A professor takes his class to a museum. He tells the class about many art sculptures and the meaning behind each and every detail. All of a sudden a janitor calls out the professor for being wrong about his whole lecture. Shocked, the professor says, “Well if you think you know more than me then why don’t you teach the class.” The janitor takes him up on his offer and walks the class through the museum, explaining the true meaning of each sculpture and the genius of the artists’ work as they walk though. The professor checks online to find that the janitor was 100% correct. At the end of the tour the professor apologizes and say, “How on earth do you know so much?” The janitor then says, “Oh that’s easy, I majored in art in college.” MOST con games work because the victim wants to get something for nothing. They want the reward without any work. It’s a desire that clouds the vision of even the most intelligent person. Have you ever thought- how in the world did we get here? People expecting something for nothing has become the norm. Simon Sinek, a British-American author and organizational consultant, has an interesting take on millennials in the workplace. He defined millennials as a group of people, which are those born from approximately 1984 and after, that are tough to manage. They are accused of being narcissistic, self-interested and entitled (the big one). Sinek believes that millennials grew up subject to “failed parenting strategies.” Where they were told that they were special – all the time, they were told they can have anything they want in life, just because they want it. They were raised getting constant participation medals; they got a medal for coming in last. It devalues the medal and the reward for those who actually work hard and actually makes the person who comes in last embarrassed because they know they didn’t deserve it. You take this group of people and they graduate and they get a job and they’re thrust into the real world and in an instant they find out they are not special, their mom’s can’t get them a promotion, that you get nothing for coming in last and by the way you can’t just have it because you want it. In an instant their entire self image is shattered. So we have an entire generation that is growing up with lower self esteem than previous generations. I stopped and thought about this question: what’s missing in these people? The answer is accountability and discipline. The two things people often turn away from is the key to accomplishing all that they want. NFL coach Vince Lombardi was quoted as saying: “I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline.” And he also said: “There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.” People need to realize that most of life is simply that ….a daily grind of discipline: repetition-a round of dull, uninspiring, lackluster things we must do again and again but know that repetition is necessary to success. It’s a matter of taking up each duty, no matter how mundane, humble, or trivial, and tying it to the intended purpose. In that way we take the drudgeries of life and turn them into meaningful work.