Juggling 2.0

I am still pondering Ian Sander's Juggle Life Manifesto . There's alot of great work there.

One of the most important things I remind myself when I'm having difficulty being innovative and motivated at work is something that could be added to the list as the 15th piece:

15. There is always an alternative. You can always change the status quo in your life.

This is something that is perhaps in a few of Ian Sander's points but it really deserves its own point.

We often don't realize or bother to remind ourselves that we control our own lives. We can change jobs in a very short period of time, we can return to school and change careers all together, we can start our own company or we can sell everything we own and move to another country and find work.

Once you realize you're not tied to your life as it is today- you've made a fundamental change to the way you make decisions. Suddenly you can work the way you want to work, you can provide meaninful feedback to your superiors and your colleagues and you can begin to make great mistakes (in the words of Johnny Bunko creator Dan Pink).

Too often we don't take risks in our workplace. We don't float 'dangerous' ideas because we're worried that our superiors will only accept the status quo. Afterall, the easiest thing we can do when facing a challenge/problem is to do nothing. Just let the problem exist.....ignore it.

The hardest thing to do? Take a risk and try to address the challenge in an innovative way. It may rattle the cage of your boss a bit, it may even be a bad mistake but it might also be a ground breaking idea that leaves a legacy.