The New Year is a trickster holiday that sneaks up on professionals when they least expect it. Intention-setting for success is an excellent motivational tool for professionals to propel their careers forward into the next year, following through on dreams rather than sitting on what-ifs.
Millennials make up one in three workers in today's labor force and they're not messing around when it comes to achieving their professional goals next year. Here's how millennials are preparing for success in 2018.
It's All In Intention And Mindfulness
Forget resolutions — it's all about intention in 2018. Mindfulness has been taking workplaces by storm these last few years and millennials are putting these powerful visualizations, breathing exercises and mantras to work.
Roughly 42% of millennials practiced meditation at least once last year, which is advisable, since they're the most stressed-out generation of workers. For millennials, setting a simple goal of 30-minute meditation exercises daily is helpful to relieve stress and center the self to focus on productivity. Meditation also enables practitioners to notice their hunger cravings and eat whole foods regularly while ignoring junk food. The verdict is in: meditation is good for you, and millennials are locking down their mindfulness practices for 2018.
As meditation has been beneficial to millennials this past year, these young professionals are turning to intentions over resolutions to revolutionize their career growth in 2018. Millennials are choosing one word to sum up who they want to be and where they want to go in the next year. It takes the pressure off of achieving resolutions that many abandon by the end of the first month. Millennials use this word to tune into themselves daily and set themselves back on the right path when considering wandering away from professional goals.
Millennials Take Self-Care Seriously In 2018
While millennials have been described as a narcissistic generation, they aren't taking self-care as seriously as they should, yet also recognize the need for it to establish a healthy work-life balance.
Millennials aren’t taking enough time off work, fearing their bosses will think poorly of their work ethic. While 72% of millennials are likely to spend on experience over material goods, they're also the least likely to take paid time off compared to other generations. Millennials know vacations are necessary for our well-being, but the adage of putting one's nose to the grindstone as a hard worker persists in today's work culture. To achieve a healthy work-balance, millennials must not waste their PTO time — and vacation regularly to return to work focused and productive.
Self-care means implementing a social media detox from time to time, too. However, such breaks also benefit millennials by helping them realize how to optimize social media profiles like LinkedIn and Twitter in targeted ways. On LinkedIn, millennials focus on networking: 55% of millennials search for new job opportunities on LinkedIn. While 71% agree networking is the best way to form nurturing professional relationships, 43% still find networking difficult. Professional networking through social media is a perfect jump start for this generation.
Focusing on taking time away from work and using new, yet familiar, approaches to networking will help millennials gain substantial strides in their career growth for 2018. Yet, millennials also have another powerful and introspective tool in their personal back pocket that will help them succeed professionally: journaling.
How Millennials May Use Journaling To Set Professional Intentions
Many millennials have used apps and notebooks to focus on self-care through personal journaling. But journals can also be used to achieve professional benefits.
Using a bullet journal to track projects and professional feedback is a great way to measure emotions, thoughts and methods to optimize work performance in the future. Use the PRM method for goal-setting, which stands for “results-oriented, purpose-driven and massive-action planning.” These terms narrow down confusing thoughts to what action needs to be taken for success.
Intentions are all well and good, but when it's time to push forward, use a professional journal to stay connected to those New Year one-word intentions. Write the word in bold on the outside of the journal and work with prompts daily to navigate the 2018 career path mindfully.
Millennials are preparing for stellar success in 2018, finally setting intentions for self-care to achieve a better work-life balance and emerge more productive and confident in their professional abilities. Here's to a successful year for millennial professionals and all they wish to achieve in the coming year!
