When I was very young, my mom left on a business trip for a whole week. My father, who I usually didn’t see much of during the week, now left work early to pick me up from kindergarten every day. We had some very memorable evenings together me and my dad – he cooked me dinner, we watched movies and hockey on TV, talked about all sorts of things long into the night after he had tucked me in and turned the lights off. The theme of these conversations was mostly what it means to be a man. I was very keen to find out if I possessed all those qualities that a man should – strength, kindness, character and this mysterious thing called ‘willpower’.

So my father said to me, “Do you want to find out if you have willpower?”

I replied “Of course I do.”

“OK, go to the kitchen and touch the fridge.”

Puzzled, I answered, “Why?”

“If I told you that, it would be far too easy, wouldn’t it?” he said.