Why Career Advice from Family Can be Risky

They’re family.  They’re the ones that know you best. They’re the ones that will give you the cold hard truth and love on your wounds later.  We’ve all gone through situations and called home only to leave the conversation feeling annoyed, angry, or even confused by the advice.  I have a great honest adult relationship with my parents and I think everyone should have someone they go to for the realest truths.  So yes continue to ask your family their opinion but take it with a grain of salt and here’s why:

5 Ways to Advance Your Professional Self Over the Holidays!

The holidays are my favorite time of the year.  In my family it's a mix of spending hours upon hours listening to old R&B Christmas songs, watching football, and devouring the best banana pudding the tri-state area has seen. Although this is great and I love it, by Friday, I'm ready for a little alone time to get back to myself, especially if I've been feeling a lull in my career.  Here are 5 things you can do to pull yourself out of the job lull this holiday:  

8 Ways to Know It's Time to Move On!

Do you find yourself staring at the clock? Counting down the days you've been in your role?  Don't fret you're not alone! A recent GALLUP survey found that only 29% of millennials/young professionals are engaged at work.  That means 70% of millennials/YP are disengaged!  70%!!! That’s ridiculous.  For whatever reason you feel disengaged or unhappy; you are validated.  Your feelings towards a situation are your own to have.  Here are 8 steps to help determine if it's time to move on from your job:

Burnout:5 Steps to Reeling in the Chaos & Avoiding Burnout

I stared at my laptop for hours; let's be honest, days! I kept writing then deleting, writing then deleting, over and over. Finally my husband closed my laptop and handed me Pinterest.  He knows it’s my Fall night preferred relaxation tool. It’s something about all the recipes, décor ideas, and career posts that suck me in. After letting my brain wander, I realized; I just need a break.  Have you ever felt too drained to think?  Still irrationally dissecting a project at work?  Too drained to wash clothes when you get home?  Yea that's me right now.  The holiday break couldn’t have come at a better time. Feeling like Rhonda Rousey after a Holly Holm monster neck face kick thing. (PS.  I love Rowdy Rousey, but I was not ready!)  

We get so ambitious, focused, yet almost foolish at times.  We sometimes forget that life is a marathon and think we need to get everything right now.  That if we don’t have whatever fantasy by some fantastical time, then we’re off track.  So, we work that 14 hour day, erase work/life balance, volunteer for more projects, and still think we aren’t doing enough.  In turn, we barely sleep, find humor at the bottom of a large glass of grown up juice, or troll through the multitude of engagements, baby showers, and extravagant trips our Facebook friends just seem to have the mysterious time and money for.  So we increase our projects in hopes to be noticed and climb the ladder.  Except we just pile more and more on until we have a small chaotic cloud  we can't seem to get quite under control.  We’ve convinced ourselves this is normal; it’s what we have to do to get anywhere. But success is not measured by how fast you get there, but by how long you can sustain it.  I always fall victim to ‘doing too much’.  I know at 5:31 PM I need to leave my work at work, but I end up thinking about program logistics on my commute home anyway. 

Relax & Recharge

Orange and red leaves. Crisp fall air. Football. Pumpkin Spice Tea.  

MMM, what doesn't sound relaxing about that?  Did you prepare for a big presentation, have a bunch of meetings, study for graduate courses, or spend 2+ hours commuting?  Sometimes we don't realize how much we're taking on in a work week. Let alone finding time for personal; anything!  I hear so many YP's/Millennials say 'The grind never stops'; or my personal fave:  'I'll sleep when I die'. Insert eye roll!  Studies show without proper rest and meditation, you are not at your best; you haven't given your brain a change to RECHARGE.  So, whenever you leave work today; unplug from work.  No answering seemingly urgent emails, no stressing over that big presentation on Monday; NO!  Grab a book OR an 80's movie marathon Or a group of friends and just relax  

Millennial: To be or Not to Be, that is the question

      

Is it?  Or am I Gen X?  Or am I a generational outsider?  Merriam Webster defines a millennial as ‘a person born in the 1980s or the 1990’s’.  I was born in ’87 (and proud), yes I remember watching FraggleRock and singing to Zoom Zoom from Zenon: Girl from the 21^st Century; don’t play, you remember too!  Over the years I began to embrace the ‘millennial’ tag, but something started to stand out to me, how we were viewed by older generations. 

A few days ago I read an article, addressing the lack of self-identification with millennials.  Pew Research Center, wrote the article 'Most Millennials Resist the Millennial Label' addressing how generations truly view themselves.  Despite millennials being the largest and most influential generation ON EARTH, only 41% of millennials identify with the label; while older millennials identify with Gen X.  The survey found that Millennials are uncharacteristically more willing to pin negative stereotypes upon their selves.  What?  Ok, we’ll keep reading.  The article goes on to say that 59% of millennials think 'we’re self-absorbed'. What?  Ok that’s when I stop the presses.  The younger generation must be the ones answering these surveys!  Your saying, the generation that is pushing harder than any other for equality, free healthcare, free/reduced education, is ‘self-absorbed’.  The generation that pushed for equal marriage, the generation that said no more war, the most educated generation; said we’re ‘self-absorbed?  Hmmm.  I start to feel conflicted because I view our generation as ‘innovative’, ‘empathetic’, and ‘relentless’.  In this moment I’ve never felt more proud to call myself a ‘millennial’.  Then the career coach in me questioned, ‘if we see ourselves so negatively, no wonder other generations do as well’.

Workplace styles and cultural differences

                                                                 

We all have sat through the team personality assessments and cultural diversity seminars, right.  Those that talk about how different our personalities are, how we can work together and how to respect everyone’s personality.  Whether you follow Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Colors, or TypeFocus, the conversation is all the same.  You take an assessment before the seminar, during the seminar you hear everyone’s personality type, how we all are contributors to the team, and how we all can utilize each other.  OR!! You talk about cultural differences in the workplace and how understanding everyone’s culture can bring out the best in us all!

In theory these seminars are great.  You formally learn about yourself, things that you don’t naturally think of.  You find out why you and particular co-worker always butt heads during projects.  You find out who is opposite of you and how to utilize their talents.  You find out how people view and value different aspects of the workplace.  You find peace, harmony, and clarity for your office. 

In reality, are we really holding our employees and teammates to this standard.  We can talk until the roosters come home about cohesiveness, but if once we walk out the room it goes back to normal; we’ve wasted everyone’s time and energy. How can we really grow as professionals:

Ugh, another blog ?!?

OK OK! I get it, in a world where everyone and their best friend's grandma has a blog, what will make this blog any different and worth reading?!?  That's simple; THE CONTENT!  I'm a woman who enjoys developing talent, uplifting our generation, providing generational insight for older folks and developing myself along the way.  I am passionate about us millennials and showing that we aren't the lazy entitled generation our predecessors think we are.  We are the ones that are changing views on politics, workplace structure, and non traditional jobs.  So as I myself go through interesting workplace and development obstacles, I scoured the internet looking for professional millennial men and women talking about their experiences, advice how to get through them, and how to support each other.  I found 0, a goose egg, nada, niltch.  Alot of individuals wanted to complain about their current situations and how they were so unfair; not offering a bit of advice, encouragement, or opportunity for us to talk about the issues.  Or I found the opposite, some older person talking about they understood those iPad totting, rap music listening to, liberal 'millennials'. Yea sure you do, because MTV is exactly how all of us act and respond to the world.  I'm sorry but this Justin Bieber, One Direction, skinny jean wearing Chris Brown generation does not resonate with me.  Not saying anything is wrong with this faction of our generation, but I remember when Chris Brown was 'running it', when snap music dominated the airwaves, and Justin and Britney's breakup was heart wrenching.  Our generation is great and we are 'millennials' but there are different factions within this great generation so to over generalize us together is just plain wrong and annoys us to no end.  Millennials in their late 20's and early 30's are in a workforce that isn't sure how to really deal with us.  We are outspoken, educated, and want to be the best ALWAYS.  Older generations have a hard time understanding how to harness those personalities and millennials have a hard time understanding them.  So, insert this blog!  Here I want to discuss real life issues for the professional millennial.  I'll have guest bloggers, articles regarding related issues, various podcasts, and real advice about how we can be great and work to develop ourselves and the generations before us. So welcome, if you have an article, podcast, or experience that you think would be great for others to hear, please submit them to me at kendrarlewis@gmail.com.  Otherwise enjoy!