millennial blog project

I entered the corporate world nearly 10 years ago as a fresh-faced intern. With $300 in my bank account and a shock of bright red hair, I thought I knew everything. And in some ways, I did. People told me I was “spunky” – I had a quirky personality and a no-nonsense approach to my career that mostly stemmed from my desperate need for money. 

If I could go back and talk to that 19-year-old who rode her bicycle around town by herself every night, here’s what I would tell her about her future self:

These are the parts of you that you will keep and hone

• You will continue working hard to prove to yourself and others that you deserve what you have.
• You will always be a go-getter, and your no-nonsense attitude will carry through in each decision you make about your job, your career, and your future.
• You will use your classical training in journalism and writing to veer off course, because your deep understanding of the rules taught you how to break them with intention.

These are the parts of you that you will lose or change (and you’re better for it)

• You will embrace the Oxford comma. Shocking, I know.
• You will stop expecting that the world owes you something.
• You will push yourself physically in new and tough ways. 
• You will change what’s important to you. Money and the power to influence others in positive ways used to rule your world… these days you understand that having those two things won’t make you happy. And they never will.

These are the parts of you that you will work to find again

• Your confidence. Good grief. The way you walked into a room and didn’t give a shit what anyone thought or said about you.
• Your spunkiness and gutsiness. These days you lose a little bit of yourself each time you step into an executive board room.
• Your creativity. You were always working on something new and fun, and today you’re working backward to find that creative zest.

When one of the managers who hired me in 2013 as an intern retired from my company in 2015, he left me with this to think about: “You came here as that spunky little kid, and that’s what I’ve always loved about you. 

“Don’t let them squash that out of you.”

I’ve let this go over the past few years, but I’m ready to bring this challenge back again.

So here it is: challenge accepted, at any cost.