20-Somethings Shut Up & Work
I am a twenty-three year old man. No, I do not play Xbox four hours a day. No, I do not go to bars every night. No, I do not live at home while my parents fund my bar hopping Xbox playing lifestyle.
Happy Hour.
Drunken Nights.
Relational Drama
These are the glory day stories that us “20-somethings” tell. We hate our jobs and we hate the system that tells us to wait our turn to lead. In fact, we believe that the system should give us a chance to lead because… well, we are entitled to it you know. We worked our butts off in college and paid a ton of money (or our parents did) for our piece of paper on the wall. So when the leaders above us don’t give us what we want.
We scream UNFAIR and rebel with our Xbox controller in hand.
To every 20-year-old that has ever screamed “unfair” you need to ask yourself this question: if you led an organization or a company and you looked at “you” as potential leader… would you give that person a chance? Would you really?
Here is the better question: why don’t you give yourself a chance? Stop wasting hours on Xbox and instead read books, blogs, and articles about your industry. How about not spending every night at the bar but instead stay home and listen to a podcast about how to improve your skills? Skip the parties every weekend and instead spend less than you would on beer to attend a conference on leadership. See your free time as precious moments to be maximized to their full potential.
There are so many resources available to us. There are so many opportunities and space for us to lead. Stop complaining, wasting time, and then complaining some more. Instead, go out there and take it. Shut up and work.
Yes, I am calling you out. Yes, I am pissed off. Here is why… Because if you are 20-something and you continue to waste your life it makes us all look bad. Your lifestyle makes me look bad. Your choices make me have to fight harder to earn the respect of leaders because a “23-year old can’t be trusted.” So if you won’t value your opportunity for your own sake please do it for my sake. I am tired of having to climb the walls that you have erected. I will climb them because I want it. Do you?
Write me off as judgmental if you want, but like it or not we are in this together. This is our opportunity. Put down the Xbox controller and take it.
Wow, way to go! As another 23-year-old I say spot on, sir.
Mike,
Thanks so much. Keep on pushing for change in our generation man.
I don’t normally reply to these things, but seeing this in my news feed kind of upset me. I’ve long thought that many adults would benefit from re-learning the principals of elementary school. In this case, you should remember one maxim that I frequently repeat to my 1st graders: “You just worry about you and let Sam worry about Sam.” This saying does not eliminate the need for empathy, but it does eliminate the need for judgmental assumptions about the way others conduct their lives. It is incredibly arrogant of you to presume to know and understand the life situation of every unemployed or semi employed 20 something. So how about you let us slackers worry about ourselves without the additional pressure of disappointing you 9 to 5 go getters, and we’ll let Jordan worry about Jordan.
Thanks for sharing this perspective.
I love the dialogue and that you shared your feelings about the post. I was strong and forceful in this post. I disagree that it was arrogant because arrogance is when you presume that you are better. I never said that I am a better “person.” Instead, I called for everyone in their 20′s to do hard work instead of complaining or wasting time. I never presumed to know everything about everyone’s financial situation. In fact, this has nothing to do with employment at all, but everything to do with drive, determination, and how we use our free time. As for your maxim I disagree with it. Because we are a generation. We are together. United. The choices I make impact the way people interact with everyone that is my age. If the majority of us are irresponsible it impacts all of us. If the majority of us are hungry for change that impacts us as well. If Sam is lazy then every 1st grader has to prove to the teacher that 1st graders are not lazy. Unfortunately, that is just the way it is. Finally, I would add that I am not a 9 to 5 person. 9 to 5 or a steady job does not concern me. What interests me is every moment and how I can make the most of its potential whether I am at my place of “employment” or doing meaningful work in my free time.
Even though we disagree I appreciate your perspective. I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and respond. I value any and all feedback and will think about your comment more.
I love people that attack others without the guts or basic integrity to identify themselves.
Jason, agreed that is frustrating.
Have you been reading “Church Planter”? I ask because he makes this argument. I don’t think it’s a good argument. I mean, yes, there are lazy men out there. But to say that we live in a generation of lazy men is just plain foolish. I admit, that there are a lot of distractions that exist today. I don’t think playing Xbox is bad. Or being online, or spending time doing (insert anything here). When it gets in the way of responsibilities, it becomes an issue. But that’s the case with anythin and/or anybody. It’s all about disciplines.
Moe,
I have the book but I haven’t read it yet. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you are right in saying that to claim that we are in a generation of “lazy men” is foolish. It is not an issue of laziness or even distractions in my mind. You mentioned responsibilities. I’m talking about a generation that sees responsibilities instead of potential opportunity. We’d rather get through our responsibilities by 5pm so we can go drink, play, and “relax” than get out of our day job and read blogs, books, listen to podcasts or learn how to improve. We get through our work week so we can go party on the weekend. We live a “balanced” life between work and play going nowhere fulfilling our responsibilities at the bare minimum. We miss the opportunity all around us. Interestingly, it is the same 20-somethings that claim they have been cheated out of influential positions. This isn’t a matter of laziness or balance between work and play. It is simply a lack of drive and determination. Enjoyed reading your thoughts. Thanks for sharing.
We live in a generation of weak men who will not take there role and lead!
James 4:14 “Where in you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
If you want to change this generation of men who lack discipline and morals, get married and and raise family’s who will train there family’s how to be leaders!
Nathaniel, yes I think in the family is where children are molded and shaped the most. I also think an investment from the older generation in mentoring the younger generation falls along these lines and is very important. Good thoughts.
I’m 29 and I spent the first 2 years of my twenties being a drunk and an x-box waving maniac. It wasn’t until I decided to put that stuff down that I was able to move forward. I was a stereotype. And I’m sure it made other 20 somethings look bad.
If you are a 20 something and you want to something to happen, then go for it. Nothing will happen sitting down.
Stout post my friend.
Couldn’t agree with you more! I’ve never owned a game center in my life, and I’m better off for it. thanks for your post.
Nathaniel, wow I do own a game center. Typically, it is only used when other people are around. I find it to be a good way to bring people together. Otherwise, I don’t use it much.
This is definitely a fair thing to say.
I hate that misconception that 20 somethings are all lazy and pathetic, but it is a misconception for a reason.
I will say that as much as we want to call out the 20 somethings we also have to call out the 30 and 40 somethings. They play a part in this. There has to be a moment when they call us up, when they call us to something bigger and when they call us to change.
The responsibility is on us, but at some point we need to be guided and shepherd.
But lets lead the charge on this change.
I agree with you, Kyle. Twenty-somethings are not the only ones to blame here, but we have to lead the charge to get ourselves out of it.
And Jordan, I think it’s unfair to assume that any 20-something who is voicing an opinion about the way our generation is being treated must be a basement-dwelling, xbox-addicted slacker. There are some of us who don’t drink, who don’t play video games, and who work our asses off yet still aren’t getting much of anywhere in this world because accomplishing anything in this day and at this age is like slogging through waist-deep mud. A blog entry like this just adds insult to injury to those of us who don’t belong lumped in with a stereotype.
Allison,
Thanks for your comment. It is great to meet you. I Agree with Kyle as well. There are significant changes that both generations can make. In this post I was speaking specifically to the changes 20-somethings can make. As to your critique I agree with you. An opinion is different than a complaint. Voicing an opinion, like you mentioned, leads to good conversation and collaboration across inter-generational lines. On the other hand, complaints 99.9 % of the time just isolate us. I was speaking specifically in this post to 20-somethings that have no drive and yet still complain. This is not helpful to our cause and only further isolates our generation.
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. Keep working hard and sharing those opinions. We need people like you in the conversation.
Thanks so much for your response, Jordan. I truly appreciate the dialog you’ve started here.
I think the issue here is deeply personal for a lot of people (myself included), and unfortunately it’s become commonplace to be pigeonholed into that “slacker” stereotype. I hate that stereotype. If it doesn’t motivate you to become the opposite, it just seeps in, and you start to believe it.
I like to believe that people will be rewarded for their hard work in the end–but here’s a devil’s advocate question for you: if there are those of us that waste time and do nothing and end up nowhere, and then there are those of us who work hard and get good grades and still end up underemployed in a dead-end job (a position many of my friends and I are in right now), what’s to encourage the slackers to turn off the xbox and do anything? What’s to keep any of us, in what is supposed to be our bright-eyed, idealistic times in our lives, from becoming complaining cynics?
I agree that our generation needs to stick together, but you seem to pit us against each other with a very clear “us” vs. “them” or “slacker” vs. “hard-worker” type of mentality. I’m not sure any 20-something who has been beaten down by society would respond well to this type of message. What our generation needs is some hope, some encouragement, and a few good ideas.
But for now, I have to go to bed so I can wake up at 2:30AM on a Saturday to work my butt off serving coffee to businessmen whose hands are softer than mine. No time for a rowdy happy hour here…
Kyle,
I agree. Both generations have much to improve on. I would love to see people in the 30′s and 40′s invest more in mentoring, training and equipping. BUT not just that but collaboration, partnership, empowerment, and service to the younger generation. It can’t always just be “top down” mentoring and training. I think it needs to be collaborative. This is how both generations begin to love each other as well. Thanks for your thoughts and your great ideas on your blog about this subject.
Hey Jordan,
I agree with the post completely and not because I think everyone is in the situation stated above- but I think the overall point of the post is to stop making excuses. Spend the energy you would normally spend making excuses doing something about it! And here’s why: My husband and I are taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and it has been very enlightening to me to sit in a room full of people in their late 20′s, 30′s, 40′s and even 60′s. They have already taken the first step in bettering themselves by taking this class to help with finances and yet every week during discussions they come up with new excuses as to why they can’t get their finances under control. Point being if we don’t stop making excuses now then we are just going to keep making excuses for the rest of lives. In our instant gratification world, discipline is not something that comes easy especially because we have not necessarily been taught it. But now its time to start teaching ourselves unless we just want to end up in this cycle forever. If we keep the same attitude, its never going to be better when… It needs to be better now.