Growing up, my parents always told me that if you want to be successful in life, you have to be willing to put in the work; you must work hard. I was taught at a young age that nothing would be handed to me and it was ultimately up to me to decide how much I’d be willing to sacrifice in order to achieve my goals and dreams in life. If I failed along the way, it was my job to pick myself up, learn from my mistakes and keep moving forward. Unfortunately, I don’t think my generation has had the luxury of having parents who teach these valuable lessons. And I think previous generations agree with me; just watch the news and listen for yourself!

This generation, labelled as “Millennials,” and also known as “Generation Me,” has been slammed numerous times by the media; constantly called lazy, narcissistic and entitled. Quite frankly, I can’t say I disagree. More and more individuals are feeling entitled to instant success because of their upbringing; in high school, some got into honors classes not because they deserved it, but because their parents complained; some individuals got A's not because they earned them, but because the teachers didn't want to deal with the parents. For those who actually earned an A without the aid of grade inflation, there is little sense of satisfaction; when people are given awards simply to make them feel good about themselves, the award itself loses value. The mentality then becomes: why should I work ten times harder to earn an A, when the person who doesn’t try will still be given the same grade as me? This creates lazy people, and it doesn’t help that parents are encouraging this behavior by telling their children that they can have anything they want in life just because they want it, not because they earned it. Millennials are forgetting that success is granted to those who not only earn it, but work hard for it.

So once these individuals are thrown into the “real world,” they are quick to find out that there is no instant gratification for simply showing up to work. With the unrealistic expectations that they’d be instantly successful, Millennials are easily disappointed and lose patience; consequently, they give up. There is no initiative or self-motivation to go the extra mile in order to be successful. When things don’t work out as planned, they are quick to the conclude that they’ve failed, so why bother continuing on? They turn to their parents when things don’t go their way; depending on parents to fix their problems instead of facing them like an adult.

Society has accused this generation of being self-absorbed; they believe that we value popularity on social media more than contributing to the world and working hard. As a generation, we have become lazy and feel that we are entitled to success without even working for it. I don't know about you, but I don’t want to go down in history as a member of a generation who has this type of mentality; it’s embarrassing, and I think a lot people my age agree with me. I fear that the generations following us will only be worse, but I am hopeful that maybe we can acknowledge our flaws and change the mentality of our generation, including those following us. Millennials, it’s time for an attitude adjustment.