Opinion: Why middle class millennials struggle to choose a direction

Disclaimer, this is an opinion post based on observations of myself and recent conversations with friends and employers. It is not a fully comprehensive synopsis of research on the topic which would involve, for example, psychology and macroeconomic trends. With that said, I make the assumption throughout the article that the trends I've experienced socially, economically, and technologically are not unique to me and have been experienced in parallel by millions of others. On that note, I'd like to share my thoughts as may be they will be of use to you.

So, in my opinion middle class millennials struggle to choose a direction because we are forever second guessing ourselves. I've also mused a solution to this, written at the end.

My thinking goes like this:

When my parents came to the UK in the 70's they had little, there was a definite glass ceiling for ethnic minorities and there was no such thing as the internet to access global markets from one's bedroom. In other words, their was little choice and they got jobs in whatever work that would take them. The big idea was to build a platform, not only for themselves but for their children. I think this is not a unique ambition to immigrant families but in fact an ambition of all families trying to make progress.

The interesting part is the cultural shift as platforms are made. My grandmother, for example, was taken out of school at age 12 and ran a household which included the extended family. When she finally came to the UK she got a factory job working with carbon, this work posed a huge risk to her health and the pay was low. Thus, she wished she had an education and she certainly wished that her children wouldn't have to work high risk factory jobs.

This much was achieved, my parents focused on education at school and then got office jobs which paid better than the factory. Though, as I mentioned earlier, these office jobs were not part of my parents grand design for their own lives. They had little choice, it was about survival. Decades later they look back and wonder what their lives could've been if they had more options available to them, if they had more time to choose correctly. I also think that this shift, from the factory to the office was a shift that took place generally across the western world in the same period no matter which background one's from, thus has generated a similar set of regrets in the older generation.

Enter, me. Enter the generation of middle class millennials. The platform our parents built for us is one in which we have choice. Choices they never had. Sure, it didn't feel like that when we were forced to study hard, but the emphasis of that work was to better ourselves. To get good grades in order not to be limited down the line. I think, the thinking was, if maths is a C, get an A or else some university, course or job won't accept you down the line - give yourself the chance to get to the top, study hard.

So, to study was all about creating options for ourselves. It was also to discover what we were good at, what we enjoy, what we could do at university and as a career. To create the best lives possible for ourselves. With the tandem rise in the internet and technology the number of options blew up further, all with real potential for actualisation. That's the first 18 to 21 years of our lives.

I think this comes to a point after university, age 22, when suddenly the world asks one to choose and contribute for life. We're not ready for this moment.

The question lingers - which is the best choice? How do know that choice is the best for me? Am I limiting myself? And inevitably, no option is ever good enough as there is always something potentially better - and we don't want to miss out on this option! That's second guessing, always uncertain and with he clock ticking anxiety builds.

The truth is, however, we needn't worry. Limitation in not a negative thing. I think there's an interesting way to explore it too. To start, our interests are never chosen. They are innate and we recognise them when we spontaneously become interested in something. In other words, nature already has a direction for each individual it's just up to us to accept it. Curiously, our interests may not always line up with our aptitudes, our competences, what we are good at and what the world is willing to pay us for. Though we have little choice over these aspects too as they are externally defined, it's a reaction of the world to the abilities/skill/competences one develops when they work hard at something. I would argue that these competences shine through and promote one's success in any given situation - perhaps you're a chemist but realise people are calling you up to write articles more than to do science, because you're competences is in the written word. Or perhaps you're a artist but your success is attributable to your ability to market art rather than you're own creations.

Finding the cross over point between our interests and our competences, particularly in the context of how we can bring value to others, is an important thing to discover. Choosing to invest our time into this option, I believe, is inherently the best direction there is. It's the path which is most likely to bring our best achievements, notwithstanding proper effort and hard work of course. It's the optimal utility of time, the best expression of us as individuals and so the best work we could ever do.

Perhaps it won't buy one a yacht, though that is absolutely not the point.

What's truly amazing, and what I'm thankful for, is that finding this option, choosing and investing our time into it has never been more possible. And the likelihood of succeeding has never been higher given access to technology and global markets from our bedrooms.