Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED - "You can't get anywhere unless you're willing to take a risk." This proverb dates all the way back to 1374 by Chaucer, English author, poet and philosopher and is still as relevant as ever.

Recently, I've had conversations with people in organisations, who feel trapped on the corporate treadmill and say "This isn't what I signed up to do." Do you ever have moments like this in life? I even had a complete stranger eavesdrop on one of my business conversations in Starbucks last week and she started telling me how dissatisfied she was with the way in which corporate organisations suck every drop of energy out of you, and how you end up working around the clock until you forget that you have an identity outside of the organisation.

This got me thinking and reminded me of the days when I commuted and worked in London for 10 years, sometimes feeling like I was on the proverbial treadmill. We may feel we have no choice whether we signed up to something or not. We have responsibilities of mortgages, families, financial commitments, wanting to keep up with the latest electronic gadgets, lifestyle etc. So we think we have no choice but to keep doing what we're doing. We start to accept that we have no choice and do not question ourselves or others. We start to accept the status quo as it is. We may whinge and complain a little or greatly depending on what we have signed up or not signed up to do. We may end up feeling that's the way it has to be. So we get caught up with our routines and repeat the same old habits, putting up with what we have to put up with for 'now' in our own minds, which often translates into for 'all our working life'. We fool ourselves into believing that we have no choice.

We do have a choice.

• Firstly, we can choose what words we use to ourselves. I used to work in Human Resources and gave myself the label of 'fire-fighter', always extinguishing fires. This became my identity and my way of working - stressed! I would have felt far better about myself if I had used words like consultant, advisor or facilitator.
• Secondly, we can come up with solutions ourselves. We don't have to accept that this is the way it has to be. We don't have to wait for somebody or something else to give us a solution. We have the choice to do this ourselves.
• Thirdly, we can make suggestions to our stakeholders or boss, and approach these people with solutions rather than problems.

What can you do to achieve what you want? What solutions can you come up with? Who can you talk to and influence, so you do what you have signed up to do?


There's always a choice:-

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." 
                   J.K. Rowling 










What choices can you make? Remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Janet