There's a movement sweeping across America. A post-pandemic whiplash response to thirteen months of Zooming through their days staring at a screen while dreaming of sough dough bread and looking forward to your one human interaction of the day – your Pelaton coach! The movement?
YOLO (You only live once)!
An acronym popularized nearly a decade ago by the rapper Drake (I had to Google that as I am not cool enough to have already known that), YOLO has become the rallying cry of the millennials in search of happiness, fulfillment, and meaning. After fourteen months of being home, yearning for anything but the status quo, and flush with cash, workers everywhere are throwing caution into the wind and are rethinking their lives and careers.
Some are dictating return to work terms while others start side hustles and passion projects. For some, they are changing jobs or leaving corporate America altogether. Regardless of the circumstance, one thing is clear, when things go back to normal, normal will look very different.
To be clear, the Pandemic is not over, and the continued loss is as significant as it is real. But, as vaccines are administered, and mask mandates are removed, people are anxious to do something, anything... Too LIVE!
As I mentioned last week, Languishing has been the dominant emotion of the past thirteen months. According to a recent Microsoft poll, a staggering 40% of all workers are considering a change of job by year's end.
Wait! Did you think I was talking about you? NNNNOOOOO! I am talking about your students.
YOLO is not limited to those over eighteen. Students might embrace it more than adults. Ever since the 1982 landmark education study A Nation at Risk, America's public schools have been escalating expectations in an academic arms race measure by high states test scores. With each passing year, students are expected to go more, do more, and learn more. They are pressured to score higher, graduate earlier, and do it with more credits. All of this puts pressure not just on kids but on the academic system itself.
And then the Pandemic hit. YOLO!
Young people want to be happy. They want to explore, push boundaries and experience new things but are trapped in a system that doesn't say YOLO; it says LATOP (Live According To Our Plan, and yes, I just made that up.).
If 40% of workers say they want a change, is it unreasonable to think that the number might be the same for students? Few students (if any) would say, "You only live once, so take Trig 2!" They want to play, dance, sing and make music. They want to express, explore and expand. They want to find friends and make memories. They want to be challenged and to change. They want to discover who they are and how they fit into the world around them. This is the reason that now, more than ever, MUSIC MATTERS.
As students return to school, they do so with masks on and eyes wide open. What are they looking for? Their best lives...
YOLO!
Have a great week. Big announcement tomorrow, be sure to look for it.
-Scott