Reject Mediocrity, Embrace Productivity

Apparently, 90 percent of managers believe they are in the top 10 percent of performers in their organization. I would be shocked if this statistic doesn't hold true for Gen-Y, considering our, "entitled" nature.

Nevertheless, shouldn't everyone think they are one of the top performers in their company? If you don't have enough confidence to believe you are a top performer, then you can't possibly become one. Think of it as a self fulfilling prophecy.

Personally, I'm convinced that I am in the top five percent of workers; except when I'm working in a cubicle. When sitting in a cube, I'll give myself top 30 percent, on a good day.

There is something about a cubicle that absolutely stifles the creativity, ambition, motivation and most importantly, productivity that would otherwise propel me to the top five percent. In other words, cubicle life encourages mediocrity.

Mediocrity sucks. I would rather be great at some things and bad at others than mediocre at everything. I believe most millennials feel the same way. And it only makes sense that we want to be great at the one thing that takes up the better part of our waking lives; our jobs.

To be great at anything you have to be incredibly productive. When I discuss flexibility and the need to create hours that work best for my schedule, I don't ask because I'm selfish or lazy. I ask because I know what circumstances allow me to be the best at what I do.

Apparently, I'm not the only young person obsessed with productivity. In a recent article from Flack Magazine, Life Hacking 2.0, Cal Newport discusses the productivity or "Life Hacking" phenomenon:

"It's less expected, however, that these same young people, famous for cynicism, and an Office Space-fueled distrust for all things related to cubicle culture, would become hooked (On Life Hacking). But they did."

Of course we did. Life Hacking and productivity may as well be synonymous with the anti-cubicle culture. We embrace fast paced, stimulating, outcome oriented work. Cubicle culture consists of 6 hours of slow-paced, lazy, mediocre work, and 2 hours of slow-paced, lazy, uninterested web surfing. This creates a serious disconnect.

Want more proof? Many of the top blogs on theInternet are devoted to "Life Hacking," and many of these readers are in their early twenties. Scott Young runs a popular productivity blog, and despite having no hard stats, informal surveys show the majority of his audience is between 20 and 25 years old. Life Hacker, the Internet's number one productivity blog claims that 68 percent of its readers are under 34.

Millennials are a fairly conforming bunch. We don't openly protest an unpopular war. We don't grow our hair long to stand out from the crowd. We openly embrace our parents as friends. And I'm totally cool with all of that.

It's funny though. One thing we do get a bad rap for are our work habits. We're called entitled and lazy because we're ambitious and strive to be productive. If that's the worst dirt they have on us, then so be it.

We COULD sit back and accept the lazy cubicle culture like the corporate lifers sitting behind us, numb to their lack of freedom and creativity and disinterested in their daily productivity. But what fun would that be?

Young people need to be a little idealistic and rebellious. History has shown that all generations go through it. But while past generations have dissented, millennials value the system. We're just trying to make it work for us, so we can all be great at what we do.

Learning to Embrace Change — 'Father Knows Best'

At the risk of being mocked by all the critics, I have a confession – I'm a helicopter child. When it comes to my personal and professional life, my parents may have more energy than I do.

And why shouldn't they? If you ask me, they sculpted a pretty excellent individual.

My work on Employee Evolution in no exception. My Father especially, loves to critique me. Mostly, he says to be less audacious with my readers. But as a writer, it ain't easy to give up your preferred style. It's like asking a painter to give up his favorite brush. Still, every once and awhile my Dad brings something really interesting to my attention.

After one of our talks about the generation gap he sent me a chain-letter that got both of us thinking:

One evening, a grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the modern age – school shootings, terrorism, the computer age and just things in general.

"Let's see," said the grandfather. "I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots and frozen food."

"In my day, 'grass' was mowed, 'coke' was a cold drink and 'pot' was something my mother cooked in. Back then, 'hardware' was found in the hardware store, and 'software'…heck, it wasn't even a word."

"Damn," I thought. "This guy must be ancient."

I couldn't be more wrong.

At 59 years old, this man had seen more changes in the world than my Dad even realized occurred. And go figure, they're the same age.

The moral of my Dad's story was change happens. We either voluntarily embrace it or we're forced to. Those who do so willingly end up doing "okay." Those who have to be forced typically don't do so well.

Perhaps the reason my Dad couldn't recall all of the changes in his lifetime was because he embraced them so well. Consequently, he did "okay" for himself — more than "okay" if you ask me.

Gen-Y is embracing today's remarkable pace of change pretty well, but we're still young. There's plenty of time for us to become old and grumpy, fall into a pit of stubbornness and become what we fear the most.

Twentysomething years from now, when I look at the changes that pesky Gen-Z (or whatever ridiculous name we give to them) is rolling into our world, I'll remind myself of the story "Papa Paugh" told me back in my youth.

And I'll think, "Hey, those guys are alright."

Technology, medicine, the environment; it's a little scary to think what lies ahead. But if we want to do "okay" we have to embrace it.

But see, that's simply if you want to do "okay."

"Greatness," requires a leader. A person that's bold enough to be the first to change – to "grab the bull by the horns" and gear up to get hammered by adversity.

That's when you stop being "okay" and start being "great."

Managers: What's Your Definition of 'Grown Up?'

I was chatting with Ryan Healy this week about his post on moving back home. Given my line of work, I know the number of college grads who are returning to the parental nest is high. I even heard once that more than 70 percent of the graduating class of one of our most prestigious and expensive American universities said in a survey they planned to move home too.

There's actually a term people are using to describe college grads who move back to take advantage of nice living quarters, laundry service, good food and the various other perks living at home provides: KIPPERS. (Which stands for 'Kids in Parents Pockets Eating Retirement Savings.') A more commonly known term is 'Boomerang Kids.' Both are meant to be humorous, but we all know, humor is usually rooted in truth – or at least in perception. Which leads to one of the major concerns I hear from corporate managers today: When will Gen-Y grow up?

Yes, clients I work with all seem very focused on getting Gen-Y to realize they need to be responsible for themselves. They are frustrated by the fact that when they graduated, they were forced to, as one client told me, "live in a roach infested apartment, eating Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." They see Gen-Y heading back to the comforts of home and start to think this will be the generation who 'fails to launch' into adulthood. Moreover, they view Gen-Y's job hopping as a product of how they are able to, 'take this job and shove it,' because no one is making them pay the bills and survive on their own.

In short, managers don't think Gen Yers are acting grown up, and they don't want to invest in them because they consider them unreliable. As I told Ryan, I actually have personal experience with this mentality. Let me share…

In the very first years of my own career, I went in and proposed myself for a new position that was being created in the start-up firm I was working for at the time. I had been with the company a little over a year. I told my boss, an ex-marine and former Fortune 500 manager, I was perfect for the job because I was young, single, and had no spouse, kids, or mortgage to worry about. I stressed that this made me totally available to give the job 200 percent. His response: "That's the exact reason why I don't want to hire you."

I almost fell off my chair. He proceeded to explain, "I want to invest in someone who will stay put. I don't want you to get the job up and running and then just take off for a better opportunity. So, I want someone with a big mortgage, a spouse, AND kids. Someone with personal obligations that will keep them loyal and productive."

Without saying it directly, I could tell my boss did not see me as a 'grown up.' Which also meant, I wasn't going to get any sort of position of significance until I met his definition. What do you think I did? I'll tell you shortly, but let me offer this first:

There have been endless discussions on turnover and the lack of loyalty amongst Gen-Y being attributed to their child-like acts of entitlement on-the-job. Corporate America, it's time to take a closer look at Gen-Y's current career reality and what's driving those actions.

Today, the average college student has $17,000 in debt upon graduation. In the last 20 years, the cost of inflation has severely outpaced the increase in starting salaries. And let's not forget that our society expects everyone to have a degree, which means a diploma doesn't give you a "leg up," just a ticket to the career starting line.

Finally, we must recognize that universities don't prepare every student for the workforce. Colleges focus primarily on teaching students how to learn, not how to find the right career and be a good worker. For many, their first job after college is also their first experience in the professional world. Therefore, every college grad today is bound to mistakes and adjustments to their careers over the first 5-10 years, which will hopefully teach them how to identify and achieve the personal and professional satisfaction they seek.

I suggest companies recognize that Gen-Y needs your help gaining their independence, not your criticism. Offer professional development opportunities in the forms of customized career and financial coaching to your young professionals. Give them the chance to learn how they can achieve their goals with your help.

Yes, they may still leave you, but I assure you, they will remember you fondly and recommend their peers to you. And any HR manager will tell you, WOMP (Word of Mouth Potential) is the best recruiting and retention tool a company's got. As the saying goes, "if you set them free, and it's meant to be, they will come back to you."

Young professionals often need to jump jobs in order to leverage what they have learned, not to mention, be able to have additional experiences that will make them a more valuable asset (potentially for you!) in the future. I know many, many people who have left firms only to return to them several years later, prepared and excited to do great things for the company who has welcomed them back. So invest in Gen-Y employees, regardless of whether or not you think they'll stay, and you'll see a return one way or another.

I'll end by telling you that one week after meeting with my boss, he brought me in his office and said, "Against my better judgment, I'm giving you the job." I spent the next nine months building, learning, and growing in the position. And then, I took that experience and landed myself a new job someplace else.

Yes, I left him, just as he predicted, for the reasons he outlined. He wouldn't speak to me for my final two weeks. I've never seen him since and I wasn't comfortable ever using him as a reference. I just couldn't be sure he would talk objectively about my skills and abilities. On that last day, I made a promise to myself that I would never do that to a young professional in my employ when they gave their notice – and I never have. In fact, at my subsequent jobs, I actually became known as the manager to reach out to if you wanted to leave because I would help individuals find a new job on the condition they would help me find their replacement.

Eventually, I left corporate America and became a career coach and HR/workplace consultant. I honestly think my experience with my former manager is one of the reasons I do what I do today. So, I hope somewhere he is out there, reading this post, and knows that I am actually grateful for the entire experience – all of it. And, I hope all managers reading this will think seriously about the long-term benefits of investing in Gen-Y as well.

Why I Don't Have Health Insurance (Hint: It's Not Because I'm Lazy)

Compared to other twenty-somethings I know, I'd say I'm pretty together.

I own my own business as a freelance writer. And business has been good. I pay my rent and bills, feed myself, pay off my credit card every month, and I'm slowly making a dent in my student loans. I even save for retirement. I'm a college-educated, productive member of society.

But I don't have health insurance.

When I tell people this, the responses sometimes surprise me. For example, a friend of mine is an internist at a local hospital. We were talking about a mutual friend who recently hurt her foot and had to go to the emergency room. She didn't have health insurance. I mentioned that I didn't either. He looked at me as though I had told him I never finished high school. "Well, you just need to get it," he said in a flat voice.

I suspect that among the haves, there's an idea that the have-nots should—and can—just get insured. If they can't, it's their fault somehow. But it isn't that simple. Here are some common misconceptions about the uninsured—and why they're false.

People without insurance are just too lazy to earn enough.

I wouldn't call myself lazy. I work harder now than I ever did in any of my previous jobs or in college. And someday I may make enough to afford to pay for individual health insurance.

But it takes time to build a business. There are millions of people all over the country who are self-employed, work very hard, and still can't afford insurance. There are also plenty of hardworking people whose companies have unaffordable health care plans—or none at all.

The uninsured could get insurance if they took the initiative to change jobs.

Some of the insured would probably say that it's our choice to work where we do—and that we could get insurance if we just switched jobs. But it's more complicated than that.

Some people don't have the education or qualifications to move to white-collar work that's more likely to include health insurance. And that's not necessarily their fault. There are plenty of no-fault reasons why some don't go to college, including badly-timed pregnancies, sick or absent parents, and inability to pay.

Some fields just don't pay well: nonprofits, for example. I worked in a nonprofit for two years, and we were lucky to have the meager coverage we got. But nonprofits do great work for society, and you wouldn't want the people who do that work to quit en masse because they don't have health insurance.

It's also easier said than done to just "get a job" nowadays. For some people, it can take years—some start sole proprietorships just to make ends meet during long stretches between jobs.

People without insurance spend their money on other things.

Okay, I admit it: I don't have health insurance because I fritter away my money on useless extravagances. A roof over my head, for example. Food—that's something I've never been able to live without. Oh, and electricity, heat, that kind of thing. I know, I know. I really should cut back.

There seems to be a belief among the insured that if we just budget better, we uninsured could get our acts together and buy insurance. But that just isn't true. I'm a very frugal person. I don't buy designer clothes, I don't have an expensive latte habit, and I live with three roommates. Believe me, I do everything I can to cut down.

But the least expensive individual plans I've found cost about as much as my rent. And that's just not possible for me. It's not a matter of better budgeting. It's as financially out of reach for me as a house in the Hamptons. I won't be able to afford it, no matter how I tweak my budget. And I know I'm not the only one.

People without insurance should just get married.

This one is more prevalent than you'd think. Remember my friend who hurt her foot? Her brother took her to the emergency room. When she told the doctor she didn't have insurance, he looked at her brother, standing next to her, and asked if he had coverage. He said he did. The doctor said, "You two really should consider getting married."

Of course, it was funny because he didn't know the guy with her was her brother. But it also wasn't funny at all, because he was partially serious. Is this what we've come to, in the most powerful nation in the world? In less enlightened times, women had to marry because they had no other way to support themselves. Is that the case for the uninsured now? Must we be forced into it because we can't get covered any other way?

Of all the stereotypes and misconceptions about the uninsured, this one horrifies me the most. Marriage is something you should only do when it's the right time in your life and you've met the right person. I'm not willing to compromise on marriage, of all things, just because I can't get coverage.

You know the situation is bad when the uninsured are expected to make unreasonable compromises in terms of basic happiness to get insurance. In my case, I could get insured right now in one of two ways: by giving up my writing business, or by getting married. The second one is absolutely out of the question: I refuse to let lack of health insurance force me into a premature decision here, and I don't think that's unreasonable.

As for the first one, I probably could get insurance if I applied for jobs at advertising agencies and other offices. But running my own writing business has always been my dream, and I've never been satisfied working any other job. Not to sound overdramatic here, but the choice for me was between being happy with no coverage and being miserable and covered. And in America—a country with the right to pursue happiness written into the constitution—nobody should ever have to make such a choice.

You Can't Save the World with a Ball and Chain

Three guys sitting around drinking some beers – button-downs un-tucked, ties off, watching highlights on ESPN – it's a typical weekday evening at my house.

"Hey man," my one roommate says. "Did you hear about Mike?"

"Nope," I reply.

"He's getting hitched."

"Damn," I thought, "dead man walking."

Watching fresh out of college twentysomethings "tie the knot" is a total mind-blow. One second the world is your oyster, the next, you're submerged in the end-all be-all commitment of life.

Maybe I'm crazy, but if you're as steadfast about capturing your dreams as I am, you have to stay as far away from matrimony as possible. And serious relationships? They're a bust too.

Want to be a leader? Want to help "change the world"? Get accustomed to being single. Leaders who are emotionally committed to another person typically can't hack it.

And with good reason, you've got a responsibility to another person that's supposed to know no bounds. How can you be expected to invest your soul in an assignment, when you've already sold it off to something else?

The Gen-Y mantra to make a difference needs to be nurtured while we're young. Let your serious commitments to others take the back burner and indulge in a little narcissism. You'll be making the world a better place.

If you're presently in a die-hard relationship right now or, even worse, married, you've likely been burned by my bluntness. So let me reshape my point of view:

You can be young, married and still a huge success. But imagine your potential for greatness if you choose to take a rain-check on the nuptials.

As the young buck in the corporate world, flex-time is a vital element of making a good impression. If you can't stay late to pick up some slack because it's date night, we singles are going to pick it up for you. We'll also take the credit while we're at it.

Last weekend, I visited an old friend in Cape Cod. It was a nostalgic visit that certainly alluded to the inevitability that times they were a-changing.

To my surprise, she told me about an unlikely college couple that decided to move in together after graduation. The girl in the relationship recently confided in my friend some of the oddities of moving in with a significant other at such a young age.

One afternoon she found herself in the laundry room washing her guy's unmentionables. He was in the living room watching the game.

Anxiety began to take hold. She peered down to her naked ring finger, reminding herself that she still had an ounce of freedom to cling on to.

"Weird," she thought.

…I agree.