3 Ways to Innovate at Work

A Guest Post By Mark Davies

A close friend recently posed these questions to me – Why is it that anything we do becomes boring and monotonous after a while? Why can’t we always feel the same passion for our jobs, our relationships and our lives as we did in the beginning? And why is it so hard to sustain interest in anything that is a permanent fixture in our lives? The answers lie in the fact that adventure is exciting, the unknown is exhilarating, and anticipation makes something much more appealing. This is why we look forward to something new, be it a job or a relationship, and why we find everything so wonderful and promising in the beginning. But as the days go by and you find yourself settling into a routine, you find that the shine wears off and life becomes humdrum again. The only way to sustain passion for your job is to innovate, and if you’re looking for ways to do that, here are a few:

• Push your boundaries: Instead of doing only what you’re expected to do, set new challenges and goals for yourself. This way, you not only find the motivation and drive to go in to work every day, you also lay the groundwork for a climb up the career ladder. When you push yourself to excel and be the best you can, you’re in a race against yourself, always trying to improve and become better. Set short-term goals that provide a cascading effect and lead to your long-term ambitions. Each goal you reach pushes you onwards towards the next one and keeps you going.
• Find ways to improve your knowledge: Any job that allows you to continue expanding your knowledge horizons can never be termed boring or routine. Even if the nature of your work is monotonous, use your time fruitfully and pick up new knowledge, and not just in spheres that are relevant to your line of work. Keeping up with the times and being aware of all that’s happening around you is the best way to beat the demons of recession and arm yourself against a lay-off. Knowledge gives you the confidence that you can and will survive, even if you lose your job.
• Shake things up: The best way to get ahead is to get noticed. So if you’re just a part of the team, come up with new ways to do things, methods that are both productive and effective. You may earn quite a few enemies along your way to the top, but even this could be minimized if you go about it the right way. Success is as much about tact and subtlety as it is about being a go-getter and achieving targets. Don’t be content to be a part of the crowd; rather, play to your strengths and make yourself indispensable to your organization. When you’re appreciated, you find that boredom and the mundane slip out the backdoor and never come back.

Sometimes, it really is up to you to make your job more interesting and worthwhile. If you take that attitude, the any job can be rewarding and exciting. Who knows, you may even invent the next Post-It Note!

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Mark Davies, he writes on the topic of Masters Degree Online . He welcomes your comments at his email id: markdavies247<@>gmail<.>com.