Richard Rumelt
Power + Focus + Burnable Target
Inspired by Richard Rumelt episode
Richard Rumelt's magnifying glass lesson: you need power (the sun), focus (the lens), and a burnable target (black thread). Same formula for getting your kid to move.
When Richard Rumelt was nine, he tried burning cloth with a magnifying glass. Wasn't working. A counselor showed him: use a black thread instead. The sun was the power source. The magnifying glass focused it. But you also need a target that can actually be affected.
"Go play outside" is trying to set fire to the concept of childhood itself. Your kid stands in the doorway like a broken NPC waiting for better instructions. They've got shoes on. They're technically outside if you count the doorway. Is this it? Is this playing?
Pick one burnable target: the trampoline. Not the swings, not the bike, not "outside." Just trampoline. So you say "Go jump on the trampoline" and suddenly they're doing it. And then—this is the wild part—they notice the bike. Then the swings. But you can't start by trying to ignite the entire yard at once.
Meanwhile your neighbor's kid has been "playing outside" for 45 minutes, which apparently means standing next to the slide arguing about whether grass is alive.
