Why we are not as bad as they think we are

“I think your generation struggles, quitting jobs just because they sometimes have to work overtime, lazy, and moving too fast…” Be honest, how many times have you heard this? Said this? Or thought this? Do you want to know how many times this has been said to me? too many. Millennials have this negative perception that looms over us, we’re quixotic. My response, 99% of the time is to define the word lazy. I’m going to do it right now. Lazy is defined as “unwilling to work or use energy”. Millennials are indeed said to be some of the laziest and non-ambitious people when it comes to careers. There are so many articles written about this. What if we are just changing, fast-paced people?

Most of the time, the people who are saying we’re lazy are from the previous generations. There are various polls and data about this exact topic. However, I find those types of comments to be not only non-factual, dismaying, but problematic in their entirety. I want to lay out some reasons why. Remember, that the older folks used to be the younger folks who were on the receiving end of similar comments, but I can’t speak on how they handled it, all I can do is speak up for my generation. We are willing to apply our energy and work hard ONLY on things that we choose to. We are very selective and those are two different words with two different definitions. We want to apply our energy to things like our families and friends. In the end, all that matters is that we were happy no matter what that happiness is in…

There is a huge push on laws backing people’s happiness that did not exist before. We break traditions, toss them out the window if need be and push laws on things we think are fair because happiness comes first for us. Millennials, especially highlighting happiness in life, are not gratified with just a career, a house, and a car, but that we were truly happy with those things. I think we make happiness a number one priority in our lives so that’s where our energy goes most often. We were not interested in the options provided so we made our own. Millennials are pretty powerful. Life is simply too short to be unhappy, stressed, and so honed into jobs we forget how to be happy. We know we’ll be old farts one day teasing the generation after us, so we want to spend our time happy. That’s not lazy.

Next, we question what others were taught to go with. We want to know what we are doing and why. Nine times out of ten, based on my own experiences, we do this because we want to know what we are doing is meaningful and that we see results from it. So if there is no context to what we are doing or someone simply cannot provide it, we look elsewhere. We want answers and we want them fast. We want more and we want it now not later because there may never be a later.

The laziness comment usually relates to views about how we are with employment and life choices. But, just think about this… we would rather work jobs that allow us to be more flexible and spend time with our friends and family so we find ways to do that. We created and advanced technology! We took what our ancestors did and built upon it, improving accuracy and efficiency. Now you have Facebook, Uber, AirBnb, iPhone 11’s, Teslas that practically drive themselves, prosthetic arms that move with you, tiny cameras for surgery, Wi-Fi, and video chat to name several things. We have created some of the most advanced processes and routines to ensure success, faster. However, it seems the generations that existed before us think we are lazy when we have revamped and revised the world everyone lives in. We have done this in about twenty-five years, so imagine what we will do in forty!
I mean just think about how often technology is used. We launched phones that are not just used for communication but communicate with the owners. They are fashionable, lighter, more efficient, longer battery life… now that same technology applied to cars. Cars now talk to their owners, emergency braking systems, blind-spot detectors, and send text messages for you (stats are proving this feature has saved lives). What about the medical field or the engineering realm? Oh yeah, technology is there too. We developed a new era!

And social media? You can now talk to your family no matter where they are and what time it is in their location. You can see them, hear their voice, and post jobs all on one platform. Social media, well, technology itself, has made the world a smaller place. Is that lazy? I don’t think so. Laziness can simply not be that successful and touch that many lives.

So next time you think about saying we are lazy, think about how much we have impacted how life is lived now and how the future is changing. Currently, we are the largest generation in America overtaking the generations before us. We are the future.