Be comfortable with the uncomfortable

Random Learning
I returned a rental car during lunch on Wednesday during a conference. I rode back with Mr. Hidalgo who was listening to Dennis Prager on the radio and we got to talking.

"I tell my son, 'Be comfortable with the uncomfortable.' When he asks me to buy something for him," Mr. Hidalgo said, "I ask him to negotiate and find out about the warranty. He has to be ready to move forward by himself."

AN INTERESTING INTERNSHIP
"I tell my son to watch Hard Core Pawn. Anyone who watches that TV show for at least ten episodes will become better at business. If a young person could work there for a month, he would be set for life. I don't know why any teenager stands on a corner with a sign, waving it around. What does he learn doing that? It would be better to work in a store like Hard Core Pawn and really learn about how to run a business."

Two of his children are college graduates or in college, one at Columbia, and his third child (age 14) is in ninth grade. "I already took him to visit his brother at Columbia. I want him to think that this is part of his future." That's an engaged parent.

I'm at a conference to learn how to become a better teacher, how to find better learning materials and how to motivate students. I got my best tip from the guy who drives a shuttle bus. Bravo, Mr. Hidalgo.