In a previous article, titled "How a 7-Year-Old Gets What He Wants... and How You Can Too!", I shared with you my 7-year-old son's "scientific" formula for getting what he wants and how you could use it to get what you want.

As I stated in that article, his "formula" works and it works all the time.

However...

It wasn't always that way.

Over the last seven years, in the process of perfecting his scientific formula for getting what he wants, he made three major mistakes, three "big boo-boos" as he refers to them, that prevented him from getting everything he wanted.

So powerful were his three big boo-boos at preventing him from getting everything he wanted that I want to share them with you so you don't make one or more of the same mistakes he did.

Here they are...

Big Boo-Boo #1 - Not making constructive use of what he already had.

Whenever he asks for anything, the first thing his "source" of supply... Daddy, who's just as anxious to give him what he wants as he is to get it, does is look around at what he's doing with what he already has.

For example...

When he wanted a new Power Ranger toy, his source took a look at the gargantuous box of Power Ranger toys he already had that, other than the day he got each of them, he rarely, if ever, played with.

Seeing how little use he made of his other Power Ranger toys, and how little joy and pleasure he got from them, how likely do you think it was that his source would run out and shell out sixty bucks for another one?

Trust me on this one...

Not very. :-)

On the other hand...

When he wanted a Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP and some new video games to go along with it, his source, knowing full well the almost daily use he made of his older GameBoy Advance and his other video games, and all the joy and pleasure he got from them, was more than happy to come through with what he wanted.

Big Boo-Boo #2 - I want it and I want it now!

Early on, he learned the hard way that imposing deadlines on his source was a sure way to absolutely, positively, 100% guarantee that he would not get what he wanted.

As a matter of fact, he also learned the hard way that trying to impose his will on his source, taken to extremes, could get what he already had taken away from him.

You see...

Daddy, just like you and just like the Universal source of all things, doesn't like to be forced or pushed.

In his writings, Wallace D. Wattles once referred to this as "coercing God"...

Not a wise move. :-)

Big Boo-Boo #3 - Lack of gratitude.

In short...

Failure to say thank you to his source... and sincerely mean it.

In his book, "The Science of Getting Rich", Wallace D. Wattles writes:

"Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude. Having received one gift from God, they cut the wires which connect them with Him by failing to make acknowledgment."

I guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree because, although I didn't know it at the time, lack of gratitude was a major problem I had.

For many years, whenever anything good would come into my life, I'd do my little victory dance, high-five anyone who happened to be standing near me at the time and quickly proceed to run around and tell everyone how great I was.

Then...

More often than not...

I'd watch my life turn to $#@! again!

It wasn't until I read that passage in "The Science of Getting Rich" that I finally understood why this kept happening to me.

Well...

There you have them...

The three biggest reasons why a 7-year-old doesn't get everything he wants, one or more of which might be standing between you and your getting everything you want in life.

By the way...

Before you begin feeling sorry for the little guy...

You should know he's a real quick study.

Unlike most of us, who tend to repeat our mistakes over and over and over again, while hoping somehow things will work out...

The minute he sees something isn't working, he changes course immediately.

A valuable lesson we can all learn! :-)