june2021 - 15

THE MILLENNIAL ADVISOR
GARRETT WAGNER, CPA
CEO/Founder, C3 Evolution Group
garrett.wagner@cpapracticeadvisor.com
AT DIFFERENT MOMENTS in our lives, our attention is drawn to different things. Maybe
we are excited for spring to turn into summer. Or perhaps we are eager or anxious about
graduating from college. Or, as we get older, nervous about our upcoming wedding. No
matter what is happening in our lives we are directly impacted by it. After surviving 2020
and early 2021, we were all living in a short term, focused life, just trying to get through
another crazy day.
Now, as we move into the second
half of 2021, we can actually take
a moment to pause and begin to
reflect on where we go next. What
do you want to achieve in the end of
2021 and beyond. Now that you have
the option to think ahead where do
you want to go? Where do you want
to help lead others around you to go?
As I have written before, success
in moving forward is all about knowing
where you are going. That is why
now is a great time to reflect back
on a millennial mind trait and use
that to get us excited about thinking
about the future. Here we are talking
about FOMO (fear of missing out),
that dreaded millennial abbreviation
you have probably heard about
before and rolled your eyes, it is okay
to admit.
The term FOMO was created
back in 2004 by Patrick J. McGinnis in
an op-ed he published. His original
article focused on social life at the
Harvard Business School. The idea
is that we feel fear or anxiety about
missing out on something else. If we
pick A, we can't pick B. If we pick the
red pill, we can't pick the blue bill.
While this term is generally viewed
as a negative trait for millennials, in
one positive aspect, it causes them
as a generation to make decisions
more quickly and more often than
others. That ability to make quick
decisions is what we want to focus
on as we plan for the future.
MOVING FORWARD
Don't dwell on the fear of missing
out on anything and certainly
don't dwell on the fear that doing
anything differently is bad as well.
Charting your own path to success
is all about taking steps to change,
to improve, to do more than you did
the day before. Your success moving
forward will forever be tied to
this concept. This is the lesson we
are taking today from the millennial
mind, the constant push and
desire for change. Just like anything,
moderation is the key to success.
You don't need to have FOMO over
moving to Malaysia, sell all your
possessions, quit your job and live
in the middle of nowhere in a yurt.
What you can do, is improve.
GROWTH
Grab a note pad, virtually or physically,
and write down five things
you would like to change at work.
Come on, we all have at least five
things on our list. As you write out
this list, these do not have to be
major changes, they can be small
little things. Something as simple
as reaching out to one client a week
via phone instead of email. Or for
the next project you complete for
a client, get paid before the work
goes out the door and not after. We
all have a long list of changes we
would like to see happen, we get
caught up in the busyness of each
season or year and just go through
the motions. That is why now is a
great time as we re-adjust to postCovid
to think about what we have
been missing out on.
■ Did we feel the pain the past year of
an ever-growing account receivable
as we only get paid months after we
complete projects?
■ Did we have to go into the office
once a month to print checks to
pay our vendors?
■ Did we put off mak ing that
obviously needed change at the
organization, because we wanted
to wait until Covid was over?
If you want to go back to how
things were pre-Covid, your path
is easy, just don't do anything different.
However, if you are looking
to have a future, a career, and
others to work with, then now is
the time to make change happen.
Have some healthy fear of missing
out and starting tomorrow pick
one thing, even if small and make
a change happen. Maybe, after all
that change, you have been avoiding
all those years is for the best. ■
JUNE 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
15

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june2021

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