I’m excited to bring you this second iteration of the Advice FOR Millennials FROM Millennials series!
This series is meant to offer my generation advice, tips and wisdom on a variety of topics from a diverse mix of successful individuals — Millennials all. This is a space where we can freely talk about us, how we live, the struggles we face, and how we overcome adversity. TIME famously tokened Millennials as the “Me” generation; I’d rather be part of the “Us” generation.
Stefanie Skinner
Partner at EB Consults Worldwide
Stefanie is a partner at Brooklyn-based fashion and beauty PR firm EB Consults Worldwide. Her firm puts on some of the most engaging Fashion Week(s) shows, events, and parties all over New York, LA, and anywhere fashion publicity is needed. Stefanie holds The Blonds, Nicholas K, MAISON the FAUX, and many other too-cool brands within her little black book of PR.
New York is tough and when I moved here I literally did not know a single person, so I had two options: sink or swim. I was determined and after a ton of blood, sweat, and tears, here I am!
A few adjectives Millennials have been saddled with: ‘narcissistic,’ ‘entitled,’ ‘lazy,’ ‘bratty’… But times have changed and so has the way we work; many traditional workforces don’t even exist anymore. So is my face in my phone more than it should be? Probably, but that’s what enables me to support myself — I don’t ‘clock out’ in any conventional way. Yet there is so much more freedom in the way people work today than in yesteryear. Millennials have turned ourselves into brands, started our own companies and decided to eschew tradition and be our own bosses — in more ways than one.
- Curiosity. Try new things. Intern anywhere and everywhere. Ask questions and don’t assume; it’s totally fine to not know something.
- Respect. Try to know your place in this world, and have respect for the people you work for and with. Pleases, thank you’s, and you’re welcome’s go far — respect is where it’s at!
- Persistence. It takes work to create something worthwhile, and even more work to be able to work for yourself. Realize that experience is powerful and takes time to get.
Kyle Taylor
Founder and CEO of The Penny Hoarder
Kyle is the founder and CEO of The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites in the world, whose articles and blog posts are especially popular with Millennials seeking to navigate the ever-increasing complexity of modern finance. The Penny Hoarder has been recognized by the Inc. 5000 as the fastest growing private media company in the U.S.
About six years ago I left my political gig working on the Affordable Care Act under the Obama administration. I was deep in debt from my student loans, and had to find new ways to bring in money. So I started on a bunch of side hustles; for a while I was a beer auditor, getting paid to go to grocery stores and gas stations to see if they’d check my ID. I started my first blog by writing about my progression of part-time gigs and how I was handling budgeting like an adult. Nobody read it. But, I kept at it and eventually an editor at O, The Oprah Magazine invited me to contribute, which really inspired me to take my little blog to the next level and try to turn it into a business. I now have 69 employees, million of subscribers and an annual college scholarship.
I think a lot of people see Millennials in a negative light for a couple reasons, but I’ve gotta say that the way our personality types are being lumped together is really unfair. We have a lot of Millennials working for The Penny Hoarder, and we’re starting to see that many of us mistrust authority and financial institutions because we grew up during the financial crisis. We’re pretty amazing and hard working, but the world has changed!
Don’t be afraid of an alternative path. I dropped out after my first semester at college, and I still haven’t graduated! Things don’t always go the way you think they will, so try to roll with things and don’t be afraid of failures — they’ll happen every day!
Keep self-educating. Read a book, go to a conference, attend a seminar, or take classes at your local college. Whatever it is, invest your time/money/energy in education.
Make time for yourself. Block off time for yourself, whenever you can. Try to find a time during your day to close your eyes, focus on your breath, and really let yourself relax, even if you can only do that for a couple minutes.
Amina AlTai
Co-founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Undo
Amina is the co-founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer (one of the more 21st century career titles we’ve heard in a while) of Undo, a Brooklyn-based company which creates products — meditation cushions, ankle pillows, candles made with ‘adaptogenic herbs’ — to make meditation, yoga and any kind of breathing exercises easier and more accessible.
For 8 years, I was working at 110% capacity every single day, like many New Yorkers. I was starting to feel burned out and I wasn’t even 30 yet, and then I was diagnosed with two auto-immune deficiencies — Celiac and Hashimoto’s — so I decided to completely redo my life. I started retraining myself — diet training, fitness training, mindfulness training — but all that training was starting to take over my life and my calendar, and I began to feel exhausted again. The constant ‘wellness’ exercising was leading me to more burnout! But that’s when I found meditation and yoga, just in time, which completely changed my life.
I think we (Millennials) are pretty great. We tend to look out for each other and that’s very special. Of course we get a bad rep — I’ve done consulting for companies where I’ve noticed that Millennial employees want and love flexibility in their workplaces, while senior employees will see that as a negative. I come from a very multicultural and diverse background — like so many Millennials do — so labeling a multifaceted generation like ours seems wrong.
- Be happy, not right. I’m a self-professed Type A person, which pushes me to be ‘right’ all the time. But although I naturally want to fight to the death to be right, it isn’t healthy. Trying harder to be happy than right has actually made me a more productive, mindful and healthful human!
- Patience. “Nothing before its time” is a mantra of mine. The startup culture, with its hyper-paced everything is so in these days, which is great, but everything takes time! I wanted to change the world in less than a year, and sometimes that’s just not possible.
- Pacing yourself. Being fast is important, but it can also be detrimental to your balance. I’m a Vedic meditator, so I use Sanskrit mantras and meditate for 20 minutes, twice daily, to maintain my balance and make sure I’m pacing myself.
Originally published at medium.com