The Problem With Kids These Days...
Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8:52AM
Steve in Generation X, SMB, self-indulgent

From the always entertaining xkcd site:

MTV Generation

I guess there's really two problems with the kids these days - one, we (the old folks) can't be them any more and it ticks us off; and two, they eventually grow up and pretend to forget what being a kid was all about.

It's pretty tough in these mostly difficult and stressful times to ease back off the gas pedal for a few minutes and act a little childish - after all, everyone's counting on you. I get it. If you take a break you'll miss something, the other guy will get past you, and your boss will start questioning your commitment if you did not respond to that email at 11PM on Friday night.

I don't have any good answers really, or even any silly and no-one-asked-for-it advice about disconnecting, or tuning out and making sure to spend in-person time with friends and family. If you need to read some dopey blog to be reminded of what is important in life its probably already too late.

And it would be bad advice anyway. Because succeeding and staying ahead of the game is important, ands while not everyone is counting on you, some people truly are. So even if that (sometimes) means answering emails at 11PM on Friday after the kids have gone to bed, well so what?  

I guess I do have some advice after all - don't feel like you have to apologize for hustling, for staying connected (almost) all the time, for waking up and going to sleep with your iPhone.  Outworking the other guy will always be a solid strategy. You're the MTV Generation after all.

Have a Great Weekend!

Article originally appeared on Steve's HR Technology (http://steveboese.squarespace.com/).
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