One of my favorite things about being a Dad is saying “dad things.”
When you have kids, inevitably there will be a time they don’t get their way. They want a toy you won’t buy, they want ice cream for breakfast, they don’t want to go to bed, etc. Eventually the words “That’s not fair!” are uttered.
My response has always been “The fair is an event that comes to Dallas in the fall.”
Of course, in the beginning, they had no idea what I was talking about (which is totally fine because I was still entertained!), but over time they came to realize there’s no such thing as “fair” in life.
What’s awesome is after a while they stopped saying things were not fair because they knew their efforts were futile.
The Fair Is An Event…
You see, life is not fair. At all. From the moment we’re born there are advantages and disadvantages we experience that we have no control over.
The country you’re born in, the parents you have and their socioeconomic status, your physical genetics, your ethnicity, and the list goes on.
You don’t get a say in any of that.
Fair? Hardly.
So often people talk about having a level playing field, but such a thing does not exist. There will always be people who have an advantage, whether physically, financially, mentally, or otherwise.
Just because those advantages exist, doesn’t mean you have to roll over and just accept what life has given you.
Let’s say you work somewhere, and your bosses’ son also works there. Is he going to get preferential treatment?
Of course. Is that fair? Probably not.
So what do you do?
Well, you can bitch and moan that it’s not fair and that’s why you’re not as successful as you say you want to be.
OR, you can use that as motivation to outwork whatever advantage that guy may have, and know YOU will give your best effort regardless.
Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to, individual effort.
As a fitness & nutrition coach, I was not blessed with great physical genetics. I’m not naturally “ripped” and I wasn’t great at sports. I do have very nice glutes…;-)…but I don’t have an Instagram ass to draw attention to myself.
I’m a short, stocky, 1/2 Mexican, 1/2 Russian dude who is simply willing to do the work.
If that means I have to work a little harder than others who have the look, or the body, or started with more money, or were a professional athlete, then so be it.
Hell, if I had those things, I’d take advantage of them, too.
Finally, if you really think about it, we all possess something that someone else would say is not fair to others. Maybe it’s our work ethic.
Maybe it’s the group of people we have chosen to surround ourselves with. Maybe the crap we’ve had to face in our own lives, the things we thought weren’t fair at the time, actually IS the unfair advantage we have over others.
The next time you find yourself thinking something isn’t fair, remember you’re absolutely correct. The fair is an event that comes to Dallas in the fall and has no bearing on your success or lack thereof.
Aaannnddd GO!
