As a Millennial, I have found that, for every door we knock on, there are 20 doors that won’t open. Why? Is it because some big corporates don’t believe that we are capable or worth it because we don’t experience? Would they prefer that we did the more remedial activates, sticking to what we know such as Social Media? It seems that some people just want our success to take as long as theirs did.
“But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” As Rocky Balboa says, a part of being successful is knowing your own capabilities, potential, and being able to trust yourself enough to take calculated risks even when everyone around you says you’re insane.
I did myself a favor and studied successful millennials, from Mark Zuckerberg to Siya Beyile to see what they had in common. Who did they study? How can I learn some tips and tricks and then better them or adjust them to fit my environment? What does success mean to me? How can I overcome the “stick to what you know” category? Remember success, in itself, is not something you are born with, it is something you believe, no matter your economic status.
So, after doing some research on how to be a successful millennial, I gathered a few tips from the likes of LinkedIn and Post Planner to share. These are some tips we can all use to improve our current status.
- Confident yet humble – walk and talk like a million bucks! But know when to listen and learn. You have to believe in yourself before anybody else will be able to but make sure you take advice from others. Learn from others mistakes, better the way they did things but remember to always stayed grounded.
- Thick-skinned without a chip on your shoulder – like I said some people are just waiting to give you a NO don’t take it personally, move on and learn from it. Success comes from overcoming the obstacles that the world is fraught with and never coming up on your dreams.
- Compassionate, without seeing it as a weakness – they say: “your energy says a lot about you before you say a single word.” Being kind to other people can be so rare at the current status of our world. Those that have the true kindness gene are praised for their work. Take this as a win, not a negative trait.
- Business-minded and creatively expressive – fill the gap in the market with YOUR creativity. As a millennial, our minds have been hard wired to think faster and smarter, changing with every new environment we enter. This is something to celebrate and embrace within business.
- Technologically fluent, but not addicted – impress the CEO by showing him/her how quick you can google the solution for the problem(and take the credit, I mean why not!) but don’t turn them off by Face Timing your “bestie” right before a meeting. What new program could be bought and implemented to assist large corporates with HR Admin? This could allow those in HR to focus on the business and not just the admin behind their job.
Let’s embrace our Millennial status, our innovative ideas, and our flare for always questioning why. We are millennials man! We are not scared of change. Raised by the internet and born to be different! Right?
Written By: Chrissy Sibeko
