A Day in the Life of a Millennial

We all woke up today just as if it was any other day. Each with our own priorities and responsibilities to deal with. Each with our own schedules and to-do lists. Today is like any other day. Except, today’s events aren’t what they use to be. It’s not simply about waking up and going to work anymore. And it’s not about the usual relaxing, recreation and traditional understandings of what people previously did after work until they went to bed that night.

A Millennial’s Day Begins with Ring

What we do everyday isn’t what it use to be. And how we go about it is just as different. To say Millennials do things differently has turned into a cliché. But the reality is, we do do-things differently. From the moment we wake up to how we go about our day, Millennials are introducing unprecedented trends into everyday life. And though the true implications are still unforeseen, they have created a fascinating day for each Millennial.

The day of a Millennial is always started by the abrupt ringing of our mobile phones – or the drastically growing number of smart phones. They have become our morning alarms. They have also taught us that it’s ok to message or even call anyone whenever you want, regardless if they’re sleeping or not. And lets not to forget the growing number of online notifications we all receive. With our phones on the nightstand and even in the bed with us, there is no doubt in my mind that a clear majority of Millennials are significantly effected by these characteristics within the first 30 minutes of each day.

But it doesn’t stop there. We take our mobile/smart phones everywhere with us – since we would be utterly lost without them. Mobile communications and technology has become the most personalized extension of our self’s. Even more personal than the brands we wear. Cancelling our voice, text and data plans would be the absolute last thing we would ever do. Even at our last resort, we would continue without paying our monthly bills until we could figure something out.

The Millennial Workplace

For each of us, we’re living life through our own connectivity. Every thing we do is now becoming more an aspect of life. That’s not to say that nothing was part of life before. But when we go to work, we bring the most personalized aspects of life with us to work. Whether it’s through texting, BBM, email or social networking, we are communicating to our friends. And all you bosses and company owners shouldn’t get scared, we don’t talk about work or give away the company secrets. We’re just continuing our relationships at any given moment.

And I can imagine the executives, supervisors, directors and anyone else in a “boss” position screaming unproductivity at the screen. The shocking reality is we actually are equally or even, more productive. This is due to the fact that our world’s are no longer separated. By allowing us to continue our relationships on an ongoing basis, we don’t have to wait until the end of the work-day to figure things out. Unless an individual is constantly texting and not finishing work, casual connectivity while completely assignments is harmless – you probably wouldn’t even know that it was going on.

Work is no longer the “9 to 5” agenda. And it’s not something we must do but something we do for a means to other ends. It’s our career and our passion. It’s not about working somewhere for 40 years until you retire. It’s about being good at what you do. For these reasons, work has gone beyond the “go to work and go home” idea. For Millennials, work is an all day thing. We’re always thinking about it. We’re always doing something we didn’t finish.

The Lines Are Blurring…

The lines that once distinguished work and life are gone. This can be applied to students in the same regard with school. The fact is Millennials bring their life with them where ever we they go. Going to the gym, work, school, shopping and everything else we do has all become intertwined. We know about parties the minute the host had the thought. Meeting up with friends after work is already discussed by lunchtime. Plans are finalized through a few messages. All while keeping up to pace with work.

And although social networking has fuelled the idea of intertwining worlds, the explosion of mobile communications and technologies has taken it one-step further. Simply, you can control website content on corporate computers. But you can’t control who we talk and text to on our personal devices.

The way we see each day is less defined by the traditional understandings of our parents. Though our responsibilities remain the same, in the sense that we have to do them, the way we go about it has changed. Our day’s are about keeping up with our relationships and pursuing our passions. Don’t be fooled, we are serious about work. We just like to do it differently. And just as our day started off, it ends on the same note. One last email. One last text. One last Facebook check in. Charge our phones and reset the alarm. Until we do it all over again tomorrow.

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