You Can Change Other People

CHAPTER 2PEOPLE DON'T RESIST CHANGE—THEY RESIST BEING CHANGED: YES, I WANT THAT THIRD BOWL OF ICE CREAM!

Let me say up front, with a father's pride, that my 13-year-old son Daniel is one of the smartest, most talented people I know. He's quick, charming, and witty—and he's the poster child for resistance. Even a basic direction—“Go brush your teeth”—elicits tremendous pushback.

But when Daniel sets his mind to something, his drive, enthusiasm, and persistence are unstoppable. He will change and raise his game in all sorts of ways. Case in point: a gaming PC. He wanted it, but I wouldn't buy it for him. So he went to work, formulating a plan to make enough money to afford it on his own.

He asked his grandfather for an inexpensive drone for his birthday. He spent hours mastering it, learning how to shoot aerial video footage and eventually impressing his Aunt Catherine enough that she hired him to go with her to South Carolina for a week and shoot footage for her real estate company. He was nervous about making the trip by himself but decided to do it. He packed his own bag—no nagging required. He made a stellar video … and $650.

The computer he wanted was still way out of his budget. Undeterred, he discovered a way: He would buy the parts and build it himself. He educated himself on cases, motherboards, graphics cards, fans, and the rest, and ordered them from various websites. He enlisted his cousin Atticus to help him build it. After three months of overcoming obstacles, he ...