Comments on: Making the Hard Choice

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:01:10 +0000

Well said.
I think people choose the easy road because it’s comfortable.
I’m in a similar situation and I’m bored to tears, but my cash cushion isn’t quite there yet, so I can’t just quit.
But soon …

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:58:48 +0000

Millionaire Acts, I was recently in a similar situation. Not only was my work unrewarding but it didn’t even fill my time, and there were no other opportunities for me at the company. I finally had a momentary flash of either brilliance or insanity and flat-out quit, with nothing else lined up, in the middle of a recession. I’m not necessarily advocating this path, but for me, that was the hard choice. The very, very hard but necessary choice.

(Side note: fret not, fellow readers. I had the foresight to prepare a good cash cushion for the day I finally snapped.)

By: jreed

jreed — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:39:55 +0000

Isn’t it far riskier to your writing career to bore everyone to death by always covering every basis so neatly that there is no room for discussion? How many people read the “great post” comments? zzzzzzzzzz

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:49:33 +0000

Excellent post, Trent.

I would like to point out the difference between taking a stand on a controversial subject and revealing personal matters. Both involve risk, but the risks are different.

When you express your well-thought-out opinion on a controversial matter, some people will complain and others will applaud, and the ensuing discussion will be lively. That’s more than likely to be good.

When you reveal personal things that might be painful, then you have to balance the potential good to your readers against the possible damage to your psyche. You do need to protect your boundaries. This is a tell-all culture, and that’s not necessarily good for anyone.

Also, since most people you know read your blog, you have your children to consider. It’s not too far-fetched to foresee that when they are in school, a classmate will come up with “My dad says your dad XXXX” all out of context, but embarrassing to the child nevertheless.

By: Happiness Is Better

Happiness Is Better — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:23:15 +0000

“A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.” – Albert Einstein

By: jan

jan — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:37:00 +0000

You are talking about risk! Necessary to really be alive is risk. It is life affirming as well. Once I was young, now I am old, life is to be lived to the fullest.

By: Millionaire Acts

Millionaire Acts — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:37:11 +0000

I agree with you and I can relate. In my job, I was so eager to go to work everyday before. I possess the drive and energy but the work itself is so boring and not challenging. It does not have some self-fulfillment. I asked for some extra challenging work and I did an initiative project but was left unnoticed. Now, my energy and drive to go to work is slowly drying up. I feel I am neglected.

By: Reinder

Reinder — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:34:18 +0000

I agree with the previous poster. Rather than “Playing it safe” vs “Pursuing excellence” being a black and white choice that people make for their whole career and approach to life, most people in the real world, when given a chance, perform a kind of triage. “THIS project is my chance to show how good I am”; “THIS project we’ll do well to get it done as per the client’s instructions”; “THIS project is one we shouldn’t touch/shouldn’t have touched at all” (”shouldn’t have” if you don’t get to choose your project). Wisdom here is recognising the first type when it comes around and taking on as many of those as humanly possible, while avoiding the third type. Bread and butter projects are often the second type.

By: Quatrefoil

Quatrefoil — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:25:18 +0000

I agree with you that it’s better to aim for greatness than mediocrity, but it’s also important to recognise that sometimes it’s necessary to choose your battles. Sometimes I have to go for the easier, less perfect solution because I know that I can get it done in the available time, or with my available energy. It’s frustrating but I’ve learnt over the years that trying to be the best at *everything* sometimes means failing at too much.

By: Marie Williams

Marie Williams — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:59:01 +0000

Trent, I’ve been a silent lurker on your blog for awhile now, but I just had to comment and tell you how inspired I was by this post.

Sometimes it’s so easy to take the safe route that we do it automatically and don’t even realize that we’re taking the road to mediocrity.

Thanks for helping to shake me out of my stupor!

By: richerandslimmer.com

richerandslimmer.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:44:03 +0000

I think you have to find the right balance. Most of the times you should be able to say what is on your mind, but there are situations when that may not be very wise. As long as what you say is not inappropriate for the situation/time/people involved, you should be fine.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:39:53 +0000

A few years ago our son was the scorekeeper for his older brothers basketball team. He was new at it, made a mistake and was harressed by a couple classmates. He was upset and reluctant to go back. I said to him “where were they sitting?’ meaning the kids who gave him a hard time…I pointed out to him that they were sitting on their butts, while he was doing something. Next time they have a criticism invite them to come on down and work along side you! He got the point…take risks and don’t worry about those sitting on their butts critical of you. When I find that I’m critical of others…I’m sitting right there on my butt not taking any chances! Great post!

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:39:53 +0000

By: Carrie

Carrie — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:48:22 +0000

I worked as a lawyer in a previous life. The lawyer’s motto is “Don’t screw up. EVER.” Needless to say, being a lawyer means avoiding risk as much as possible. That’s why I’m not a lawyer anymore.

By: JR Moreau

JR Moreau — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:41:52 +0000

Really good, thought provoking post. I love thinking about the paths given and the ones we take and why.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:14:13 +0000

quote for the day:

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:12:27 +0000

I often face a similar decision on my blog, so I can really relate to this post! I have to admit that when I take a deep breath and go for the post that reflects my true self, the most interesting discussions come from it. But it is more work :>)

By: Larry (IEOR Tools)

Larry (IEOR Tools) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:05:41 +0000

This post reminds me of a motivation class I took at my last job. The basis of the class was that all of us are either Victims, Vacationers, or Volunteers. Everyone likes a volunteer. They step up to the plate. They take the risk when everyone else doesn’t want to initiate. We should strive to be the Volunteer.

By: DollarDream$

DollarDream$ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:21:57 +0000

Hi Trent

Great post. This is very timely for me, as our company announced the news about layoffs today. They will be reducing the headcount here shortly in next month and now everybody is afraid. During these times, people need to change their attitude from # 1 to # 2 path you described above. I am somwehere in between, but trying to move to the taking risk side.

I hope this post inspires lot of people and for once everybody stops complaning about how their job suck – because they still have a job! I am surprised even in today’s economy lot of people I know talk about – hating to go to work on Mondays ( the end of weekend fever). What else would you rather be doing?!

Thanks

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:10:21 +0000

I’m all for the more controversial approach. Your writing is so friendly that it really isn’t a burden to be told the honest-to-goodness truth.