Goals and Problems

Asked to choose their generation’s top goals from among five options, 18 to 24 year-olds listed these as either most important or second most important:

• To get rich                                              81%
• To be famous                                         51%
• To help pe0ple who need help            30%
• To be leaders in their community      22%
• To become more spiritual                    10%

They also said their most important individual problem is:

• Money/debt                                           30%
• College/education                                  18%
• Career/job                                               16%
• Family/relationships                               7%
• Health                                                        2%
• National/Int’l conditions                         2%
• All other (including don’t know)          29%

Hmmm! Quite an indication of the character of today’s youth!

Happy Easter!

Source: Pew Research Center 2006 Generation Next Survey

Staying Too Long

Time to move on? No, wait, if I just hang on a year or two more, it will be……..

When to bow out of an environment is one of the challenging choices in life. Changing jobs, moving our residence, retiring, no longer living with parents, severing a relationship are some examples we all face during our joyful journey. No one bows out of environments with perfect timing every time.

We will have discovered, as we gain experience bowing out, we tend to err on the side of taking too long to move on. Our jobs go from challenging and rewarding to draining and boring. Our relationship with a friend can go from comforting and trusting to one of constant conflict and anxiety. Individuals are no longer in control of choosing a late retirement.

Fame and fortune bring example after example of this challenge via the media. Stage, screen, and TV stars; famous singers and musicians; superstar athletes and legendary coaches; and elected and appointed governmental officials provide example after example of going far beyond the best time to bow out.

With a successful past, it is very difficult to focus on future opportunities. Life is very difficult. We will have discovered as we review our journey in later years we regret most the things we did not do. Bowing out sooner versus later can be a major category of “If I had it to do over again……”

Changing Our Environment

So many changes! They keep coming! It’s so hard to deal with.

We will have discovered on our joyful pursuit of happiness we cannot just let change happen to us.

We will have found we benefit from changing some things we do not like about our environment. We might change a friendship, a job, a relationship, a community, a cause. Changing our environment means we are likely to change others’ beliefs. We will likely need to influence others to agree with and embrace the change.

We also will have discovered it is helpful to change some things we do like about our environment. Building on strengths can be a great part of this. Another part is we may eventually find we become bored with something for which we were once thrilled. We will discover it is best to change before becoming bored rather than long afterward.