KABOOMERS: Tips for the Next Generation from the One That Blew Up

Economic instability, planetary unsustainability and political insaneability plague the world. And these pariahs have their roots in my generation—the boomers. We are the generation that believed that an MBA could get you a BMW but instead it got us an IOU. We borrowed from banks, banked on our homes and ran up our credit card like there was no tomorrow.

We purchased more stuff than any other generation and now we are spent. We thought that things like houses, cars, jet planes and corner offices would make us happy. Turns out things you can count don’t make people happy. And what you can’t count—love, compassion, gratitude and faith create real fortune.

So now seventy-six million people born between 1945 and 1964 are watching their world go KABOOM.

Here is some advice to the next generation:

1)    Don’t buy things. You will never see U-Haul attached to a hearse.

2)    Measure your success by how many sunsets you see.

3)    Remember, the ladder of success rests on your house and the path to significance is your driveway.

4)    You can’t make peace by force.

5)    The greatest accolade is a consolation prize for love.

As for us? We still have a good 20 or 30 years of life left. So even though most of what we have planned has gone KABOOM, we can still discover greater purpose in life so that one day we can call ourselves the BLOOMERS.

By Joey Reiman
Joey is the author of The Story of Purpose and CEO of BrightHouse, a global marketing consultancy.