The Burnt Out Millennial

Millennials...we're this Generation with so much advantage; Technology at our fingertips, voice controlled lights the latest movies streaming on our tv's so that we can enjoy our movie with the peace of mind knowing that we can pause the movie for a bathroom break or a snack and not miss a thing! So with all this access and and tools to make life easier...why the eff are we so tired all the time?!

Something that's been on my mind over the past few months has been this idea of our 'mental bandwidth'. With so much information at our disposal it seems that part of our generations' problem; or disadvantage is information OVERLOAD. Having access to so much information; life hacks, streaming shows, grocery delivery services and so on that our mental bandwidth is at capacity leading to the well known term of Analysis Paralysis. Wikipedia shares, Analysis Paralysis:

"describes an individual or group process when overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become "paralyzed", meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon. A situation may be deemed too complicated and a decision is never made, due to the fear that a potentially larger problem may arise. "

As you can imagine this can be exhausting! So what do we do? How to we feel better and make better decisions for ourselves and our mental health in the face of all this information being thrown at us?

Do a Consumption Audit.

Take some time figure out what types of content really matter to you.What types of hobbies or skills do you actually want to learn. What do you actually like listening to, watching, learning about? What matters to you and what inspires you? Then take some time and unfollow, unsubscribe or mute content that you find yourself mindlessly scrolling past. Because let's be honest... if it mattered or brought your some semblance of joy you would have taken longer than 2 seconds to look at that piece of content.

2. Start Batching Your Time.

One of the best things that you can do for your time and your mental health is to STOP living in your inbox. Matt D'Avella has this fantastic video where he breaks down time batching and how it works to begin giving you back your most valuable currency... time.

3. Let Go Of 'Hustle Culture'.

A few months ago I was listening to an episode of the, Yes Theory Podcast that talked about the problem with productivity. In the episode Anne Helen Peterson, author of, Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, shares,

" Our identity is so intertwined with out work that, when the works start to fail, the work starts to feel hard, less fulfilling or exploitative it starts to fall apart."

This is something I've personally struggled with for so long now. Particularly with being a creative it can feel so personal when my work doesn't resonate or 'hit the mark'. This for me is a work in progress. I think for now the intent of me creating content is to get my thoughts out there, have it processed by others and maybe have it resonate and be helpful in some way. But ultimately, I'm just working on being proud of just putting myself out there.

The Burnt Out Millennial