FBC – 331 – Is life REALLY unfair?

Is life REALLY unfair?

Today I want to tell you a story that illustrate perfectly how unfair life is… Or is it really?

After you hear this story I want you to think hard about it and answer this question: Is life as unfair as people say?

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I need you to imagine that situation and we're going to discuss that situation. So let's say, for example, we are rivals or something, right?

So you and me, we're sitting there and there is this third person who tells us, well, look, I have a duffel bag with one million dollars that's in a locker at the train station. First person to get there keeps the money. All right.

We head to the destination and well obviously for one million bucks, you know, the camaraderie and the collaboration is over. It's every man or every woman for himself. So we start going at it. And here's the thing.

Now I decide to jump in the cab to get there and you decide to walk. For some reason, you decide that, well, you know what? I'm going to walk there. I'm going to run more than walking because, you know, you need to be very composed and stuff if you're walking to those million bucks.

So you're running. I am in a cab. Right. So what do you think will happen? Obviously I'm going to get there before you, right? So I was in the car. Well, let's assume that it's not rush hour. There's no traffic or nothing. I get there first. So I get the money right. And then once you get there, then you start saying that it's unfair because you used the car.

So at that point. Now, let me ask you this. Do you think that it is actually unfair that I used the car and you decided to run? So here's my take on this. Is it unfair? No. Well, the rules of the game were that nobody said, you can't use this. You can't use that. It was said, go there and get the million bucks.

Here's the thing. You decided to walk because you wanted to save the money. And you might tell me that, dude, I don't have money for a cab. OK, maybe I had money for a cab. Well, didn't you at least have money for a bus, you know, like a bus ticket for like a dollar or a euro something?

But you decided to walk because you wanted to save that one dollar or whatever to get there. And me, what did I do? I invested in a cab. I invested, I don't know, 20, 30 bucks or something because I knew that the reward at the end of the day was a million bucks.

Is life REALLY unfair?

OK, so what does this story tell you? The analogy that I'm trying to make here is that the cab that I took is the equivalent of the guidance and the trainings and the knowledge that you're going to acquire when you're investing in yourself. It might cost some money.

Yes, it does cost money. But, you know, when I when I tell it to you in story format, maybe it makes a lot of sense. When I'm investing in training, what does it do? It will take me to that million dollars faster than you. That's what it's doing. It may cost me a little bit. That can cost me 20 bucks. But at the end of the day, what's the reward? I will to the Promised Land before you.

I meet so many people are like, no, you know what? Why would I pay some dude to show me that when I can learn it for free on the Internet?

Yes, you can, but it's going to take some time. So I'm not saying that everything that takes time is bad. Right. There is some stuff that I've done myself because I wanted to learn it by myself and have my own thing and stuff. But there are some other things where, dude, the cab driver knew where the freaking train station was. I had no idea. I used the resources that had at my disposal.

You're investing in something that will shorten your learning curve and get you to the results, get you on the right path as well. You know, when you're trying to achieve something there is maybe like 15 different roads possible?

And what will happen is that you're going to try one to 14 and you'll realize that it wasn't the right one because it's a dead end. And then 15 was actually the right one. Right. But it took you 14 different tries to identify this.

But if you have the right guidance, if I ask the taxi driver, dude, take me to the train station, he takes me straight to that fifteenth. Right, because the dude knows where it is.

All right. So, the lesson here is the investments that you make have to be wise investments. Obviously don't go and spend your money on ridiculous stuff, but don't be that person who's against investing in information products and stuff because it costs money.

Money is a commodity that comes and goes. Time doesn't come and go, my friend. When time is gone, it's gone. So I would like to trade my money for time. Right? I buy time. I'm like, dude, here it is. Show me how I can get there faster than anybody because I don't have time to lose.

I recommend if someone asked me, instead of, you know, saving money like oh I will take four years to do it because I don't want to spend a hundred bucks for someone who can show me how to do it in one week. If you want to do that, then that's your problem. It's not mine.

But don't say afterwards that it's unfair.

Life Is Not Fair, And That Is The Best News You Will Hear Today

People say life is unfair like it is a curse. I see it the other way. If life were perfectly fair, you would be locked into wherever you started with no way to climb. Unfair cuts both ways. Yes, some people begin with more, but unfair also means a broke kid with no connections can outwork and out learn people who had every advantage, and beat them. I have watched it happen, I have partly lived it. The unfairness that lets someone leap past their circumstances is the same unfairness people complain about.

So stop waiting for the scales to balance and start using the fact that they never will. Your effort, your skills, your willingness to keep going, those are levers the accident of your birth does not control. I talk about turning an unfair start into an unfair advantage on my Freedom by Choice podcast, and I share the mindset in detail on my Substack. On how growth mindset and effort shape outcomes, Harvard Business Review has the research, and the founder stories in the Stripe Atlas guides show ordinary people building from nothing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is life truly as unfair as most people claim?

Life is unfair in starting conditions, but far less unfair in the responses available to you. Two people facing the same setback can take different actions and land in radically different places ten years later. The starting line is not the finish line, and most outcomes are shaped after the unfair part.

What separates people who escape unfair starts from those who do not?

People who escape unfair starts usually accept the situation, then refuse to let it define them. They build skills, ask for help, and keep moving. Those who stay stuck tend to repeat the unfairness story to themselves and to others. The story becomes a permission slip to stop trying, which is the real trap.

How should entrepreneurs think about unfair industry advantages?

Entrepreneurs should treat unfair industry advantages as data, not as walls. Big competitors have budgets and brand, but small operators have speed, niche focus, and personal service. Map what the other side cannot do, then build your business inside that gap. Many empires start exactly there, in the corners larger players ignore.

What is one practical move to stop dwelling on life being unfair?

Stop dwelling by writing one specific action you control today, then doing it. Action breaks the loop because the brain cannot rehearse unfairness while building something. Repeat tomorrow with another action. Within a few weeks the story shifts from how unfair life is to what you actually built while the world kept turning.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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