1. Nobody is on their way to save you
There is no white knight coming in to save you. Neither is that meet cute, that spontaneous promotion, or that perfect, serendipitous miracle. There is no intervention on its way that’s going to suddenly change everything you hate about your life. Not unless you make one happen yourself.
Realizing that our lives will essentially stay the same forever unless we change something is a very empowering notion. Once we stop counting on daydreams and start counting on ourselves, it is incredible how much power we discover within our own hands.
2. You are entitled to absolutely nothing
It’s a trite rebuttal to a trite saying, but you aren’t a special snowflake who’s entitled to greatness and recognition. Most of your generation is probably still sitting in Starbucks sipping an extra-skim-soy-latte-no-foam and waiting for the world to recognize their uniqueness. Even exemplary people begin by being average: whatever your natural talents, you’re going to have to absolutely work your butt off to get recognized, just like everybody else. By acknowledging that you’re going to have to work for what you want, you are already miles ahead of many unfortunate millennials. Provided you, you know, start working for it.
3. You are definitely going to fail
Statistically speaking, there is no way you’re going to get every job you apply for, be liked by every person you meet, or even remotely succeed at the majority of the things that you try. It’s a world full of failure, and it’s definitely going to happen to you. But once we accept that failure is inevitable, we can stop taking it so damn personally. Getting rejected six times isn’t as daunting when we know that only one attempt out of ten usually works. Ask anyone who’s ever succeeded: chances are their pasts are swarming with failures. Fail, and fail often. It’s proof that you’re learning.
4. There is no good excuse
Guess what? Right now, at this exact moment, there is somebody out there who is busier, less privileged, and all-in-all less capable than you who is out there doing the exact thing you keep telling yourself you can’t do. Brace yourself for this one: There is always going to be an excuse not to do something. The circumstances are never going to be perfect. The difference between winners and losers is that the winners ignore their excuses, while the losers cling to them like life rafts.
Choosing to be accountable for overcoming obstacles is a skill that will allow you to thrive where weaker people fail. It is the skill that separates the managers from the front-of-line staff, the small league players from the superstars and the plain old average Joe from the kind of person you want to be. It’s called initiative. Once you start pushing past excuses, you’ll start standing out from the crowd.
5. People only care about you if you affect them in some way
Your next employer doesn’t care that you’re a totally interesting person who has spent their whole life dreaming about working in the industry. The idealistic stuff is nice, but instead, focus on this in your cover letter: What can you do for the company? That’s what they care about. Plain and simple. This also applies to your social life, your love life and just about every other aspect of your personal life. Nobody shows up for a first date already caring about you by default. You have to give them a reason to – by proving that you have something worthwhile to contribute to the relationship. Once you learn to market your skills and not just your super-unique personality, you will hold in your hand the key to making yourself indispensable. Plus, your cover letter will start grabbing attention.
6. Good intentions don’t always make you a good person
You know what you’re worth. You know what you’re capable of. You know what you have to offer the world and now it’s up to you to offer it. Intention means nothing. Sitting there knowing you’re a kind, well-wishing person doesn’t make you useful for anything. Using your kind, good wishes to inspire action and make change is what makes you important. And you are the only one who can do that. You are the absolute sole person who can make big things happen for yourself. Your thoughts, beliefs and intentions can be catalysts of incredible change – so long as they give way to action. Learn to practice what your mind preaches. With time, the unique little snowflake in your mind can become a blizzard. 
