Twenty somethings — Need.Input

The World is Changing… Are You?

It’s a changing world out there.

You feel it. I feel it. And today’s generation of 20 somethings — a generation I’m included in — feels it more than ever.

Much of this change has happened under our watch. We were the generation that grew up thinking we could do whatever we wanted, but at the same time were told that if we followed the rules we would be successful in life.

Yet we’ve also watched jobs that we may have aspired to as kids disappear.

Jobs like travel agents…

Typists…

Factory workers…

And many more non-tradable jobs — gone. Or at least going quickly, soon to be gone. Replaced by computers and cheap labor.

(Heck, we can’t even be astronauts anymore. And who didn’t want to be an astronaut as a kid?)

These jobs and others like them are no longer an option for us.

Seth Godin has been talking about this change — what he calls the post-industrial revolution — for years. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Twenty somethings, Work

My Quarter Life Crisis: Chasing Greatness in a Mediocre World

By kristastryker

I turn 25 this September, a number that is out-of-this-world crazy to me.

It’s hard for me to believe that I’m not that 16-year-old girl stuck in a small town in Washington State anymore.

There’s no high school drama to deal with, no mindless learning to do. Now, if I want to learn, there’s no one there to force me; I have to initiate it, I have to want it.

But the one thing I miss more than anything about being a kid: naivety.

Back then, I believed that the only thing holding me back was my small, close-minded school…

My white, middle-class Christian town…

My restricted status of being a teenager living with my parents.

I believed with all my heart that once I left my small town, my inconsequential life would be left behind and I would be headed toward amazing things.

That was my favorite word back in those days: amazing. I figured everything had the potential to be amazing. And why not?

I was naive and I was hopeful. The best combination.

Of course, after going through the motions of high school, and the disappointing reality of college, I was left with a more jaded view of the world. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Changing the world, Creativity, Twenty somethings

Boredom or Apathy: The 20 Something Manifesto

By kristastryker

Photo courtesy animalphotos.info

We were trained to be sheep.

To follow, not to lead.

We were taught that if we did what we were told and followed the rules great things would come our way.

We were praised when we followed these made up rules, so we knew we were on the right track. But really, we were being brainwashed and molded into sheep. As sheep we would work in factories for other sheep who were following the rules made up by someone they couldn’t even name.

But things have to change. Our generation needs to realize we were tricked, that we don’t really want to be sheep, we want to be leaders.
Read more…

Filed Under: Personal growth, Twenty somethings

On 20 Somethings, Mentors, and Changing the World

By kristastryker

There’s an entire generation of us out there lost and looking for a community.

We are Generation Y, the Millennial generation, 20 somethings seeking out the meaning of life.

Growing up we were promised the world, and when that didn’t happen after we graduated college (or high school), we didn’t know what to do.

We knew we were meant for more than making copies and becoming a whiz at Excel spreadsheets – the main requirement of any internship or entry level job.

Fighting for our livelihoods

We are not willing to stand by and watch our lives waste away as we do what we are told and put our time in, climbing the corporate ladder until one day, when we’re 50, we’re finally on top.

In fact, while most of us start out with a “real job” to pay the bills, we quickly realize we’re meant for so much more.

But because of our age, no one takes us very seriously. Most people think our generation is greedy and impatient (and it’s true, at times), and think we need to pay our dues, just like all generations before us were required to do.

But in our hearts, we know the world is changing. We know we don’t have any time to waste. We need to do meaningful work now, before it’s too late.

But to do that, we need someone to show us the way. We need someone to believe in us. To keep us on track to doing the great work we’re meant to be doing.

Changing the world

We need to be mentored.

My last mentor was my high school English teacher and basketball coach, Mr. Farland.

He encouraged me to be a better writer, a better athlete, a better person. I always tried a little harder when I knew he would be around. I knew he’d lend me support and encouragement, even when I went through a rebellion phase and died my hair pink and dated the dumb skater guy in hopes of running away from my obedient, smart kid reputation.

Mr. Farland affected me more than any book ever could.

Mentors change lives. They change the world.

Will you be our mentor?

For more on this subject, check out Kyle Reed’s post on mentors and submit a video to his cause.