Generation Y Bother

Everybody wants a quick fix, a magic pill, 5 easy steps, or a 30 second trick to change their lives forever. Even here at Return of Kings many of the most popular posts have been succinct hits of information and entertainment. The 9 Ugliest Feminists in America, 24 Signs She’s a Slut, 8 Signs She’s A Keeper, and many more.

Everybody wants a how to manual or brief instructions on how to incite revolutionary change within oneself. We want to be told how to live and we want to be lead instantaneously to greatness. From Tim Ferriss to Dr. Oz we are being sold these quick fixes.

Generation Y is criticized for being entitled, soft, narcissistic, lazy, and so on. I fully agree with this and I believe the problem is this culture of quick fixes, 30 second tricks, and magic pills which are said to cure our every ailment we are told we have.

The most successful fixes are shared by those who distill their years of servitude and experience into a succinct manual for success. After a quick Google search, we Gen Y’ers find this work and assume that since we have tasted the essence of innovation we no longer need experience.

We don’t respect our elders because we think we know better, we talk back to our bosses because we think we understand more, we wave a bachelors degree and believe that trumps sobering time working outside of textbooks. We as generation Y’ers truly believe we can have it all, or in the very least a little bit of everything.

Hypothetically lets say life is like a video game and you only have a finite amount of points to spend on a set number of skill categories. Would you evenly distribute them ending up mediocre at everything? Or would you pick a few skills to concentrate your efforts in to so that you will excel in a specific field?

What gen Y’ers are doing are generalizing. Gathering information, learning a few skills here and there then wondering why we are not reaching our semi-related goals. If there is one thing that should be taught in schools it should be that at 20 something years old you are not special, you know nothing, and you deserve nothing until you sit down and actually get the experience it requires to master a certain area of one’s life.

There really is no better way to get better than to keep your head down and go one step at a time through the footsteps of those greater than you. Only then will you have the perspective to improve the existing framework.

Read Next: The Millennial Generation Are Rank Narcissists