MILLIONAIRE SUCCESS HABITS
she was doing it, I said, “Hey, guys, we all have unique gifts and unique abilities. That’s just one of Brody’s. I could never do that, but Breana, there are unique gifts you have that Brody doesn’t.” She said, “Okay, now ask me.” She got the first one wrong and she got a little sad and said, “Let me study them.” Well, it was five minutes before school, so I said, “Breana, there is no time to study them; you have to go to school.” She got sad, started to cry, and said, “Dad, it’s all about Bro- dy. You play with him every day in the morning and not me.” Thinking I was doing the right thing—and failing to rec- ognize that I was not acknowledging how she felt—I said, “Bre, that’s an absolute lie, and you know that it is. Don’t tell yourself a lie, and don’t tell me a lie. I work every day to make sure my time between you and your brother is completely equal. So you told yourself a lie. You told me a lie. I want you to take that back, and I want you to go get ready for school.” Completely sad, she cried and walked away. It was the first morning in her nine years of life she left without saying “I love you” and giving me a kiss. After she was gone for about a half hour, I felt terrible about what I had done. I had ignored her feelings! I had ignored how she felt. It didn’t matter if it’s true or not; if she felt that way that means it’s real to her! It hit me so hard that I jumped in the car, went to school, and politely asked to pull her out of class. I walked outside in the courtyard and sat down on a bench with her, looked her in the eye, and said, “Bre, your dad made a massive mistake. It doesn’t matter if I think it’s true. I know I spend time with you and your brother equally. But I dismissed the way you felt. I dismissed your feelings. I basically said, ‘Tuck them down,’ and that what you feel doesn’t matter because your father knows the truth, and I was completely wrong. All that could do is hurt our relationship and make it so you don’t open up to me in the future. And I want to give you my word that I’m going to work hard to never do those things, and if I do, I’ll make sure I fix them right away. And I apologize.”
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