29 SEP 2026

Hi Reader,

Every term, somewhere in Australia, a parent opens a school report and finds one word sitting there like a verdict: disengaged.

Mine said a version of it every year. "Has so much potential, but doesn't apply himself." That report measured how well I fitted one space, and it had nothing to say about the daydreaming, the curiosity, the quiet observations of almost everything around me: that all turned out to be my greatest assets.

A lot of young people are drifting from school right now. In 2019, 73% of Australian students attended school at least 90% of the time. In 2025 it was 62% (ACARA, National Report on Schooling). That's thousands of families living this at the dinner table.

What the stats leave out

Every disengaged kid is fully engaged with something, usually for hours at a time, without anyone asking. It might be editing gaming clips, reselling sneakers or running a group chat like a newsroom. That's attention already paid, and attention is where every business starts.

The label tells you how a young person fits one system. The thing they lose track of time doing tells you what they could build.

Try this tonight, it'll take 5 minutes

This week's tool comes from our Los Originales Kit (this kit is about unlocking creativity). We call it the Daily Catch.

• Tonight, write down three things that caught your attention today.
• Do it every night for seven nights.
• Then read all 21 back. Whatever keeps showing up is the thread worth pulling.

Do it alongside your young person, or do it for yourself. The label you were handed at 14 is probably still in there somewhere, waiting to be put to work.

If this one lands, the rest of the practice is in the Kit. Creativity is a skill: here's the training.​

Hit reply and tell me: what word did your school report use for you? I read every one, and I'd love to hear yours.

As always, Good things come to those who make.

My best,
Charbel