Nice post for Monday morning. I would add that “doing well” is not as clear as it was in college or grad school even at the job place. So many complexities and circumstances are determing how one is “doing well”, than just pure working hard.
I still think thought that we own what it is in our control, so it is necessery to do what we can towards the achievement of our goals, but know that there are no guarantees that these goals will be reached and just let go of the things we can’t control.
Roman, thanks for the comment. When I was writing this I had trouble getting across what you said: that “doing well” is not clear cut after college. I definitely agree with you – we should do our best and still have goals. But I think even more importantly we should learn that locking ourselves into one plan means that our lives won’t meet up with our expectations – because at this point so many things are out of our control. We could also miss out on opportunities and those opportunities could lead to something special. Thanks again!
Once again you hit on the topic that continually keeps me thinking. How you define success for Gen-Y is much more arbitrary than it is within older generations. Happiness is not measurable, like money is for instance, and as a recent relationship has taught me, is not always noticeable. My happiness is not a smile, its a content-ness, with my actions, with the way I lead my daily life. But a main characterisitc of Gen-Y in my opinion is to almost never be content. A lot of us see things the way they are and continually ask for more, failing multiple times on the way to achieving the next level. And when we get there, its on to something else. You are absolutely right when you say its time to stop chasing, and start living. Great Post!
Angela, thank you for the book recommendation. I am not reading any books currently, which makes me sad, but I have a lot of reading to do for school. Hopefully on my week break I’ll have time to pick up something, and if I do it will certainly be A New Earth, because I want to learn more about happiness. Thanks again!
Matt, this is something I think about all the time too. I agree with you, we are always looking for the next best thing, because we’ve been so conditioned to keep achieving (by parents, teachers, etc). We never stop to enjoy our success – at least I don’t, or not for long enough.
Btw, thanks for your post that inspired this one. You touched on something I had never thought of – that millennials are chasing happiness. In some ways it’s a good thing, but there are caveats too.
Most of us never take the time to step back and appreciate the beauty that we have in our life. We rush to get what we think will make us happy when it was right in front of us all along.
Just enjoying the moment.
Thanks for the great post. What do you do to remind yourself to enjoy the moment?
Karl, I have no idea at the moment. I guess what I do is walk places instead of taking the train or a taxi. I live in Chicago and walking around downtown at night near the river is one of the most calming, beautiful experiences, anytime of year.
Oh, and write posts like these. I don’t have everything figured out by any means – I should be taking my own advice! That’s part of the reason I write.
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice post for Monday morning. I would add that “doing well” is not as clear as it was in college or grad school even at the job place. So many complexities and circumstances are determing how one is “doing well”, than just pure working hard.
I still think thought that we own what it is in our control, so it is necessery to do what we can towards the achievement of our goals, but know that there are no guarantees that these goals will be reached and just let go of the things we can’t control.
Roman, thanks for the comment. When I was writing this I had trouble getting across what you said: that “doing well” is not clear cut after college. I definitely agree with you – we should do our best and still have goals. But I think even more importantly we should learn that locking ourselves into one plan means that our lives won’t meet up with our expectations – because at this point so many things are out of our control. We could also miss out on opportunities and those opportunities could lead to something special. Thanks again!
Monica, are you reading A New Earth? If you aren’t, you should. It seems like a good fit with some of your points here. Good post!
Monica-
Once again you hit on the topic that continually keeps me thinking. How you define success for Gen-Y is much more arbitrary than it is within older generations. Happiness is not measurable, like money is for instance, and as a recent relationship has taught me, is not always noticeable. My happiness is not a smile, its a content-ness, with my actions, with the way I lead my daily life. But a main characterisitc of Gen-Y in my opinion is to almost never be content. A lot of us see things the way they are and continually ask for more, failing multiple times on the way to achieving the next level. And when we get there, its on to something else. You are absolutely right when you say its time to stop chasing, and start living. Great Post!
Angela, thank you for the book recommendation. I am not reading any books currently, which makes me sad, but I have a lot of reading to do for school. Hopefully on my week break I’ll have time to pick up something, and if I do it will certainly be A New Earth, because I want to learn more about happiness. Thanks again!
Matt, this is something I think about all the time too. I agree with you, we are always looking for the next best thing, because we’ve been so conditioned to keep achieving (by parents, teachers, etc). We never stop to enjoy our success – at least I don’t, or not for long enough.
Btw, thanks for your post that inspired this one. You touched on something I had never thought of – that millennials are chasing happiness. In some ways it’s a good thing, but there are caveats too.
Most of us never take the time to step back and appreciate the beauty that we have in our life. We rush to get what we think will make us happy when it was right in front of us all along.
Just enjoying the moment.
Thanks for the great post. What do you do to remind yourself to enjoy the moment?
Karl, I have no idea at the moment. I guess what I do is walk places instead of taking the train or a taxi. I live in Chicago and walking around downtown at night near the river is one of the most calming, beautiful experiences, anytime of year.
Oh, and write posts like these. I don’t have everything figured out by any means – I should be taking my own advice! That’s part of the reason I write.
{ 3 trackbacks }