5 ways to work like a millennial, even if you’re a baby boomer

Today is Guest Blog Day. This one comes from my pal, Eryc Eyl, who knows a thing or two about the work environment and employees. Employers can learn from him as well. His motto is: Keep your head and your heart while keeping your job. It’s about functioning with integrity for yourself as well as for the employer. Check out his website below. Happy reading…

by      ERYC      EYL

If I have to hear one more of my over-40 peers complain that folks born between 1981 and 1996 are lazy, unreliable, and have no ambition, I’m turning in my membership card to the generation that the baby boomers called “slackers.”

When you complain like that, it just makes you sound old and crabby. Who wants to be the old crabby guy (or woman) in the office? Didn’t you hate him/her when you started working?

The fact is that millennials bring a different set of values, skills, and talents to the workplace, just as every generation has. Yes, they’re different from the slackers, Gen X’ers and boomers who preceded them.

Millennials in North America have grown up with computers and cell phones as everyday objects. As a result, they can do things with technology that will astound you.

They grew up with parents who became disillusioned with the live-to-work values of previous generations. As a result, they are motivated by work that is personally meaningful and fulfilling — work that is integral to life, not detrimental to it.

Millennials came of age during a time of massive global change: the decline of the Soviet empire, two Gulf Wars, the first attack on American soil since World War II, and the first African-American president, to name a few. As a result, they appreciate and embrace change.

Rather than bitching about all the ways you think millennials are inferior, it’s time to start focusing on what you can learn from them. Start working like a millennial, and you’ll soon see that what makes them different just might make work better — for all of us. Here are five ways to start:

1. Embrace technology. Don’t be afraid to learn the latest gadgets and gizmos in the office. Instead, see them for what they are — ways to make work better. Not sure how to use that software? Ask a millennial for help.
2. Insist on meaningful work. Perhaps you grew up believing that work was something separate from life, but that has changed. We all deserve work that enhances a meaningful, fulfilling and FUN life. Look to your millennial coworkers for clues on how to do it.
3. Balance work with life’s other dimensions. Millennials have figured out that work-life balance is a verb, not a noun. Follow their lead for ways to integrate your professional and personal lives so that you feel healthy, happy, and whole.
4. Seek novelty. If you’re stuck in a rut at work, look around to see how your years of unique experience, expertise and eccentricity can help solve your employer’s toughest problems. Doing something new will inject fresh energy into your work life.
5. Examine your judgments and assumptions. You’ve seen and been through a lot in your career. That gives you valuable wisdom and insights, but never let that convince you that you know better than your younger coworkers about everything. Shift your perspective and you just might learn something from them.

Eryc Eyl helps working folks of all ages integrate their work with a meaningful, fulfilling and fun life. Visit his website at ErycEyl.com for more free tips on how to keep your head and your heart while keeping your job.