How to Shake Quarterlife Malaise

Sept. 2, 2003 — -- How can beleaguered quarterlifers escape their funk and find meaning in life? After all, they've got a lot of good years ahead.

For starters, quarterlifers might want to consider being more realistic, says Tom Johnston, managing partner of WorldBridge Partners, a national executive search firm. Young people who were in college during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, especially, have a distorted view of the workplace, he says.

"People were making salaries far beyond what they should have gotten. They could go to work in jeans, with dogs running around," said Johnston, who also counsels college students and other young job seekers.

"That created false expectations. They think, 'I don't want to live in a crappy little apartment and work for $25,000 a year. Where are those $80,000 a year jobs when I went into college?'"

Disaffected young workers should also be careful about what they expect to get from their jobs, said Stephen Pollan, the author of Second Acts: Creating the Life You Really Want, Building the Career You Truly Desire.

"Don't make fulfillment the sine qua non of your career," he said. "By any chance if you redo the Sistine Chapel, that's great. That's just gravy today."

Look for fulfillment in books, church, family, friends, he says. Your employer is not your guru.

Abby Wilner, co-author of the book Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties, agrees. "Work should not be your life, you should not forget about all the hobbies you had as a kid. Doing things outside of work that make you happy, make you feel good about yourself, are important," she said. "Train for a marathon," for example.

That's not to say, however, that quarterlifers should just accept a life of misery working for the man. Instead, Pollan suggests excelling at your job, even if you hate it.

"Every day renew a vow to be the best employee they have, to be preoccupied with the success of your manager before your own success and act like it's the first day at the job," he said. "Be a walking suggestion box."