I like motivational talks. Like this one from Gary Vaynerchuk. I get all excited and pumped and ready to work.

Then I get stuck. Interminably stuck. Because I’m really excited and pumped to work, but for what? I’m a lucky person, but I wonder is this it? Really? Because I thought there might be more.

Marcus Buckingham of the Wall Street Journal gets it. “This is a deeply anxious and insecure generation,” he argues. “On the surface they look self-confident, [but] deep down they know that they don’t actually know what it takes to win.”

Apparently it’s going to take a decade of wandering for us to figure it out. New York Times columnist David Brooks describes this new Generation Y life stage as the Odyssey Years – a decade of exploration and experimentation (via Tammy Erickson).

“During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school,” Brooks reports. “They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.”

And all this unbridled choice has us delaying marriage, children, and permanent employment – accomplishments that have traditionally defined adulthood. Not for Gen Y though. Brooks reports that fewer than 40 percent of 30-year olds have achieved these things versus 70 percent forty years ago.

The consequences of our aimless wandering delay adulthood, but also our chance at genuine happiness. Generation Y’s passion is defined by our idealism, not our pragmatism. So while it may seem like we’re enjoying our freedom, research shows that we’d be a lot better off with more structure, less choice, and working through problems instead of moving on to our next big adventure.

We need more accountability. We need restrictions. Because passion needs direction. It needs filters, and red tape, and four walls. Passion needs to be challenged to be passion at all.

This is the fascinating juxtaposition that is Gen Y. We crave structure, efficiency and effectiveness, and yet, we “have a huge willingness to believe in a grand vision of things — both [in ourselves] and the world,” Buckingham reports.

But grand vision makes it dangerously easy to be underwhelmed at the banality of everyday life. Too much choice keeps us reaching and searching and never doing anything at all.

“When our ambition is bounded it leads us to work joyfully,” happiness expert Daniel Gilbert reports. So Generation Y can keep wandering. Or we can open a door and see what happens when dreams hit reality.

Life limits.

Part of the hysteria that we are experiencing can, in part, be blamed on the overused comparison to the Great Depression. My goodness, pundits and financial media are using the “D” word like it’s going out of style. We are NOT in a Depression people!

Here are some great blurbs from today’s Wall Street Journal to give us some perspective:

(Source: Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig “What History Tells us About the Market“)

“In fact, the market is probably wrong again in its obsession over whether this decline will turn into a cataclysmic collapse. Eugene White, an economics professor at Rutgers University who is an expert on the crash of 1929 and its aftermath, thinks that the only real similarity between today’s climate and the Great Depression is that, once again, “the market is moving on fear, not facts.” As bumbling as its response so far may seem, the government’s actions in 2008 are “way different” from the hands-off mentality of the Hoover administration and the rigid detachment of the Federal Reserve in 1929 through 1932. “Policymakers are making much wiser decisions,” says Prof. White, “and we are moving in the right direction….”

” A few weeks ago, investors were gasping; now, en masse, they seem to have gone numb….This collective stupor may very likely be the last stage before many investors finally let go — the phase of market psychology that veteran traders call “capitulation.” Stupor prevents rash action, keeping many long-term investors from bailing out near the bottom. When, however, it breaks and many investors finally do let go, the market will finally be ready to rise again. No one can spot capitulation before it sets in. But it may not be far off now. Investors who have, as Graham put it, either the enterprise or the money to invest now, somewhere near the bottom, are likely to prevail over those who wait for the bottom and miss it.”

I confess…the markets suck right now. But for goodness sake, let’s stop this Depression mindset and get on with life.

Cathy Pareto, MBA, CFP®, AIF® is the Founder and President of Cathy Pareto & Associates, Inc. For over twelve years, Cathy has been helping financial consumers and professionals understand the world of investments and finance with a sound, but down to earth money management approach. For over a decade Cathy was a Senior Financial Advisor for another Miami based investment advisory firm, where she managed over $200 million in assets for high net worth clients and retirement plans. She has extensive experience in retirement issues, asset allocation, investment selection, investment management, education planning, estate planning coordination, and asset protection strategies. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Coordinator for the CFP® Program at Florida International University’s College of Business.

“For now, the rule is simple: Hug your running mate, kiss your wife.” Today’s NY Times looks at how times have changed in terms of business etiquette between the sexes.  Seems like McCain prefers to hug his new running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, over a warm handshake.  We thought it might be interesting to see how things have changed over the years.

NY Times: “It has been nearly a quarter century since Walter F. Mondale almost never touched Geraldine A. Ferraro in public when they shared the Democratic presidential ticket in 1984, and it is safe to say that times have changed. Back then, Mr. Mondale had a strict “hands off” policy and did not even put his palm on Ms. Ferraro’s back when the two stood side-by-side and waved with uplifted arms.

Anything more, and “people were afraid that it would look like, ‘Oh, my God, they’re dating,’ ” Ms. Ferraro recalled in a brief telephone interview on Monday, of what now seems like a political Victorian age.”

Parental Playground Newsletter: “Be formal. Being formal is classy. In business, you need as much class as you can get. Start with a handshake and if you’re being introduced to someone, stick to using a title (Mr., Ms., etc.) until you get an invite for a first name. Logically, the handshake doesn’t apply to a telephone conversation, but the name rule certainly does.”

The Wall Street Journal: “‘I would be rude if I didn’t kiss my female colleagues from Mexico,’ says Mr. Higgins of his routine single-cheek kisses. He triple-cheek-kisses at the company’s Zurich headquarters. In the mixed company of kissers and shakers, he faces a split-second dilemma: What to do with the cheek of the female head of Nestlé’s Hispanic ad agency. “I’m thinking, are there other people in the room who won’t get this?” he says.”

Etiquette Expert: “There’s some good news for all you “germ-a-phobes” who don’t like to shake hands. It’s called the hand pound or “pound” for short. And it has been endorsed by Barack Obama.

When Obama captured the Democratic nomination last Tuesday night, he did more than just hug and kiss his devoted wife, Michelle. He affectionately gave her the “pound,” which I think is kind of cool. This handshake, also known as the fist bump, is formed when you clinch your fist and tap knuckles with another person. It is generally used when someone does something good. So go ahead and bump away! You can tell others that an etiquette expert told you it was politically correct! “