A lot press talks about the Millennial generation. This article just gives a snap shot of the typical wants and needs of a millennial. No data, no stats, just what my collection of around 50 friends talk about. It might give you an insight on how to work with me because I am a filthy millennial.
The world works in anecdotes. Treat this as an anecdote, not a data point.
Drivers for Me and My Friends
I hang out with people richer than me, poorer than me, smarter than me, hotter than me, and sometimes I’m the dumbest, ugliest person in the room.
In general, here are the drivers that make me and my friends talk about
- Status
- Love
- Lust
- Hobbies
- Sport
- Dreams (but not how to achieve them)
- Travel
- Food
- Hustle or Laziness. I get equal amounts.
To boil it down, all of my friends have some metric of vanity (I did this event this weekend and I post it on Instagram/snapchat), Relationships (I met this girl yesterday/ do you know this Venture Capitalist?), Dreams (I want to be a musician/ I want to leave Arizona), Experiences (I traveled to Peru / I enjoyed Avocado toast at this new brunch place).
Whether you believe that these topics are shallow or profound, this is what we generally talk about. We are kind of just simple, human beings.
Work-life Balance
I want a good work life balance and so do all of my friends. Overtime sucks and not seeing your kids sucks too.
Different people have different aspirations when it comes to a great work-life balance. Some reasons are more selfish than others but that’s not the point. I want free time in my life.
A list of why my friends want free time:
- To work on my side hustle (this is me)
- To go out and drink
- To spend time with their significant other
- To try and impress someone they like
- To watch that one show on Netflix
- To escape reality
There are many avenues where overtime is a cultural aspect and for times when it’s not. Startups, factory life, and accountants have overtime. Big corporate jobs? It depends.
In general, we have this idea in our heads that we have to work longer to succeed. I think this is true to a point but there is no secret sauce to really prove this.
I truly believe there’s no point in working more hours in a company unless you are getting compensated for your hard work, or your value is perceived to be worth working longer.
When you’re owning your own company and working all the time, that might be a different story, but even then, some people will disagree on that.
The only exception is that if you truly love what you’re doing, and waking up every day smiling and ready for work, then work as much as you want. The point in life is to be happy.
Money
The modern day life blood of the world is money. You need it to live and succeed. It’s really hard to get and easy to lose.
Overall, everyone wants money, but there are a lot of different reasons why people want money. If you were to act like a basic human being who could just live with food, water, and shelter, you could survive off of minimum wage in a rural town. Heck, if you live in the mountains, you could live for free.
But as humans, we grow up wanting more. I need to eat out every night instead of buying rice and beans and cooking it myself. I need to filter my water because my sink water has 8000ppm of stuff in it. I need to buy a house in San Francisco to experience the best life ever. I need to be with friends or have a family even though people are generally, expensive.
It’s fine for humans wanting more in life. I think it’s what makes us special.
I’d love to say to employers to pay us fairly, but to the other ME’s around, you also have the power to generate money.
Especially if you have a college degree, it’s so easy to work really hard at your job and then get hired somewhere else for double the pay. You’d be surprised who doesn’t work really hard at their job.
A list of why my friends want money
- To fund their side hustle (this is me)
- To go out and drink
- To spend time with a significant other
- To try and impress someone they like
- To afford Netflix
- To escape
- To get out of crippling debt
- To fund their retirement maybe
I have no comment on how my friends manage their money. Most people are very transparent about it but in a selective way that either makes you feel sorry for them or worried.
No one ever brags about money management which makes sense because it makes you look like kind of a prick.
Money management is on another topic entirely and I think it should be passed down from family to family. However, there are so many resources that deal with money management though, but most blogs are a bit overwhelming when it comes to financial advice. I am very fortunate to not only have enough to be comfortable, but to have parents who taught me about the value of money.
Social Segmentation
I don’t think millennials like to be called millennials. Chalk it up to the weird way labels work in the world or vanity, but I hate being called a millennial.
I think it’s degrading, humiliating, and the perception of me trying to lead is a lot harder. It’s hard to convince people that you know what you’re doing.
But not all labels are bad. Labels are necessary for an organization to run smoothly and efficiently. If you’re a fan of My Food Job Rocks, I throw the label A-player out a lot. I love that word.
Segmentation is necessary even though I don’t like it and that’s ok.
Passion is fuel
Overall, what’s the point of this article? Am I yelling at employers to “get us and give us what we want” or yelling at the employee to “get over it?”
To tell you the truth, we have a lot of power to shape our own destiny. We live in a time where I can run away from everything and still be successful. We’re in a time where we can work from home, or get a raise that’s 2x our original salary, or move across the country and live a new life. I can be an influencer, or a youtube star, start my own website, and totally flip the hierarchy on its head.
Yes, doing these things is extremely difficult, requires a lot of discipline, but that separates the great from the ok. Now is the best time in the world to choose who you want to be.
So how do you deal with ME?
The Millennial Exceptions*?
You can’t.
But if you’re doing something we believe in, and is impactful, and maybe pays a lot, we’ll be glad to support you.
*All Millennials think they are exceptions
