Opening Insights: "Find Yourself Generation"
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
The millennial generation is often identified as the "ME" generation - the lost and narcissistic generation in search of self.
Whether we want to agree or deny the realities of the millennial generation... the reality is businesses, organizations and schools are faced with the challenge of how to empower, support and teach this generation and those to come.
In order to fully understand this generation and those under it, there is some interesting research coming out from Stanford University. The research examines the mindsets of millennial students as it relates to "Finding" versus "Developing" their passion.
Informational Insights: Finding vs. Developing Passion
Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech from Iconisus on Vimeo.
When Steve Jobs delivered his commencement speech to Stanford University’s class of 2005, he instructed them to find their passion. “You’ve got to find what you love,” Jobs said. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” Jobs no doubt had their best interests in mind, but now Stanford psychologists say that his advice wasn’t actually the most helpful.
In a paper soon to be published in Psychological Science, they explain that if someone wants to successfully pursue their interests, they should “develop their passion” instead.
The difference between finding and developing your passion is nuanced but crucial, the team argues. Telling someone to “find passion” enforces the idea that each of us has a great passion within us and our life purpose is to realize what that is and be happy. That’s a dangerous mindset because it can limit the passions that a person ultimately pursues — and may prime them to give up if their passion is proving difficult to commodify into a job. “Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket,” the researchers write, “but then drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry.”
The psychologists say they proved the limiting nature of the “find your passion” mindset through a series of five studies involving 470 participants. Each of these studies tested the choices made by two types of people: those who think their personal interests are fixed (they called this “fixed theory”) or those who believe intelligence and talent can be developed (“growth theory”).
Their experiments involved university students who either identified as a “techie” or a “fuzzy” — nicknames on the Stanford campus that respectively identify STEM students or arts and humanities students. The team gave them articles related to tech and the humanities to read and, after a survey, found that the “techies” were less open to the idea of reading articles about humanities, and the “fuzzies” were less open to the idea of reading about tech. These people have “fixed” identities, study co-author Gregory Walton, Ph.D., said in a statement released Monday, and this mindset can prevent narrowly focused people from “developing interests and expertise” needed for a cross-disciplinary workplace.
Source: https://www.inverse.com/article/46225-find-your-passion-stanford-psychology
Possibilities for Consideration: GROW/EMPOWERMENT MINDSET
We must act out passion before we can feel it.
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
In our world conditioned to live life through our feeling and reactions, how can we experience our passion?
Sometimes to achieve and follow our passions doesn't always feel good.
Sometimes like any good athlete knows you have to sweat, persevere, cry, experience the pain but push through it in order to achieved the objective, and obtain the goal.
But, how do we teach our children, students and employees how to do this in a world that has been trained that the #1 objective in life is to FEEL GOOD.
- What if there is a way to reverse the social conditioning that has occurred within our culture?
- What if there is a way to reverse the narcissism that has developed within our culture?
- What if there is a way to reverse the entitlement that has occured within our culture?
- What if there is a way to DEVELOP PASSION instead of just SEEK IT?
- What if there is a way to transcend from a FIXED TO A GROW MINDSET?
Add Your Insight: Nurturing the Next Generation
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PWI Co-Labs offer a gateway to empower the next generation with not just WHAT TO DO... BUT HOW TO DO IT. Explore the tools for change in a changing world...