Treat yourselves today—Taylor Landis from Skutchi Designs is taking the mic. Yes, Skutchi makes office cubicles. I know, right? Letting the fox into the henhouse. Don’t worry, we’re not trying to sell you cubicles (this is NOT a sponsored post). I just thought it’d be fun to hear a cubicle company’s marketing rep with a fresh take on Millennial job survival. Taylor, you’re on!
Retirement—most people picture it in their forties or later, after years of late nights and early mornings at a desk. You imagine cruising a sports car up the California coast, free from the daily commute and traffic jams. But that lifestyle doesn’t just appear on your 62nd birthday. It takes planning. And the real nightmare? The idea of spending forty years stuck in an office cubicle.
Unless you’re wildly ambitious, well-connected, and lucky, that’s the usual path. I’m trying to be one of those people. For now, though, I’m a regular cubicle dweller: sitting in my little space, staring at my screen, typing for hours as the words spill out like Millennial Fury (is that blog name taken?).
I’m a writer. Given the choice between a noisy open-plan office and my quiet cubicle, I’ll take the peace every time. I can focus and turn thoughts into sentences without distractions like loud coworkers, stealth farts, or endless YouTube videos. (Love you guys—brownies if you’re reading this?)
The dream is a corner office with glass doors and big windows flooding me with sunlight. That’s not my reality yet, but I’m making the best of what I have. That’s how I plan to survive the next forty years on the hamster wheel, right?
I want nothing more than to drive with the top down, breathe salty air, and watch the ocean from my Malibu porch every morning. It’s fine to dream. Then the alarm goes off and you’re back at the half-written article, blinking at the fluorescent lights and a pounding headache.
I don’t want to spend my whole life in an office. I’m 22. The idea of the next forty years behind a desk terrifies me. I want to travel, explore, and go on adventures like any millennial blogger. The thought of missing a foreign trip because I’m out of vacation days is horrifying. So how do I plan to get through the next forty years without losing my mind?
First—set goals. It’s hard to be productive when you have nothing to work toward. If you skip goals, what’s the point of enduring the grind? There’s no single right way to set goals. You’ve heard the usual advice—be specific, set a timeframe, make them measurable. That doesn’t always fit me.
One of my goals is to live near a beach. Another is to travel. A third is simply to be “successful.” These aren’t precise or measurable, but they’re mine. If I can define what “successful” means for me, then it doesn’t matter if anyone else gets it.
Goals give you a reason to keep showing up and pushing through another day. For me, that alone is enough motivation. That, and my boss has no clue about my secret blogging empire and my all-day tweeting behind this cubicle wall. Muhahaha…
Recognition matters. Praise for good work motivates me like nothing else. When people notice I did a good job, I want to do it again. I’ve seen how doing better improves my confidence and financial situation. I show up every morning ready to write—on my Skutchi blog too—working toward short-term and long-term goals, like promotions.
If you enjoy your job, the next forty years won’t feel quite so awful. I didn’t say they’ll be perfect—just less of a struggle. Don’t be miserable for decades. Few of us want to be trapped in a cubicle when we could be with family or lounging on a beach. There’s that beach again… I could design a cubicle set in sand with seagulls on the walls. No poop, though. That would be nice.
Remember why you do what you do. Ideally you’re in a field you like, and ideally your job gets you out from behind the cube more than half the time. Your purpose matters because it makes you feel valuable and ties into your goals. Is your purpose aligned with your company’s mission? Or is it about constant self-improvement, owning your own business someday, or retiring early? Whatever it is, your purpose is the key to surviving the next few decades at a desk.
I might not be aiming to retire in my thirties. I want to live well, even if that means working longer and harder than some. And that’s okay. Whether you plan to retire at 35 or 65, a little extra motivation and determination will help you get through the draining cubicle years. These are just my suggestions. If they help you find your purpose, maybe you’ll survive your working years—not just getting by, but living with happiness and the dream of a comfortable (maybe early) retirement when the time’s right.
Writer by day and equestrian by night, Taylor Landis leads content marketing for Skutchi Designs, innovators in cubicle solutions. By day she writes about interior design, architecture, blogging tips, and small business trends. By night she teaches riding lessons and competes in national horse shows. Check out her latest posts at www.skuchi.com/blog.html