You are 16-17-18-19 years old. The cool kids are out partying and drinking and doing drugs and eating junk food. They’re having all the fun and making sure you see it on their social media.

Fuck it. You’re playing the long game.

Stay on your shit. School, gym/sports, hobbies, career planning. Health. Keep your room clean and be a good son to your parents no matter how shitty they can be (do you have food to eat and wifi to read this post? Yes? They can’t be that shitty then.)

Say your are 16 now. In 5 years you will be 21. You will good grades at a good college in a STEM major. You will be in great shape. You will be mature and life will start to click—you will see yourself as one of the adults and realize you’re smarter than most of them. You will be a couple years away from making more money than most of the people on the planet. And you will look like a fitness model.

Guess what? Grown women will be CHASING you. I’m taking 20 year olds, 30 year olds, 40 year olds who will weakly shoot their shot. The party will fade and all the drinking and drugging will start to show on your peers faces. They’ll be a little softer looking, a little more wrinkled…you’ll like at them and think “damn I used to want to be like you…”

And the best part about it? While you’re home from college for the summer working for money to blow on clothes and travel and self improvement, your coworkers will clock out and head to their second job so they can pay their utility bill on time.

The grind pays off guys. The sooner you buck up and realize you know NOTHING, and you’re NOT SPECIAL, and the people trying to tell you stuff actually know more than you, is the sooner you can start living the dream.

Get to it, and stick with it, especially on the days when you have no motivation to get out of bed. Those are the days that count the most.

And clean your room.