Stop talking. Nobody cares why you didn’t do your homework, failed to study for the exam, or arrived late to class. Just do your job, whatever that is.

Most of the time we complain about minor inconveniences that are more of a nuisance than a challenge to overcome. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that to “live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” Nietzsche was right, suffering is the perpetual state of the human condition. We shouldn’t feel entitled to comfort all the time, but we do. We have somehow convinced ourselves that the world should devote itself to making us happy. And when it doesn’t we complain about it. In a interview a couple of years ago, the famous football coach Bill Parcells told a story of his first year with the New York Giants. It was his first head coaching job and his team had been decimated by injuries. He worried incessantly about how difficult it would be to win games in the NFL with his best players, let alone a bunch of substitutes. When his mentor and owner of the Oakland Raiders Al Davis called him to check how he was doing, Parcells complained about all the injuries his team had suffered. Parcell’s said, “Al, I’m just not sure how we can win without so many of our best players. What should I do?” Al Davis responded with, “Bill, nobody cares, just win baby, win.” This conversation taught a young Parcells an invaluable lesson; that regardless of their impediments, the New York Giants would be judged by the same metric as everyone else. Even a great reason for failing to accomplish something will not get you any closer to achieving your goals. For the last couple of decades, teachers and parents have attempted to instill confidence in our youth by endlessly praising their innate specialness. This approach has not had the desired effect, we haven’t imparted confidence, but coddled. The lack of ownership and self-victimization we see today is a direct result of this. It’s time to realize that you weren’t born special, none of us were. Your problems have been faced a million times before by people just like you and they will be faced a million more times well after you’re gone. The only person that should care about your struggles is you. Don't just deal with adversity, use it to propel you forward. Spend no more time on what you could have done and all of your time on what you will do. Maybe then you will find solutions to your seemingly insurmountable problems. This piece of writing is an exercise in ruthless pragmatism. A kind of artificial hardening you desperately lack in the world of abundance that you live in. My only hope was to express a fundamental rule of success. In life, you’re better off toughening yourself up in a world that is at best, indifferent to your existence.