-Daniel Francis unlocks the secrets to success
Not Richard Bainie
In the DEPARTMENT of the school system and venturing into the unknown, many young adults are often unsuited to the reality of “life after the system”. Daniel Francis, a Trinidadian personal development coach, in his book “The Millennial Mind: Success Secrets for Unlocking Your Full Potential”, explained some of the struggles millennials face as a generation and how these young adults can overcome struggles and movement through adulthood.
The Guyana Chronicle recently interviewed Francis, who used his own experiences to provide more insight into the issue. A google search of the term would clarify that ‘millennial’ was used to describe the generation born between 1981 and 1996. However, the advice Francis provides is not limited to millennials, but also next generation council, Gen Z. The youngest millennials would be around 25 this year, while some Gen Zs will also become adults.
Francis, on leaving school, explained that his ambition was to pursue a career in medicine, however, after several attempts, he never found himself. Feeling he was thrown out into the world, he had no definite structure to follow and lessons he learned at school did not always resonate with reality.
“When we reach adulthood and enter adulthood, we find that we are struggling because of what we imagine it would be, certainly not. You have been taught that you get your degree, you get a job, but really we struggle to get jobs, ”said Francis.
“When we get a job our company vision doesn’t match, so we struggle to settle and then we always want to move faster because we are always told we are better, but that’s not the case, ”he added.
More alarming to Francis, a millennial himself, was how many young adults suffered in similar ways. After successfully becoming a personal development coach and helping others like himself, he shaped the common challenges that millennials face and addressed them in his book.
PUSH-PULL FACTORS
From birth to the end of someone’s school life, they are instructed on everything they need to do. They stick to a routine and everything is already structured in a certain way for them to do. This is what Francis means as “the push factor”. “When we start school, we go through what I call a push factor. The push factor is about everything that is structured for us. We have just been told what to do and are constantly pushed to get things done; we have assignments to do, exams to study, we have quizzes to take, we might not want to do these things but we’re being pushed in that direction, ”he said.
This is the way life is for our early formative years. However, when you become an adult, everything changes drastically; there is no structure for you to follow, and you are given the discretion of choice, with plenty to choose from. The push factor is aligning individuals to become reactive where you are programmed from a young age to do things because you have to. To combat this, Francis learns “the pull factor”.
“To create a pull factor, you have to have something to draw you. The pull factor is to tell yourself to get out of the auto pilot location and start saying in this present moment that I am X, where do I want to be in a month, a year or five years, and how am I ‘ n take concrete steps to get there. So now you’re not being reactive, but you’re being proactive, ”explains Francis. “The good thing about proactivity is that you’re going to start aiming for things, making those steady strides towards it like always resisting a reaction and you never know where you’re going to go,” he added .
PURPOSE
While a useful starting point is to break away from being pushed, and find something to draw towards, this is where another struggle for young individuals arises. With access to the internet from your birth, an abundance of information and resources and a plethora of choices, identifying one to channel your energy towards could be one of the biggest challenges. In this, Francis urges them to find their purpose. “When you start funneling your energy around a purpose, you would find that you will have distractions but they won’t have such a strong grip on you,” he said.
Because they can achieve satisfaction by watching one more episode on Netflix or having the highest number of killings in PUBG, young people have developed a tendency to think in the short term; ten years in the future, one would rarely get stuck with a big thought. However, thinking in the long term, setting goals and working towards them provides a purpose to pull towards. But how do we find a purpose? Francis explained that young people are perfectly placed to do that. With the resources at their disposal, they are given the opportunity to dream, and to dream big. He empowered that there is no harm in trying so that passion and trials arise through passion and oppression.
“In finding your purpose you need to find your values and the next thing is what you are passionate about. Purpose and passion go hand in hand. There is no right or wrong way to find passion, ”he said. If you want to know something, Google it; if you want to find someone, Facebook them; in a moment, the information presents itself. Accustomed to instant gratification, the concept of patience has been forgotten and the gradual concentration of thought exists somewhat.
“If you think of life as a sprint, you run out of gas. This is a marathon we’re in and if you don’t have a marathon mindset of taking it slow and steady, you’ll find that you hit a wall, ”says Francis Without patience, purpose is lost. “Patience comes with the pull factor, you can’t create the plan and not stick to it,” he added.
ALL COMMITMENT
Somewhere along the line of being patiently drawn to your purpose, the thought strikes – what if I had done something else? What if there is someone better? And off we go the next best thing, breaking the chain of reaching our goal and starting it all over again.
“Social media plays a role in that because social media portrays that the grass is greener on the other side and that the option you didn’t choose looks better than you are at now,” he noted Francis. “We grow up with all these resources, all these options, it can be overwhelming. You are afraid of committing to something, you can be in your relationship and still talk to other people just in case, ”he added.
Francis explained that this is one of the big struggles for young adults, as they want to get hold of everything they stretch themselves so thinly without realizing the impact they can create if they remain committed and channeling their energy is one thing.
NO QUESTION IS A DUMB QUESTION
Another issue inherited from the classroom is the fear of looking dumb by asking questions. However, this can evolve into something much more adult-like. “On social media, these people all post their ‘perfect lives’ that’s what we’re doing to the glam. We don’t portray ourselves, we portray what other people want to see of us. In the meantime, you are portraying this life but you may be suffering. No one knows you are suffering because you are portraying this perfect life, ”said Francis.
He added: “This comes back to not wanting to be considered weak, or making mistakes, you want to create this illusion that you are perfect but by doing so you are creates more harm. How can you get the help if no one knows you need the help and you don’t ask for the help? “
He explained that learning comes through failures, and through experiences. There is nothing wrong with inquiring, with seeking help and life doesn’t have to be perfect on Instagram. There is no doubt that the millennial and ‘Gen Z’ generations are facing an orthodox reality. Navigating young adulthood can be quite challenging, with so much to figure out, so much available to figure out and what feels like so little time. Francis, in his book, seeks to address these challenges and provide guidance to young adults. Each chapter with a story highlights a problem. He gives answers and there is a self-reflective exercise at the end with affirmations. His book can be purchased on Amazon.