Why Entitlement Is Destroying Our Younger Generation

Comfort is easy; peace is earned. We take a hard look at the gap between what many expect and what life actually rewards, and we do it without fluff. From a fiery exchange over capitalism and guaranteed outcomes to the day-to-day reality of raising kids who understand effort, we unpack why standards, discipline, and resilience still win—especially when the world tempts us to coast. The thesis is plain: results reflect effort, and the fastest way to lose yourself is to seek rewards without rigor.

I walk through a debate clip where young voices argue for handouts and security as a right, and then I counter with what anyone who has built anything knows—focus over years, the willingness to fail, and the humility to learn. We step back to history for perspective on hard work and survival, then bring it home with practical parenting moments: tying treats to effort, teaching emotional control, and giving kids language that fuels persistence instead of quitting. The lesson scales from the mat to the marketplace—small choices compound into identity, and identity drives outcomes.

If you’re tired of doom headlines and finger-pointing, this is your reset. Presidents change, markets cycle, algorithms churn; your standards are the constant. Show up grateful, do work that matters, and repeat long enough to feel the deep relief of living aligned with your values. That’s where inner peace comes from—not from participation trophies or perfect conditions, but from honest effort and the courage to strive. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone who needs tougher love and higher standards, and leave a quick review to help more people find it.

Chapters

• 0:00 Weak Men, Hard Times
• 0:42 No Handouts, Only Earned Rewards
• 1:04 Debating Capitalism vs. Soft Entitlement
• 3:22 History, Hard Work, and Perspective
• 5:06 Foundations Under Fire
• 6:12 Parenting for Effort and Standards
• 8:23 Emotional Control and Never Quitting
• 10:17 Opportunity Over Excuses
• 12:08 Why Handouts Fail the Human Spirit
• 14:12 Choose Greatness, Not Bare Minimum

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

And so now we're living in the time of weak men that are gonna create hard times. Like this younger generation, they're gonna create such hard times for themselves if they don't learn how to have urgency, be resilient, work hard, have the right mindset, have ambition. Like I talk to a lot of young people, and it's like the freaking lights aren't on. What's going on upstairs, man? They're not really attuned to what's reality. And that's again because we live in soft times right now. Times are so easy. Welcome back to another episode of the Unstoppable Mindset Podcast. I'm your host, Sean Crane, and I'm grateful that you're here for this message today. Check it out, you guys. There's no handouts in life, nothing's gonna be given to you. Everything that you truly want, from the money in your bank account to the body to the inner peace that we're all seeking, must be earned. And one of the biggest problems I'm seeing in society right now in America is that these young people are entitled, they're spoiled, and they don't know what it really takes to create success in their lives. The reason I bring this up is I was watching a podcast with Patrick Bett David, and he was basically debating with people who are anti-capitalists, right? People who are maybe they're socialists or communists, I don't know. They're all these young people, and a lot of them had purple freaking hair, piercings in their faces. A lot of the guys seemed super feminine. Check it out. There's this weird thing going on with the people that oppose like strong men or masculinity or capitalism. Most of people that oppose uh those characters and those characteristics, they're they're different, man. And different, not in a way that represents like strength or success or prosperity. Like they're not people that I would want to follow, you know? And like, where are they learning this stuff from? Where are they being brainwashed? Why are why are these young men, why do they sound and look so feminine? You know, why are these people so confused? And gosh, a lot of them are being manipulated at college. They're being, you know, indoctrinated by their professors on these campuses, those same campuses that Charlie Kirk was going to wake people up, like these young people are being massively manipulated, uh, almost to like hate America, to hate capitalism, to hate strong men. You know, they all believe that like strong, wealthy white men are crooked and evil and bad. And it's like, do you have any idea what it takes to actually grow a business and to become successful? You know, when I was younger, I'd hear people talk about like uh Donald Trump or uh, you know, now people talk about Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, all these wealthy people. And immediately they assume that like they're evil and they've done all these bad things to accumulate their wealth. Here's the truth maybe some wealthy people did do bad things, maybe they did burn people. Maybe they are shady, but I never thought of it that way. Initially, I always thought about how do they get there? What do they do to reach that level? Because anyone knows who's grown a business or created wealth, like it takes so much effort and focus for such a long period of time to amass uh a large amount of wealth or to build a successful business, right? But anyway, back to my point, like I was watching this clip with Patrick Bett David and these young people, and one by one, they were coming up to him to debate capitalism and why they felt capitalism was wrong, you know, and they were trying to use uh all you know all these uh different anecdotal stories or all these different viewpoints about communism and socialism. And one of the guys, one of the guys stood up and he goes, Yeah, we live in America, uh, you know, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, right? He quoted that. And Patrick Beck David goes, Wait, so you think you're born here? Like you should just get handouts? Because the guy was basically saying we should all have free health care, you know, we should be able to make an abundance of money doing pretty much any job and be rewarded for just minimal effort, and everyone should just have, you know, uh like pretty pretty much everything they need. And dude, this guy is so delusional. He doesn't realize just until recent times, the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years, maybe 100 years, most human beings every day had to get up and kill what they ate. Meaning it was pure survival, you know. You were you were in pure survival mode. You know, people during the like agricultural times, right? They had farms and they had uh livestock and they they grew their own vegetables and like the land sustained you, right? You had to grow those crops, you had to work hard every day to harvest those crops. Uh, you had to tend to your livestock, you had to, you know, um kill cows and and you had to um you know skin the meat and and prep the meat and store the meat and make sure it didn't go rotten and like you had to raise chickens and go collect the eggs and all this stuff. Like every day was hard work. Most of society, you know, historically has had to work really hard every day just to maintain. And it's so crazy you have these young people growing up in the freest country in the world in the most abundant time ever. And they don't realize that we got to this point by people working hard tirelessly, tirelessly, uh, to create a society where they have such advantages and opportunities. But a lot of people are taking that for granted to the point where now they're condemning the exact system, capitalism, you know, the United States of America, the constitution, the morals, the values, and beliefs that this country was founded upon, right? They're condemning that that foundation and like like the forefathers that created this beautiful nation. They're condemning those ways now. You know, it's just they're so naive, man. And I think this is because they grew up in easy times and the you know, the cliche statement, right? Like easy times make hard men, hard men make soft times, and then it goes back round and round and round, right? Um, and so now we're living in the time of weak men that are gonna create hard times. Like this younger generation, they're gonna create such hard times for themselves if they don't learn how to have urgency, be resilient, work hard, have the right mindset, have ambition. Like I talk to a lot of young people, and it's like the freaking lights aren't on. Like, what's going on upstairs, man? Like they're not like they're not really attuned to what's reality. And that's again, because we live in soft times right now. Times are so easy. And so I was shocked when I heard this guy try to like counter Patrick Bed David's argument about why capitalism and a free market is so important, by saying, No, we live in the land of, you know, um, what did I say a second ago? I said um, I forgot what I said, but basically like the land of the free, right? With liberty and like basically abundance. Like he just wants things handed to him. Um and so what I do with my children every day is I talk to them about what it takes to actually be successful. I I'm instilling into them the right belief systems right now, the right habits right now. Scarlet six, Preston's four, Mason's 15. Every day I'm talking to them and sharing with them the truth about what works in life and the way life is. You know, and the other day we went to my son's martial arts class, Preston, who's four, does Krav Magah. And at this age, they're not doing a bunch of hand-to-hand combat and stuff like that. It's more of like teaching him how to pay attention, how to have discipline, uh, how to do push-ups, how to do sit-ups. Then they do obstacle courses and have fun. He has a great time. He does it twice a week. But the other day, him and this other boy were goofing around as they were supposed to be in line, paying attention to their instructor. And so after Crow Maga, he wanted to get like a little treat or a snack. I'll take him to 7-Eleven or 76 and get him. He likes Pringles. I'll get him a little box of Pringles. That's like his reward every once in a while. And he said, Dad, can we go uh to the snack store? He calls it the snack store. Can we go to the snack store, Dad? And I said, No, Preston, we're not gonna go. And he goes, Oh, but why, Dad? Why? And I said, Because you didn't give your best effort in Craw Maga. I saw you jok uh joking around and goofed around with that other boy. I said, It's okay to have fun. That's what you're there to do. But when your instructor is talking to you, you got to pay attention. And he goes, I know, I know. And I said, Do you think you gave your best effort? And he goes, No, I didn't. And I said, So that's why you're not getting the Pringles, because in life, you don't get rewarded when you don't give your best effort. I told him, when you're younger, you have parents to take care of you. And, you know, your school teachers look after you, grandma and grandpa, you have family members, and you know, life's pretty easy as a kid. But as you get older, you're not rewarded if you give bad or or a lack of effort. You know, your your rewards or your results in life are a reflection of the effort that you put forth. So I'm always instilling this into my children. I'm always telling them each and every day, best attitude and do your best at everything that comes across your plate, right? Meaning, whatever you're doing, give your best effort. Do it to the best of your ability. Every day, I reiterate this message to them because that is what's gonna give them the ability to achieve a great life. It's knowing that, hey, the harder I work, the more effort that I put forth, like that's what's gonna give me places in life. No one's gonna give me stuff. There's no handouts, you know, participation trophies and all that crap. We're done with that stuff. You should not get rewarded for not giving your best effort. Like, if you're in a league playing sports and it's competitive and you get seventh place, you shouldn't get a trophy. Okay, because what that teaches you is like you're gonna get a reward no matter if you get first place in life or last place. And that's a really bad message to share with a young person. It's okay to have a little team party after, give them some pizza, let them play around. Hey, great season, you guys, give people high fives. You know, I love the way you showed up. You got better each game. I saw improvements in all of you. Next year we're gonna go out and get first place, right? Set that standard for them. And this is what good coaches, fathers, leaders, and men in society need to do. You need to raise the standard for young people. And not in a way that's gonna be overwhelming for them and overbearing, but in a way that's gonna help them to grow to reach their potential in life. Always painting the picture of like, hey, if you want stuff, you can have anything you you want in this life. You can achieve anything you want, but you have to try harder and you have to be uh resilient and relentless. And here's the thing kids get discouraged. Like a lot of times, my daughter, she'll be doing something, she'll like flop on the ground. She's like, Oh, it's so hard, dad. I can't do it right now. And I always tell her, you know, two things. Number one, if you believe you can't do it, you won't. And we had this talk this morning. I said, the words you speak to yourself and about yourself or the words you speak out loud are so powerful, they become true. So I said, every time that you're going through something that's hard or difficult, don't say I can't do it. Take a moment, you know, take a little break and say, like, okay, I'm gonna try again, or I'm gonna keep trying until I get it right. And one thing I've always instilled in my children is like, we never quit or give up. We never quit or give up. We never quit or give up. So even when times are tough, you know, they can persevere because they have that internalized belief. Now, the second thing is I tell her, like, hey, if you get angry or upset or emotional in a situation, it's gonna make it worse. You know, teaching them emotional control and self-control at a young age is very important. We all get discouraged at times, we all get upset. But if you allow that to defeat you and stop you in your tracks, are you gonna get what you want in life? No. Right? So, again, these are things that I'm teaching my kids at a young age, but these are things that I see a lot of adults and young people lacking, man. It's like you don't work hard and you expect to just have all these results, and then you want to blame the government and society and inflation and the economy. Dude, it's so easy to win in life if you just work hard for a long period of time. Like it doesn't matter who's president, okay. You live in freaking America where you have unlimited opportunities, unlimited opportunities right now. Okay. So it doesn't matter who's president, doesn't matter really about the economy, dude. Like you haven't been through a depression. You haven't, I haven't, right? You might have been through a couple mild uh recessions in your lifetime, but even during those times, you can find a way to win and to make money and be successful. Um, it doesn't matter what's going on in politics, in global politics in other countries. If you get sucked into the news and you get this doom-gloom type mentality and you're overlooking the opportunities in front of you each and every day, you're not gonna get where you want to go in life. But if you're willing to get up every day, you're gonna be optimistic, you're gonna be grateful for what you have, you're gonna work your butt off, you're gonna have the best attitude and be positive throughout that day, and you can rinse and repeat over and over and over. Success is inevitable. And here's the thing that everybody wants in life, right? You guys think you want money, you think you want stuff, like that's cool, that's part of the equation. But what we're really after is like this inner feeling of peace. This this feeling inside of us like we're enough, we're doing enough in life, like we made it, we like we got what it takes, right? It's this, it's this like it's this inner peace, but it's almost this like relief that we experience when you reach a certain point. And but you only get there by really going all in for a long period of time. And like going back to that clip that I saw on Patrick Bett David's podcast with that young guy, uh, the pursuit of life, liberty, and freedom. That's what he said that we all deserve growing up in America. But here's the truth, man. If you were just to wake up every day and the government was giving you the certain amount of money you needed to get by and you had free health care, let's say they even paid for your rent or your groceries, and that was it. Dude, eventually you would start to get anxious. Eventually you would start to feel something was missing. Eventually you would start to feel uh, you know, uh ungrateful. Eventually you would start to feel like there you wanted more in life. Okay. This is why socialism and communism don't work, because inside the human spirit is the desire to excel and go far above and beyond what is known. There's something inside each and every one of us that wants to go and explore that unknown, that wants to bring that vision to life, right? That ambition, that desire inside you to reach your potential. That is such a powerful gift. And if you give people the bare minimum and just expect them to be okay, eventually they're not gonna be okay. Right? Eventually they're gonna want more, they're gonna crave more, and they're gonna feel stuck. Okay. I don't want to be in a society that just gives me enough to be okay. I want to live in a society that gives me the opportunity to be freaking great, gives me the opportunity to take risks, gives me the opportunity to potentially fail. I'd rather go all in on my dreams and fail and fall flat on my face than just be okay and get some handouts, right? Handouts don't create inner peace, handouts don't create a feeling of, damn, I'm amazing. Like I'm living a life of greatness, like I'm all in, I'm bringing dreams to life, I'm providing the best life I could for my family. That comes from you tapping into that potential you possess within, facing fears, going out of the unknown, taking risks, and materializing those outcomes for yourself. And so for these young people right now, man, I think they're gonna get rudely awoken by life circumstances, and they're gonna have to go through some hard times to recognize how good they have it and develop some urgency and some grit and some tenacity, right? That mental toughness that's required to really create a life that's worth living.