Why Gen Y Rules The World

                                                                                                                                By Jim M.

If you popped out of your mother after 1977, there is a solid chance you rule the world. You are a Millennial (Gen Y). Culture, Trends, the economy… they are all your playthings. Let me expound. 

SIZE

Generation Y engrosses a fat 20% of all people in our Western jungle. This makes us 70+ million firm. I drag this to attention foremost because it assists in understanding our totality of influence.

TRENDS

Music, fashion, technology, food, cars… What do these have in common? They trend like the ebb and flow of a Shakespearean sonnet. And who doth scribe this sonnet?

You do.

It’s in vogue to boast the new badge of “Millennial Club”. Nothing is fresh unless we say so, and because we talk, text, and Facebook like manic squirrels, what’s hot and popping waves through the pipes faster than Tetris on level 80. Regardless of what is trending, you decide it. Wall Street titans anxiously predict where we will dump money next. Throwback shoes? Bands nobody has heard of? $5 sunglasses?  SO ten minutes ago Mr. Market.

ECONOMY

The financial resources of this society are in the palm of your hand. We are the Chi behind the Kung-Fu-Punch of modern consumerism (Remember all those industries we chirped about in Trends?).

According to the Motion Picture Association of America(2011) , our age group amasses 30% of all movie goers, and 50% of all “frequent” cinema junkies.

I could gang a posse of statistics like these, but you know how to Google. My point is, the big-money-brands follow your lead more closely than any other demographic.

VALUES

It makes no difference what your morals are. Understand that your children’s values will be guided by your beliefs, similar to how your ideas came about.

You have the wheel. Generation Y will doubtlessly intercept the reigns of society and culture. They will not be the Xerox of what we inherited, but isn’t that the point?

Enjoy the view from the top, and never disquiet your aptitude to mold the future.

Yours truly,

Jim M.

Gen Y: The Positive Skeptic

                                                                          By Matthew L.

This topic rides hand in hand with a previous blog : Open Mindedness. I won’t get into that now.

What is a “positive skeptic”? It means you are a lover of the truth, but you don’t spend your time trying to disprove everything. Let me explain.

I used to think being skeptical meant being cynical, or critical. But this is not true. Skepticism is simply not assuming that you know everything. We’ve all had those moments where the science teacher states: “One hundred bajillion Earths could fit inside of the Sun.”  Wow! That’s a lot! Wait a second…is that even a real number? Your first instinct might lean toward agreeing. Often times we accept information as uncensored truth, and this is hardly the case. Even the well meaning geology instructor could have misinterpreted an article or blurb on the internet.

As people, we often tell others what we “know” to be true. We say it with zest and enthusiasm, and they believe us. Later we may find we were incorrect! Albert Mehrabian’s “7% - 38% - 55% rule” tells us that only 7% of our communication is based on the content of what we say. The other 93% is body language and tone. Essentially, this means we are susceptible to trust people based on things that can have nothing to do with what they are actually saying. This is something we must be on our toes about. I don’t mean to call people liars, not at all. I want you to be aware that there are other things going on in your mind when you choose to accept news.

If you honestly enjoy knowing real data, hard facts, and general truth, then you will keep an open mind and a skeptical heart. Going out of your way to be a devil’s advocate is NOT being skeptical, only pessimistic. Also avoid researching a subject to get confirmation. If you want to find out if the president is a liar, don’t Google search “Barack Obama lies.” You will obviously find what you are looking for, truth or not.

Yours Truly,

Matthew L.

Next Blog Preview: Why Gen Y Rules The World by Jim M.

How To: Work All Day, Party All Night

                                                                       By James M.

Draw a line, remain honest with yourself, and have your goals and dreams clear in front of you, all the time. Partying is not inherently evil. Just like video games aren’t. However both can be used as tremendous time wasters, and thus life ruiners. You have to assess what you want out of your life. If partying will get in the way, then I suggest that you keep it to a minimum. For those of us that want it as a regular part of our time diet, then I have some more tips for you. I’m not passing on this knowledge out of intuition. I know because I made the mistake of ignoring all of the tips I’m giving you now. I would “cross the line” just before work, or during. I was without a goal or purpose. And worst of all I frequently lied to myself about having an issue at all.

                          

Draw the line. This is important, because it is the difference between an addict and a partier (sorry for the seriousness). Showing up to work stoned is not the end of the world, just possibly a poorly thought out decision, depending on your circumstances. But being wasted, plastered, baked, ripped, torn, up-for-three-days-manic, “oh Zeus please strike my creative cortex with a flash of brilliance that will keep me home from work today” sort of mind set  is crossing the line. At least it is for me. There is no defined line, except the one you define for yourself. If you think being extremely intoxicated at work is acceptable, then who am I to judge. The thought is that having a line that you never cross is an asset that will keep you in the clear. It’s like wearing certain cloths at appropriate events. You wouldn’t show up to a funeral with your pajamas on, and you wouldn’t show up to work with your club fit on. The First Rule of “getting down”, is knowing when to get up. Having Self discipline is no easy task, but so worth it.

Practical tips:

-Make an alarm on your phone. This will be when you have previously decided (under NO influence) the moment to stop drinking, smoking, drugging, raving… what ever, and go home! Drugs are a special case. Sometimes the effect lasts quite a while. Be aware of this. Also give yourself a time to be in “work mode”. During this time you will remain sober and focused (again, within your own guidelines. I’m not your mother). I don’t care if all you can think about is getting off work. That’s natural, and controllable. Just please make sure you are responsible, punctual… all that jazz.

-Your “line” is probably going to change over the course of your work-party spree, as you learn more about what you can handle. I am a big fan of tweaks. Maybe you realize you can sleep in a little later and still make it to work on time, or that the alarm you set before is not going so well. The sweet spot is whatever works, so don’t stick stubbornly to one way when there is a possibility it could be improved.

Be honest with yourself. There will be a time when you are drunk/tired/well-off and having so much fun, you look down at your phone, and oh bummer, its already time to call it quits. But I just started!! I know I know, its sucks having your cake and eating it too. This is when you will have to summon the power of trust. That is, trusting you. You set that alarm yourself! Don’t you think you are a trustworthy person? If you don’t listen to you, how can you ever expect anyone else to? Trusting you stems from being honest with yourself. So you say “naaaah I can drink till 4 am, I don’t have to be at work until 8 am”. Ok, try that on for size. Hmmm… What’s that? You showed up to work on time, but you still smell like alcohol, and you have a restless hangover that would cripple superman. Hey, if you can function normally, your job doesn’t suffer and the boss is ok, by all means, 4 am all week baby. But for the normal human being, that’s a little much. (Did I mention you got only a few hours of sleep? That’s hardly sustainable, for more than a few days, trust me) Point being, be honest, be realistic.  Then when the time comes and you question a past decision you made, (and it isn’t obviously incorrect) you can safely say, “I trust myself”, and follow your own lead.

Practical Tips:

 -Plan ahead! You will be among the worlds most brilliant minds if you do this one simple thing. If by nature you’re a “go with the flow” sort of person, then plan a time when you can safely be blasé.

Lastly, have clear goals. If partying is killing your dream, then it isn’t for you! But if partying does mesh with your life goals and ambitions, then ROCK ON. In Dr. Maxwell Maltzs’ book The New Psycho Cybernetics, he explains how the human brain is like a laser guided missile. It is locked in on a target, and must constantly correct itself. It literally makes thousands of mistakes, and still nails the target, within maybe a few feet (who cares? It’s explosive!) If a laser guided missile has no target, it is a large dumbbell. Don’t be a large dumbbell. Find your goals and dreams. Excuse me for the cliché, but it’s so true. This will also help you in making the decisions of when to party, and when to work (your line). Are you going to have time to build that business if you always spend time watching the games and BS-ing with friends? If so, how much? Maybe your goal is not completely life encompassing yet. Maybe you just want to move to New York or something. Move out, get a car. The idea is you tailor your partying time according to how much your goals can afford you. If you party all the time, then expect to reach none of your goals (unless they have something to do with partying!)

Practical tips:

-Find out what you want. It doesn’t need to be a Life-goal, as I said before.  The main thing is to have one, and to work toward it.

-Don’t miss out on fun to do nothing. When you decide a bash with friends is too lacking in productivity, make sure you actually fill those spare hours with something that is!       

    

-Write down your goals, think on them, and solidify them into your cranium constantly.

-View your mistakes as learning opportunities to make you more awesome.

           

Yours Truly,

James M.

Next Blog Preview:    Gen Y: The Positive Skeptic by Matthew L.

Open Mindedness And Gen Y

                                                            By John S.

Open mindedness is a beautiful thing. How does it pertain to our generation? First we shall define what that means. There is a myth that being open means that you are bisexual, you take drugs and want them legal, you are pro choice, you believe in aliens…etc. This is a fallacy. No specific opinion makes you more accepting or open. Only having tolerance and respect for the opinions of others, while being receptive to new ideas that may change your current perspective. Liberal, Conservative, Anarcho-Primitivist… it makes no difference.

So how does this pertain to you?

This era of young minds is more connected than anyone else. We’ve discussed this before, so I won’t belabor the topic. Globalization created a deep diversity of people being able to communicate with each other. That means you have friends from all over the world, of different colors, cultures, and creeds. Because we are surrounded by diversity, we don’t think Asian food is weird or Mexican dancing odd. If you live in an urban zone, you understand this intuitively. Gen Y has the privilege of living in a time when variation is embraced and encouraged. With every new trend there are those that follow it, are neutral, and openly loathe it. Neither side is correct. Your dad thinks that guy you know with gauges in his ears is strange, but it means nothing more to you than if he were wearing a tie-dye t-shirt.

Now, I’m sure you find some things a little far out to comprehend (gauges maybe?), and that’s ok. Remember that you aren’t required to enjoy someone or something to have an open mind. Just be ok with the fact that people are dissimilar. I’m positive your ideas and lifestyles are peculiar to at least one other person. Keep that in the front of your mind the next time you see a nudist on T.V. (or in a café).

That was a joke. You catch my drift.

Yours Truly,

John S.

Next Blog Preview: How to Work All Day, Party All Night By James M.

Why And How Gen Y Connects

                                                                          By Mark H.

Nothing has been used more frequently (other than when we were born) in describing our Generation than “connected”.  Hell, we literally invented social networking. But it goes much deeper than poking a friend of a friend that was tagged in the same photo album you were once. I’m not against it, let’s just be real for a hot second. Why are we so connected?  Even if you’re that guy that stays at home all day and night surfing the web, I bet my right hand you are on forums and message boards peering at what others write and, dare I say it, posting comments! Yes, this indeed is another way we connect. My point here is this: no matter who you are, you long for human connection. This age, the information age, has given us the glorious high-speed internet, cell phones, and far out computers. These things make it way easy to click-click-type our way into a conversation, or base relationship with someone living who knows where. We are connected because we have the tools, and we have the desire.

How We Connect

We are catching on that Facebook and others are the new mingling, but creates no real value in relationships. It is a great way to accent an existing one, but not to exclusively establish the new. You meet an old friend at a party, hey it’s all good, but you don’t make old friends in the time span of a few drinks or a house rave (Unless you have some serious life-story-telling skills that I should know about). We are constantly on our toes about that true “relationship”, and keep our hunters eye out for it. Let’s not get too deep though. When I say “relationship” I don’t necessarily mean dating. You have a relationship with your Starbucks barista, even if only for a short time every few days (or hours). You have an accord with your parents, your friends, maybe your dog or cat. You find common ground with someone (or something?), and you spend time there. The best example that comes to mind is sports fans. Seeing a peer with your teams’ jersey on instantly puts Him or Her on your good side. Now you have something to gab and laugh over. Try to think of just one friend that has nothing in common with you. I’ll wager against it. Now that you are aware how you connect, you can refine your skills and make new friends more seamlessly…or not.

Yours Truly,

-Mark H.

Next Blog Preview: Our Open-Mindedness By John S.

Being Generation Y, And What That Means

                                         By Paul M.

We are awesome. We are young and dynamic. We are Generation Y: The quasi-technical term for people under thirty (or so).  But what does that actually mean? Ok so we were born in the late 80’s early 90’s, but this gives no real connection or definition. Being of this generation myself, I will explain exactly what it means. I may not cover the whole truth in one short article, but nothing I say will be irrelevant to every one of you.

So as a Gen Y-er, we are connected, friendly, social, slightly insecure (like everyone), open-minded, nostalgic, smart, spacey, ambitious, fun, out to have a good time, real sort of nerd-hippie do-over’s with more brain cells and nicer clothes. We are also more presentable and thus harder to spot. (Keep up the good work my friends) we are like chameleons, adaptable, and flexible. We get a kick out of that stuff others call trouble, we enjoy the spicy things in life; risk. And if none of these attributes describe us, then we long to make it so they do. We think we know it all, because we do! But we don’t, and that’s a flaw. We are open-minded enough to think we don’t know everything, but we aren’t sure if we don’t know everything, because we don’t know if we know or don’t know that we know or not. This creates uncertainty. And that’s what I think sums us up, and almost explains our actions. We are uncertain, so we “drink our drinks” (wink wink) and have a good time, because the s*** could hit the fan at anytime. It might not though, so we blend in and become those day-walking vampires that come out at night and hunt for our answers, scattering and scurrying all over each other like our destiny is hiding inside the person we haven’t met yet. It isn’t, probably, but it’s there some where. Waiting to be found, waiting to be bitten and devoured. Some of us lurk the internet and find ourselves Google-ing things like “what is the meaning of life?”,” what should I do if…”, or other life questions.

Now I understand every generation has had this “uncertainty”, but ours is different, much different, because it’s happening NOW. Also, because our societies’ “progression” (tech, knowledge, self-understanding) telescopes forward. It changes faster and faster. That whole “exponential growth” thing all networking guru’s get hot and bothered talking about. It’s beginning to reach a crescendo, my friends; a deafening roar is just over the horizon, rolling its beautiful, chaotic wave right this way, and we feel it.

How does this help me? Maybe some of this is applicable to my life, now what?

I wouldn’t lie to you; I don’t know. I don’t know what will work in your life or in your mind, but I do know what has worked and is working in mine. After all, isn’t that all we can really share with each other? Our personal experiences?

I plan to continue this blog and record those for you. My hope is to help you understand the times you live in and more importantly, understand yourself, if that’s your MO.

Goodbye for now friends

-Paul M.

P.S. - Apologies for not having any pretty pictures this time, my computer is acting up.