Let me tell you a quick story, one that I think about quite a bit. On his way to be sworn in,

as the most powerful man in the world, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to be lifted out of his car and

carried up the stairs. Francis Perkins, who campaigned with Roosevelt and later became Secretary of Labor,

said that the most remarkable thing about Franklin Roosevelt's paralysis

was how little its hindrance seemed to bother him.

Roosevelt once told her, quote,

If you can't use your legs and they bring you milk when you wanted orange juice,

you learn to say, that's all right, and you drink it.

So here is why I like that story,

because I think this is a very useful and overlooked skill,

which is what this episode is about today.

And that is accepting a certain degree of hassle and nonsense when reality demands it.

When the situation you are in demands that you have to accept hassle and nonsense and setback and pain and uncertainty, that you accept it.

That is an incredible skill that can do you a lot of good in life.

It is not an enjoyable skill to have, which makes it

overlooked in the world. But you realize how useful it can be once you spot somebody who lacks

this skill. And they struggle to get through the day. They are upset by the smallest little hassle

that they come across. I was once on a flight with a CEO of a large

company. He let everybody on the flight know that that's who he was. And he lost his mind

after the flight changed gates twice. We had to switch gates twice. And he was ranting and raving

in public in front of everybody and to the gate agent.

And I wondered, I thought to myself, how did he make it this far in life without the ability to deal with petty annoyance outside of his control?

...