Why Is Life Unfair?

I’d like to take a moment today to answer a question that is on the minds of many. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times across the internet, in movies, or in your environment.

“Life is unfair.”

Or various alternatives, such as “life is unfair sometimes.”

And it’s true. Life IS unfair. There are millions of children working all day for one dollar per day that will probably die before they hit 40.

At the same time, there are people so full of themselves that if they don’t get their money back on a perfectly good product they impulse bought, they start a tantrum, call their bank, lie saying they didn’t mean to buy it, etc.

That is the reality in which we live. And it is that same reality in which we see people like Nelson Mandela, who with the help of many many others, manage to almost completely rid their country of white supremacist laws during a single lifetime. And by doing so leaving a tremendous positive impact on many other parts of the world.

And it’s the same reality in which people like you and I go about our own lives, finding meaning, perfecting our skills, spending time with loved ones, and doing whatever we can to add value.

In short, life, or nature how I like to call it, does not take sides. It just is. If you have the misfortune to be born in a dangerous place, you will have to face danger if you are to survive, but everyone else around you is going to have to do the same.

Likewise, if you’re born in a family or country that takes care of you and all your basic needs, you’ll have to push harder to gain enough perspective and gratefulness to be able to grow and evolve, instead of wasting away your life in never-ending consumerism and opinionated debates on social media.

We won’t talk about how to get out of dangerous contexts today for two reasons:

One, that would probably take many long articles in itself.

Two, it’s nowhere near my speciality as I am one of those blessed individuals who, though I was born into a poor family that after 15 years of marriage had to decide between buying a computer OR buying a car, because my parents couldn’t afford both, we at least had food on the table and clean, second-hand clothes to wear every day.

Today’s article isn’t to discuss about the various economical and political contexts people are either born or placed into. Instead, we’ll focus on those of us who do have have access to internet. Whom do have your basic needs met to a large or complete extent. And who are trying to make it in this ever competitive world.

“Why is life so unfair?” Why do some people seem to just have it in them? Why if I work day in day out I don’t get to enjoy the results others have?

Allow me to share something with you that when I learned it a decade ago (I think from Tony Robbins) it changed my life for the better. Hopefully it will do the same for you:

If your work is Average, you will enjoy Bad results.

If your work is Good, you will enjoy Average Results.

If your work is Great, you will enjoy Good Results.

If your work is Outstanding, you will enjoy Great Results.

If your work is World Best, you will enjoy Outstanding Results.

Wow.

There is just SO much competition out there, so much noise, that if you want to stand out (i.e. be outstanding) you literally have to become world best at whatever it is you want to do.

Think of it this way: Did you ever hear about Arnold? I probably don’t even need to say is Schwarzenegger last name. You already know him from his little name. Yet, did you know that there were tens of thousands of body builders that tried to get on or even were on the same stage he’s been on? Do you know any of their names?

If you do, you probably just know a few more. I.e.: You 100% know the World Best, and you also know a few that were Outstanding.

That’s it. All the other tens of thousands of body builders who work for 4 hours every day and eat tasteless food for years never made it onto your radar.

Of course, I didn’t write this article to discourage anyone. Quite the opposite. I believe the only practical study of reality is how things really are, instead of how we’d like them to be.

Instead, what I wanted to do is to give you some perspective.

This should help you set realistic expectations of what it’s going to take to get the level of results you want.

You can’t be Good and get Good results. It simply doesn’t work like that. If you’re a good writer, you’ll get an average size following.

You ONLY start getting Good results when you have already become Great at what you do. Not a second sooner. More so, even then there’s a bit of lag, as others need to notice you’re great. But safe to say, once you become great, people will naturally start to notice, and opportunities, money, connections, will start to come your way.

Thing is, in most cases you need to invest 5, 10, sometimes 15 years to become great at something. Some football players start as young as the age of 5 and aren’t picked up by a big team until they’re 22.

Writers might write several millions of words across 15 years until one of their books breaks the NY Times Bestseller mark. Entrepreneurs might put in 60 hour weeks for 10-20 years until they become millionaires.

Etc.

And that’s just until the level of being Great and getting good results. Outstanding? World Best? Put another 5-10 years on top of that, and many, many more things you’ll 100% have to say no to and laser focus on your craft.

Of course, some people manage to attain wealth for example through a combination of hard work AND luck. But:

1. Attaining wealth and maintaining it are 2 VERY different subjects. Most people that win the lottery don’t say rich as they’ve never put in the time to become Great with money.
2. They are VERY few and far between, so it’s not worth trying to imitate. For every Facebook, there are 100,000 apps per year that get built but don’t acquire large audiences.

The only final thought I’d like to leave you with is:

If you want to enjoy great results in venture or project, make sure you LOVE doing it. Nothing else will keep you going for the many years it will take to

And, if for some strange reason you never attain your final goal, you probably won’t have regrets, because you still enjoyed the work itself. Which is worth its weight in gold.

Time passes anyway. No matter what you do. Choose to do what you love.

Hope this helps. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and share if you liked it!

Thank you,
Robert

P.S.: If you ever need to talk with someone, have any questions whatsoever, or just want to say hi, please email me@robertindries.com. I’d love to meet you.