endeavor, be it business, academics, or relationships, relies to a great extent on doing the best that you can and enjoying it. So to all of you out there who don't mind the effort you are putting into your business because you are having so much fun, Congratulations! And congratulations to those early teachers in your life for teaching you well.