Life Lessons from Gen X

Don’t sleep on Gen X.

Over 30 years since Time first made its famed assessment of Gen X, this so-worth-the-read article revisits the way we were framed: “No one really knew what we were. But someone apparently knew what we weren’t: dreamers, revolutionaries, world-changers, like the baby boomers before us. To the extent that we were defined, we were defined in the negative—the first generation in American history to be written off before it had a chance to begin.” Sure, we’re bookmarked by giant generational cohorts, and you could understand the attempt to write us off. But there are several reasons to bet on Gen X to play a huge role in moving us forward—not the least of which is the tremendous amount of power we possess to keep writing our own narrative. 

Here are a few more.

We build bridges.

For most of our lives, we couldn’t turn to a screen for an answer or a connection, so we had to turn to other living, breathing humans. We wrote eight-page notes we’d pass off the next day in school and burned up hours on the phone (to our parents’ dismay). Beyond being told to make full use of the encyclopedias on our shelves, we had to get good at extracting knowledge from others—giving our relationship and network-building skills a real boost. So, when we put our mind to fixing a problem, trust and believe that we can bring backup.

We were born analog.

For the most part, surveys show that Gen Xers are every bit the technology users that their millennial counterparts are known for. But having had a healthy amount of analog life, we know where technology’s limits lie. Being able to switch between these worlds as the situation demands ensures that we aren’t overly reliant on technology when an IRL move is more efficient. Who among us hasn’t had the opportunity to show a younger colleague that the dull grey box on their desk will indeed connect to a person if the proper numerical code is entered—and the more satisfying result that may accrue from such a move?

We’re fixing to fix it.

As John Mulaney states in his hilarious stand up The Comeback Kid, “I had no supervision when I was a kid. We were free to do what we wanted. But also, with that, no one cared about kids. I grew up before children were special.” We could spend a lot of time analyzing whether we Gen Xers are on a quest to get the approval we never got as kids, but the benefit is that we take negative feedback well. Rather than stew on it, we see things to solve—not problems—and as we know from fellow Gen Xer Robert Van Winkle, “If there was a problem, yo, I'll solve it...Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it.” Luckily for those in our orbit, this improvement quest isn’t just for ourselves; it pays dividends for our workplaces and communities, too.

We are self-starters.

Nothing sharpens your survival skills like coming home to an empty house. While we are often called the “latchkey generation” (you say that like it’s a bad thing), it’s true that many of us grew up with our parents working and nobody home. Though many of our struggles involved resisting the temptation of “Gilligan’s Island” reruns (did we ever answer why they had so much on board for a three hour tour?) in favor of our homework, we did become adept at self-starting. Were we always successful? Um, no. Facing the music with one of our teachers would give us a dose of where true slacking would get us—so we learned how to get going on our own. We even learned that you might start something from nothing (ahem, The Verse you’re reading now).