How many times have we heard about all the things we, as millennials, fail at; everything we do wrong, and how we are going to ruin this country? I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing about the supposed shortcomings of our generation. The millennial generation has been defined by two researches, Neil Howe and William Strauss, as including those born between 1982 and 2004. When I take a step back and look at characteristics of people in our generation, I don’t see too many detrimental traits.
1. Millennials Are Lazy
Laziness tends to be a trait that is harmful in the work place and we are often encouraged to avoid it. However, laziness also tends to breed innovative ideas to make the work load easier to handle. Bill Gates has said, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because he will find an easy way to do it.”
2. Millennials Are Entitled
Millennials have had the fortune of growing up with the technological boom and that has made our lives much easier and opened many opportunities. These circumstances can lead some people to feel like they deserve something just because they exist in this world. However, this is not true for many people because the innovations became very common and the concept of entitlement became relative to this time. At this point, it’s not “entitled” to think that we need laptops and cell phones to survive in America because it has become so engrained in society that it is no longer a privilege.
3. Millennials Are Overly Sensitive
The expectations for how we speak toward and about one another has changed over the years. In general, we have become more aware of how our words affect others and the power we have in our voices. Perhaps we take things that people say a little bit too seriously because of this, but we have the skills to speak effectively to anyone we meet.
Each generation has stereotypes against them and it is important to remember that the stereotypes do not define you as an individual. It’s helpful to be aware of what traits you are susceptive to so that you can improve those traits to help you throughout your careers. Do not let others determine your path, it is yours to choose.