One Size Does Not Fit All

This one time, I was a Millennial. Oh wait - I am still a Millennial...a more "mature" one but I still fit into the group. However, I have never been nor do I consider myself a Millennial Expert. While I am engaged in maintaining a high level of knowledge, understanding, and insight; I think it is impossible.

I do not want to diminish the hard work, extensive knowledge and invaluable insight into our generation. The themes and tendencies of the group are real and need to be understood. But there are over 80 million Millennials with an exponential combination of skills, personalities, and experiencies. That means there are over 80 million :the mold was broken after I was created" creatures in the US alone. So yeah, I'll pass on calling myself an expert in exchanged for things like inhaling, blinking, bathing, etc. 

My point here is to get us to acknowledge that the Millennial generation is not a homogeneous group where one solution for navigating life and career development will work. (Know there is a point in all of this snarky.) #justkeepreading #innerdori #findingnemoforadults

Millennials span from 1980 - 2000. As a more mature Millennial, I graduated high school when the end of my generation was being born. My experiences, expectations and reality was enough to convince me of the divide. Younger Millennials are trying to figure out their personal identity and understand how life works while navigating the demands of transitioning into this fancy place called adulthood. They are trying to get to a point where curfews don't exist, and decisions are sensible and individualized for the circumstance. While on the other side of this spectrum, we are trying to take vacations from #professionaladulting, navigate the demands of career progression, and establish or maintain families where your grown-ness doesn't seem to correlate to the level of autonomy in decision making with your parents.

In addition tot he anecdotal evidence I've presented; in a financial marketing study Bank of America breaks out the generation as such:

• Younger Millennials 18-22
• Middle Millennials 23-29
• Older Millennials

So as you research information to help you navigate in life, consider providing resources to us or label yourself as an expert - keep that in mind. And while some things are generally universal (even across other generations) everything will not necessarily be one size fits all.