Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity. Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it! While many dispute the source, whether it was proffered by Bill Gates or not, I tend to agree with the hypothesis: The following 11 points came from a commencement speech widely attributed to Bill Gates entitled Rules for Life. I believe fair only exists as a rationalization or justification. Fair blends to a norm, and in doing so, it limits, inhibits, stifles, and restricts, all under the guise of balance and equality. Fair isn’t a standard to be imposed unless a leader is attempting to impose mediocrity. When leaders attempt to navigate the slippery slope of fairness, they will find themselves arbiter of public opinion and hostage to the politically correct. They do however demonstrate blindness to the mindset of the fairness doctrine.įrom a leadership perspective, it’s a leader’s obligation to do the right thing, regardless of whether or not it’s perceived as the fair thing. Stories such as this are all around us – they are not miracles, nor are they the rare exception. One of my clients came to this country from Africa in his late teens, barely spoke the language, drove a cab while working his way through college, and is now the President of a large technology services firm. It’s not the circumstances by which you come into this world, but what you make of them once you arrive that matter. It doesn’t matter whether you are born with a silver spoon, plastic spoon, or no spoon at all. Mandates don’t create fairness, but people’s desire and determination can work around or overcome most life challenges. What I vehemently dispute is attempting to regulate, adjudicate, or legislate fairness somehow solves the world’s problems. I don’t even dispute that many have an uphill battle due to the severity of the challenges they face.

12 rules for life audiobook youtube