BBC highlighted China’s trend of ‘full-time children’.

But…let me edit this: More Young Workers in China Taking Career Breaks Due to Burnout and Unsustainable Corporate Culture.

The term ‘full-time child’ is highly misleading, creating the image of a 20-something lying on the couch, eating Doritos. while their aging parents try to tend their needs. Reading the article, this is definitely not the case. It’s people with successful careers who are having trouble with the excessive demands of long hours, little advancement, and micromanaging managers.

It is not sustainable.

So…they take a career break, re-evaluate their options, and go back to applying to jobs that might work better for their mental health.

Let’s stop this trend of “These young people don’t know the meaning of hard work” – it’s tired and overworked, just like them.

This The New York Times collection of mini interviews really zeroes in on the anxiety of post-graduate life…and the lack of big dreams.

There’s hope in a lot of these reflections and definitely a desire to positively contribute to the world. But the short term tentativeness is painfully evident.

Take Layla Flowers from University of Denver: “I feel the pressure of the world right now. Everything feels like it has to have meaning because everything feels urgent. There’s so much emphasis on, ‘Am I doing something for the world?’”

If there’s anything that will ever keep you from taking the first step, it’s worrying if you are going to make a significant world impact the moment you walk out of university.

While people can be motivated by fear, the better option is to be motivated by inspiration and aspiration. When I graduated everyone wanted to be a great ‘something’.
📽 A show-stopping director
✏ An inspiring teacher
📚 A best-selling author
😎 Even president of the United States (you know who you are)

Now were we aware that we might never reach these goals? Maybe not, which is the downfall of our generation.

Having a dream gives you direction. It gives you a focus. It gives you a North Star to point your career trajectory even if your ship is shaken by a storm. It’s ok to change your Star, but having one makes smaller decisions like what jobs to apply to, what people to network with, what skills to learn much easier.

In short, it’s ok to dream big. Don’t make yourself smaller by default.

To those already in the working world, what were your big dreams?

To those who just graduated or are about to graduate, what can you make yours?

When I was younger, I loved a good fight. Anything I could stick my feet in the sand and debate someone until they had no serious arguments left.

It was fun. It was exhilarating. It felt like winning.

But somehow I was one the one losing. As do most winners of fights.

The Circular Fight About Work

People love to chatter and badmouth remote work. Or they love to chatter and evangelise the virtues of remote work. For some reason, the fact that people aren’t working in an office environment surrounded by three semi-carpeted half-walls really stirs people up to talk. And because these two people love to chatter, fights ensue with barricades up on either side. Either you should work 100% in an office or 100% at home – and both are the ultimate good and ultimate evil.

But I really don’t care. Because I’m tired.

The debate around remote work is the same as the Gen Z v Millennial v Boomer debate: it only exists because people want an excuse to fight about something.

I agree, it does touch on highly personal issues and does make us question what we value in society. However, within individual businesses, it can be solved easily enough by having a conversation with the people who work there.

(Granted the discussion gets more complicated when your team numbers the thousands, but if companies can disperse responsibilities across a full spectrum of employees, surely they can discover how remote work would or wouldn’t maximise their productivity.)

Do people like coming in the office to have dynamic creative sessions with their colleagues?
Right on.

Do you do all your work via laptop and even when in office, slack your coworkers from across the room?
Maybe remote might be the right move.

Or is it possible to take a hybrid option and everyone does what suits them on whatever day?
Just do it.

It’s simple – but people don’t want to do the simple thing

These are fairly simple questions on how a business wants to function. It could be a simple email or, if you want a longer conversation, a meeting. For example,

“Do you need to be in the office to work? Y/N?”

That’s it.

Therefore, it makes me think that many people don’t want to have the discussion. They just want the argument. They want to be right. They want an excuse for the millions of dollars they spent on thousands of square feet of office space (I’m looking at you, NYC).

Do you want more than an argument?

So what if you’ve been circling around this debate and realise that you’re tired like me. You don’t want to argue anymore, you want a real solution.

Firstly, congrats! Welcome to the club!

Secondly, I’ve got an answer for you. And it’s uncomfortable.

Talk with the people you work with

It’s time to do the uncomfortable thing and have a talk with your manager, with your team, and even the heads of your organisation. It doesn’t matter what level of the organization you’re in, you can start with your closest ally and work outwards. Just get the conversation started.

Also, wary traveler, you don’t have to do it alone: find a buddy, find a group of like-minded people you trust, and go in it together. Look. at what unions are doing lately across the U.S. – the power of a coalition of people can make a difference.

When you intend to have a good, reasonable conversation, you never know what you might learn. You might learn the people you work with are more reasonable than you thought.

Or you might learn you need to find a new job.