Gen X, Gen Y & Confidence

Baby Boom, Gen X, Gen Y

Millennials or Generation Y, is that not synonym to confidence and high self esteem?

Could not stop myself tracing the American categorization of generations – Baby Boomers post WW2( 40s to 60s) who were more healthy and spawned the baby boom and were in general positive about the future. Generation X (60s to 80s) was highly educated, balanced and happy also popularly known as MTV generation. And then came Generation Y or the Millennials (80s to 2000).

Millennials or “Generation ME” are described by Pew research center as “detached from institutions and networked with friends”. Also described as “Trophy kids” with “Helicopter parents” hovering to reassure them, which as a result has bread very high self-esteem in them.

Indians now and next decade

Relating back to India, I feel we have a mix of Gen X and Gen Y at the same time, for the next two decades at least, where economically we are Gen X in terms of opportunities, but have got exposed to technology of Gen Y. Confidence for sure would be a top trait defining this generation.

There are various studies and material which analyses the relation between confidence and success, but take a pause and think about your own life experience and the answer is crystal clear- Confidence breeds Success!

Our own experience

Lets go back to our own childhood and an experience possibly we all had- A story telling session and after the session the story teller invites to playback the story to her and others. How many of us were able to stand in front of the class and retell the story? Very few I believe! What do you think happened? It’s not because we didn’t understand the story , or didn’t know how to tell it but the thought of speaking in front of the whole class was scary to us . It’s the fear of being judged by peers, and failing that pulled us back. The same lack of confidence still exists, now for many of us in the corporate environment.

Confidence can be enhanced

Public speaking requires a lot of confidence. Confidence is required even in our day to day conversations as well and as the kids grow up it becomes a prerequisite for success.

Confidence is not something that can be learned like a set of rules; confidence is a state of mind. Positive thinking, practice, training, knowledge and talking to other people are all useful ways to help improve or boost your confidence levels. Confidence comes from feelings of well-being, acceptance of your body and mind (self-esteem) and belief in your own ability, skills and experience.

While some people seem naturally confident and some people may seem remarkably confident in a very good way, let me remind you most of us are not. .

And that's okay, because as I said earlier self confidence can be developed and anyone can be more confident.

To remind yourself of who you are is a pretty incredible tool to help us to take the first step on the confidence building journey and as William Jennings Bryan said” The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you."