In fact, "Life is just a matter of living until the day we fail to breathe." Brutal, but honest.
I have accepted and adhere to this statement as far I could remember.
However, rather than dwelling on these thoughts, I have set myself a goal in life.
I just want to be HAPPY. Nothing more or less. I figured by doing the whatever I want then I can achieve this so called happiness. After letting this mindset sink in, I not only got a lot happier, I dare boldly say that I am stress-free. To be frank, that is what I tell employers during interview, no joke.
Again in my blog posts, I would like to emphasize everything written down are based on my own personal views (plus some minor research). I hope through my posts it will help some of you out there see things from a different perspective. In this post, we will be discussing a little on MILLENIAL WORKFORCE, ACHIEVERS and STRESS.
Working in the training industry is very interesting, as one fine day, I had an amazing opportunity to sit among the Leaders of the insurance agencies, in a talk about recruiting millennials to their workforce. The speaker that day was Benjamin Loh, a young and vibrant professional trainer and speaker from Singapore. I can clearly remember during his speech, I repeatedly nodded my head along all the points he has spoken. Specifically, he made very valid and significant points on the characteristics of workforce from different generations (Baby boomers -> Gen Y). This ranges from "I do what I have been told" baby boomers to "Why am I doing this, what is the reason behind it" Gen Y/Millennial. Funny, but as he said that, I realised that I always ask my supervisor the reason behind every single thing she has asked me to do. Like it or not, Benjamin said, companies have to adhere to culture which the millennials are radiating in the present. Basically, as "WORKFORCE 2020" is gradually approaching, Millennials (1980-1995) and Gen Z (1996-present) will make up for a total of 59% of the global workforce. So what do WE want? According to Park Communications Ltd., Millennials want four things, new opportunities, communications, recognition and work-life balance apart from money itself. Now, it can be unrealistic for traditional large corporate firms to achieve all this 4 criteria, especially in Malaysia. Honestly though, do they even need to retain their workforce? Recruiting is not the issue of multinational corporate firms, as I believe some (if not most) fresh graduates would literally do anything, from boosting their CV by joining literally every events in university or ride connections from anyone they can get to enter into these firms.
After successfully entering the corporate workforce, then they would think when to leave after getting the necessary experiences and certifications. I believe corporate firms are aware of this, and therefore, would treat workers as expendables. If you do not like to work, somebody else will work for us. So bye. Of course, joining a corporate firm has its own perks, such as large exposures to different projects, budget for employee personal training and development, sponsorship for exams w/ or w/ bonding the employee. However, working for such a large corporate with a household name also meant that the individual would have to adapt to the company structure, stick by the long working hours (which can include no overtime pay), office politics (stepping on each other to gain promotion) and etc.
Therefore, it is not hard to see that millennials would start to slowly move in to greener pastures, which is what what we call, entrepreneurship. (Or what I'd like to call, Be my own boss.)
The power of internet and social medias provide vast opportunities for people for any range group to venture into their own business. Over the years, many of us can see the rise of start-ups which in the end transformed into market disruptors in their respective industries. (To name a two famous examples, Grabcar & Uber - Taxi industry; AirBNB - Hotel industry.) Moreover, with the abundance of internet celebrities slowly come into existence, this meant that self-branding and marketing has become seemingly potent in entrepreneurship. The appeal of good features coupled with well-built physique cannot be underestimated in the role of fetching various advertisements or modelling opportunities.
So, what's up with ACHIEVERS and STRESS?
According to Venho (April 11, 2016), "Some high achievers are always in pursuit of perfection." It does seem like these high-caliber individuals have the tendency to not reduce stress, but garner all these stress factors and transform them into working drive. Again, mentally I have no doubt these people are strong enough to handle it, but physically and psychologically, is that true? The body produces a special hormone called cortisol which will react vigorously to stress. When an individual overexert him or herself, for example, burning the midnight oil, this will lead to an elevation of cortisol (Leproult, 1997). The result of this cortisol serves as a energy booster as a function to maintain the awareness of the mind and body. Moreover, this elevation was also found to be able to affect the quality of sleep, forming what seems to be a positive feedback loop.
Somehow, we seemed to let our minds run faster than the body. "Stress can be adapted, sleep can be adapted, it is just a matter of time and practice", I have received this from many out there. Indeed the mind is very flexible, adaptable and have the definite potential of spewing wild fire all over imaginary visualizations. The body, in contrary, has some sort of a limit to it and an alarm system. Of course, many times we have to sacrifice our time and health (mostly young guns out there) in order to make ends meet or raise our own capital.. but what if the money we are desperately trying to generate will end up as hefty payments for our health in the future? What are we actually working so hard for then?
In the end, there is no wrong and right to everything. Maybe, the yearn for work-life balance from the millennials is an alarm about the importance of managing stress and health? Or will employers see it as a form of laziness or irresponsibility? How long can night producers continue to defy the basics of the human circadian rhythm and acquiring rest? Are we consistently letting our mind run faster than the body?
I have only just started crawling in this world called society but I am crawling slowly and consistently. Will it be better to repeatedly run fast and fall?
Lastly, to all readers out there (if any), your decision now in life, is it worth it?
Jayden
http://www.parkcom.co.uk/millennials-rule-workforce-2020/
http://www.moodmetric.com/how-can-moodmetric-help-an-ambitious-achiever/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9415946
