I saw this years ago - it was attributed to Bill Gates, of Microsoft, but I don't know if they are his words. They are salient, nevertheless - especially in the spirit of this thread, Rule 8.
Rule 1 – Life is not fair. Get used to it
Rule 2 – The world will not care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 – You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a company vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 – If you think your teacher is tough – wait until you get a boss.
Rule 5 – Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different phrase for flipping burgers. They called it “opportunity”
Rule 6 – If you mess up – it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.
Rule 7 – Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 – Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but LIFE HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished fail grades, and they’ll give you as many attempts as you need to give the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in life.
Rule 9 – Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 – Television is not real life. In real life, people do actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 – be nice to nerds. Chances are, one day you’ll end up working for one.