“None of these tasks were that hard: getting knives sharpened, taking boots to the cobbler, registering my dog for a new license… scheduling an appointment with the dermatologist, donating books to the library, vacuuming my car.” is a snippet from an essay written by Ann Helen Petersen which was preceded by “I’d put something on my weekly to-do list, and it’d roll over, one week to the next, haunting me for months.”
Does this sound like someone you know?
You can’t turn on the TV or cruise your favorite internet site without seeing a story about “The Millennial Generation”, more often than not criticizing their work ethic, or the perceived lack thereof. However, Petersen’s essay brings up some compelling theories which explain why those people born between 1977-1995 suffer from what she calls “Errand Paralysis” or the failure to get the “mundane stuff done”.
While I agree that “Errand Paralysis” is real, and the author’s reasoning behind her theories compelling, I found it interesting that the author didn’t outline a suggested “cure” or way to avoid the anxiety associated with doing the mundane… other than attending therapy and looking at life differently. Rather than dissecting the effects that helicopter parenting or social media overload may have had on causing this affliction, my goal is to offer a simple, concrete, proven and readily available cure to “Millennial Burnout”.
Hire a Lifestyle Manager!
One of the beautiful things about our free market system is that entrepreneurs recognize a need or discover a niche within the marketplace and create a product/service to serve it. While the author has composed an engaging article that I enjoyed reading, it appears that she is oblivious to an entire industry that has been solving, for generations, the problem of people not wanting to handle mundane tasks… and for a lot less than psychotherapy costs!
According to Wikipedia “lifestyle management is the outsourcing of personal tasks to commercial firms and individuals. Lifestyle managers…act as an intermediary between suppliers of commercial services and consumers who are unwilling or unable to carry out a given task for themselves. These firms typically present their offer in terms of time-saving or access to expertise…”.
I’m no shrink, but I do know that life is too short to let mundane tasks such as mailing packages or submitting insurance reimbursements cause you any level of anxiety. Whether you’re a Gen X’er or Centennial, Corporate Executive or Single Parent, lifestyle managers such as the Twenty Fifth Hour Concierge Service exist for the sole reason to save you time and stress by handling those tasks that you either don’t want to tackle or don’t have time to do.
If you know of any Millennials, or members of any other generation, in Northern/Northwestern New Jersey (specifically Morris, Essex & Sussex counties) that may be suffering from Errand Paralysis, please let them know that Narrin Schwartz, Lifestyle Manager and Anxiety Reliever, can provide the prescription to cure their illness.
Have them contact me at (973) 452-4894 or visit our website if they would like to receive more information on the magical cure…. the gift of time.
