The trick my parents played on me was "Your uncle was so good at this at your age..." First they taught me to look up to my uncle and I still do. He's an amazing man and I can't write enough about how persistent, hardworking, and optimistic he is. So as a kid, anytime my parents wanted me to do something, they would mention how my uncle could do so much at my age (and it was always true). Instant motivation! Real-life role models are inspiring. Celebrity role models end up in the news embarrassing everyone.

My parents rarely used themselves in the role-model position because if I was mad at them, I would do the opposite. But I can never be mad at my uncle. He's awesome. One of the things they said was that my uncle could use the calculator without looking at the keys. I didn't believe it till I saw it in person. Give him a long ledger and he could add/subtract 50 rows of currency amounts without even looking at the calculator and come up with the right total time after time. I didn't feel like I had to be that good at a calculator because I had a computer. But within 6 months I could type without looking at the keyboard. Inspiration works.