My 14 year old son bought himself a new gaming laptop. It's not the laptop I want to focus on, but the journey on how he got there that matters. First, you have to understand my son. Most of the time, he's in his game-room playing Fortnite with his buddies. Trying to get him to do chores or make himself food or anything, is a disaster. Just like most teenagers, trying to motivate him with extrinsic motivation or force doesn't work. It's usually met with rolled eyes and crossed arms. However, about a month ago, he started asking questions about how to be successful, and we had a quick five minute conversation about goal setting. I told him, whenever I want something, I get a picture of it and put it in front of me and I go test it out. Whether it's a car or a laptop, or even a vacation or a house, I do my research and I go ask the experts that know the details between the different models and fine tune exactly what I want. How much will it cost? What would it feel like once I had it? Where would I set it up? What would I do with it in a month, a year, whatever? What will it look like after I have it? I really paint the picture, and then I build a workback plan, meaning, how much do I have right now that I can allocate toward that goal? How much exactly will it take to achieve it? And then I have a laser focus on exactly what I need to do to get it. And for some reason, that resonated with him, that hit him right between the eyes. Immediately, this 14 year old, turned on a goal-oriented mindset. Immediately, he took his phone out and got on Amazon, looking at the different models for gaming laptops. He went to his 17 year old cousin and started asking the difference between a desktop, a laptop, the Xbox, etc. He started to fine tune and eliminate options. Then he said, “Hey, dad, can we go to Best Buy?” So we went to Best Buy. We found the expert, and we started to pinpoint the differences between the models. And immediately he saw the path. He took a picture in his mind. He put it on his phone as his cover, as his wallpaper. And he asked me, “Dad, how much do I have in my green light savings account?” I Said, you have $55. The laptop was $799. So we started to do quick math and he said, “all right, what do I need to do to earn money around here?” My wife and I came up with a quick list, pull weeds for this much, wash the car for this much, or you sell some things. He went up to his room, grabbed four or five items, grabbed some Christmas and birthday presents that he had unopened. And he said, how do we sell these? I explained how Facebook Marketplace worked and offered to help him. Immediately, he started taking pictures and coming up with descriptions. And $50 turned to $150, then $150 turned to $275. He started to build momentum. And while everybody else was watching Family Matters, he was calculating. He started to ask, on a regular basis, “can we go to Best Buy?” He wanted to put his hands on it. He wanted to visualize what it would be like to achieve his goal - to have it. In less than 2 weeks, he had saved up $600. Well on one of those trips to Best Buy, it turns out, that laptop was on sale… for $600. This kid proudly paid his $600 and went home with a brand new laptop. And as his friends came over to set it up, he felt proud, not just because of the laptop, but because of what he had done, who he had become. Remember, you have the power to shape your destiny, so go out there and make it happen. COMPLETE MOTIVATION
