I first wrote this pre-COVID-19, but perhaps it’s even more relevant now.
When the dust settles on the 2010’s, we will call it “The Abundant Decade”. Headlines declared it an unprecedented 10-year bull market run. As a 20-something, I only know of this glorious economic boom.
Coming of age in a time of prosperity has gifted me (and the youth of this decade) with more privilege than we care to admit. Unearned privilege, however, leads to entitlement.
We’re more familiar with competition among employers for talent than the reverse. While previous generations took decades to meet the first few rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we achieved them all by graduation day with our respectable employer lined up and eager for our arrival.
We yearn for the peak of self-actualization that we call “changing the world”, having never experienced hardship. Achievement without toil, however, leads to a false belief in our own exceptionalism.
When the tide goes out, many will be exposed. Now is a better time than any to figure out how to give the world what it wants but doesn’t know how to get just yet. We are each a natural at something; many do not make the effort to discover it, others skip the work it takes to become truly exceptional.
Earned exceptionalism is the only one with staying power. And the best time to start building it is in times of abundance.
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Thanks for reading!
-Linda