Traditionally, the passing of about two decades creates a new generation.

The majority of youth reading this article falls into the Generation Z category, the generation born between 1995 and 2010.

Our parents, born between 1946 and 1984, make up the Generation X and the Baby Boomers. Raised by their Depression Era parents, who obsessed with economic security and brought up our parents to build practical, secure careers.

As the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s rolled along, the world entered a time of unprecedented economic prosperity. The majority of our parents did even better than they expected to. This left them feeling gratified and optimistic. Therefore, our parents raised us with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility. Baby Boomers and Generation X parents around the world told their Generation Z children they could be whatever they set their little minds to, instilling a special protagonist identity deep within their psyches.

This left them feeling tremendously hopeful for their careers.

The startling thing about the world is that it turns out to not be that easy of a place and the horrific thing about careers — they can actually be quite hard. Profitable careers take talent, years of blood, sweat and tears to build.

We want economic prosperity just like our parents did; we just also want to be fulfilled by our career in a way our parents didn’t think about as much.

In many ways, our generation thinks delusionally. Growing up, many parents educated them about their unusual destiny for something much more special than the rest of Generation Z. Teenagers find themselves just so unusually wonderful and figure their career and life path will naturally stand out amongst the crowd.

While our parents’ expectation included many years of hard work would eventually lead to a great career, our generation considers a great career an obvious given for someone as exceptional as us — just a matter of time before the world realizes how special they are.

Right now, they are not special. Each and every one of them will fall in the category of just another completely inexperienced young person who doesn’t have all that much to offer yet. They will soon find out they can only become special by working really hard for a long time.