"You’re Okay, I’m Perfect"

April 1st, 2007 Stewart Posted in 5tothenext, education, millennials |

For Girls, It’s Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too - New York Times

In Millennials Rising, there’s a cartoon of a Mil kid in her t-shirt that reads, “You’re Okay, I’m Perfect!” The quest for perfection among these kids, or more accurately pushed upon them by their ambitious parents, gets cited quite a bit as a Mil trait.

This article does a fair job of outlining this trait, specifically in teen girls, and in particular the added caveat that this perfection needs to be perceived by everyone around these kids as being “effortless.” “Effortless hotness,” as one girl calls it, but also effortless athleticism, effortless intellect, and effortless character and spirit.

Of course, anything close to perfection comes at tremendous cost. (See Robbins’ The Overachievers for more on that.) Career burnouts and divorce rates will likely rise considerably with the Mils. Maybe the emphasis should be that while one should strive to be great, it’s still okay to be just “okay?”