Say hi to Lucy.
I have a term for yuppies in the Gen Y age group — I call them Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies, or GYPSYs. A GYPSY is a unique brand of yuppie, one who thinks they are the main character of a very special story.
So Lucy’s enjoying her GYPSY life, and she’s very pleased to be Lucy. Only issue is this one thing:
Lucy’s kind of unhappy.
To get to the bottom of why, we need to define what makes someone happy or unhappy in the first place. It comes down to a simple formula:
To provide some context, let’s start by bringing Lucy’s parents into the discussion:
This left GYPSYs feeling tremendously hopeful about their careers, to the point where their parents’ goals of a green lawn of secure prosperity didn’t really do it for them. A GYPSY-worthy lawn has flowers.
GYPSYs Are Wildly Ambitious
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Top Comments
Every generation has its challenges. Gen X faced AIDS, the threat of nuclear war, the dramatic rise of divorce and broken families and the transition from the laid back culture to working horrendous hours in a globalised economy. Gen X is now the swing shift generation, raising kids and looking after retired parents. But Gen X also got the fashion and music of the 80's and the benefits of economic growth. With BBs retiring Gen X is starting to get a lot of opportunity for career advancement.
Gen Y faces global terrorism, unaffordable housing, jobs that don't match the expectations they were pumped up with by schools, being lonely in an always connected world and fear for the environment. But they also have a world of knowledge available to them through technology, easier ability to travel the world and lower expectations.
But these are overarching issues, you can't define a person solely on their birth date. I've found many Gen Ys to be quite sophisticated and others to be focussed on what others should be doing for them.
Good luck to all of them job seeking, the only advice I would give in interviews is to answer the actual question you are asked, kind of the opposite of politicians.
superb comment!
Isn't it telling that the only thing previous generations have to pass on to Generation Y is vitriol ? I would have thought with all of the professions of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice, etc etc, maybe you would have something of value to share with the next gen, I don't know, maybe some actual advice, a show of grace, faith, optimism, positivity, wisdom? I see none of that in any of these self indulgent rants from previous generations, sad
Ah come on, every generation does it :) You can see the advancement of technology making life easier when you break it into 25-30 year blocks, or by generation. So naturally people look at someone struggling and revert to the, "In my day we didn't even have... Internet, whatever."
It also works in reverse just as often, students with their heads filled with passionate nonsense questioning why they don't have all the wealth of those hard working blood sweat and tears older people. Protesting that the top 1% should pay more and missing the point that $42,000 puts you in the global top 1% of incomes.