MILLIONAIRE SUCCESS HABITS
were sitting outside around a firepit. My son was five years old at the time and the shortest kid in his school, just like I was. And I knew that one of his classmates was making it a little tough on him. Everyone was sitting around the fire after we had just fin- ished making s’mores, and I could see sadness on my son’s face. When I asked him what was wrong, he brought up going back to school in a few days, his small size, and how he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. He didn’t mention the kid or anyone making fun of him directly, but the writing was on the wall. Now I could have just said to my son, “Brody, I was small too. I know what it feels like, but it made me stronger, made me tougher, and I achieved so much because of it. You’re going to be fine.” That would be me trying to get him to understand me, my feelings, and what I went through. As I noted, this approach wouldn’t create a con- nection, and it wouldn’t help him feel understood. If I would have said, “Don’t worry about it; it’s no big deal. You’ll be fine,” there would have been no emotional connection. So in my head, I immediately had to figure out how to provide an empowering lesson and have him see that he was created that way for a reason. How could I teach him to be strong with- out making it about me and at the same time make him feel understood? That’s when a story popped into my head. And this one I made up as I went along. I said, “Brody, have you ever heard of Toof?” Not tooth, but toof, spelled t-o-o-f. He said no, and then my daughter Breana perked up her ears and chimed in with a “No, who’s Toof, Dad?” “Toof is the one-toothed werewolf. He’s only half werewolf, and his werewolf side only comes out during the half-moon, but boy he is ugly as heck when that happens. He has patches of long fur across his body, one tooth, he howls weird, and he’s just funny-looking.” And they were like, “Really? So what happened with Toof?” I said, “Well, you know, Toof went to school, and everybody thought he was a normal student, until one day there was a half-moon! And all of a sudden, Toof comes out of the bathroom with big patches of hair, one tooth sticking out a little sideways,
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