Many of the books I read and podcasts I listen to have Millennials (and sometimes GenZs) as hosts, authors, and guests. A common trait I see in this group is a fear to try things, combined with a huge fear of failure.
When I hear them talk about their upbringing, many had doting parents who gave them secure, stable homes. They grew up without having to worrying about money, transportation & conflicts. Often they describe idyllic lives from birth through (parent paid for) private college and even parent subsidized weddings, home purchases and lifestyles.
And then they fall apart.
The kids I grew up with are all GenX. We were also poor. We went to public school – or occasionally an inexpensive local Catholic school. Our parents were working class.
Our parents didn’t drive us to school. They didn’t take us to baseball practice. They didn’t help with homework. They didn’t entertain us.
We were latchkey kids who had to take care of ourselves most of the time. We walked, rode our bikes or took the bus everywhere.
And that, I think, is my generation’s super power. We never had anyone to take care of us so we had to figure it out for ourselves.
We (or at least I), made tons of mistakes. Sometimes we learned what not to do from them. Other times we didn’t, but we learned something as valuable – that making mistakes wasn’t going to kill us and we could always try again.
if I was going to prescribe a remedy for all of the “anxiety” that Millennials and GenZs profess plagues them it would be this:
Give it a shot.
Whatever “it” is.
- Ask that person out – In person vs. trying to find the perfect match with a dating app.
- Try to outwork everyone in your company. – see what happens.
- Tell someone “no”.
You’ll be embarrassed. You’ll screw up. You’ll do some things you wish you hadn’t.
Then fix them – apologize, try again, make things right.
Like me, after you’ve done this many times, you’ll lose your fear of failure and realize that most things don’t matter as much as you initially thought they would.