Corporate America is an awesome place to find all kinds of things that need changing.  I’ve wrote about them before here.  Another concept I have been trying hard to get myself into is “making my own rules”.  Of course this is within reason, and I’m talking strictly about furthering the business.  For example, I’m not saying go take tons of unsolicited time off. I’m also not saying to DON’T get your work done.  Also it’s probably good practice to follow corporate HR policy.

I AM saying find ways to push your management and their management.

When you spend a couple of years working, you quickly figure out there’s a formula everyone’s following. It’s the “blueprint” of the game.  You get to work, respond to emails, check your calendar of the day, head off to your meetings, put out fires, and hope to keep the project(s) your working on completely on task while getting everything done on that project you can.  All the while being distracted by a myriad of different things like the internet, lunch, and impromptu hello’s with co-workers.  It can be dizzying, especially if you work at a place that works hard to follow some sort of process that everyone cares immensely about following.

So there it is.  That’s what the current formula is.  I challenge you at some moment to change the rules.  Figure out something different to do while staying within your corporate framework.  Push the envelope, its the only way you are going to keep things fresh.

If you’re not GETTING challenged and challenging others, you can guess that you are getting super complacent and not getting the best out of what your doing.  So take a step back, and ask some hard questions AND make people answer them.

Your rewards, fiscal or otherwise, may lay behind those questions…..all which might not have been exhausted if you didn’t decide to “make your own rules”.