It turns out that Ralph Lauren is more than just a fashion designer; he is also a philosopher:

“We all get report cards in many different ways, but the real excitement of what you’re doing is in the doing of it. It’s not what you’re gonna get in the end – it’s not the final curtain – it’s really in the doing it, and loving what I’m doing.”

Being a parent, I get report cards from my kids all the time.  It is easy to get caught up in the marks.  But it is much more important to make sure my kids are:

A) Doing their best.

B) Excited about learning and improving.

These are two things I can easily monitor from home and I don’t even need to understand the subject matter to keep tabs on the progress.  And these are two things that will actually mean something as my kids grow up and have to focus on matters beyond school and on living their lives.

After all, the real report card is whether we are truly living our lives and not just passing through