We’re not like our parents and grandparents, and that’s okay. When we think of success and money, it feels like we’re in a completely differ- ent world than them. They were taught to work hard at a steady job, save up, and plan for the future for them that meant staying at the same job for years, and slowly building wealth. But for many of us, for most of us, things are starting to look different, and we have to learn to be okay with that.
More of us are starting businesses, making money online, or doing creative work. We’re not focused on staying at one job for 30 years, truth is most of us aren’t focused on staying at any job. We crave financial freedom, independence, and the opportunity to build generational wealth and passive income. But the question is: is this a problem? Are we doing it the wrong way or is something wrong with the way our parents and grandparents lived? Or are we choosing to adapt to the way life is? I’m not sure what the answer is, but whatever it is we have to learn to be okay with that.
For them, life was different, and it can sometimes be hard for them to understand that we can’t do everything they did the way that they did it. They had jobs that lasted longer, college degrees that had meaning, and it was easier to save money and buy a house. And even in there working hard, many of them did not get a chance to build the wealth they had hoped for. Sometimes the traditional path to success just doesn’t seem like it will work anymore. For most of us, it’s not working, it has not been working, and unfortunately it will never work. But we have to learn to be okay with that.
So, is the problem with our parents and grandparents’ way of doing things? Maybe not. They worked with what they had, and they did the best they could. But their way of living doesn’t always fit our reality. Are we the problem? Is it our obsession with getting rich fast? Some might say yes, and they’d be right in some ways. Hustle culture and the idea of “quick success” can lead to stress and poor decision. It’s tempting to believe that if we just work hard enough, we can skip the traditional steps and jump straight to success. But that kind of thinking can cause problems if we don’t take the time to think long-term.
So, where does the problem lie? Maybe it’s not just one generation. The problem might be that the world we live in today has changed so much that the old ways of doing things don’t always work for us anymore. At the same time, the desire for quick success can be risky if we aren’t careful.
