Doing Nothing is Doing Something

All my life I have been told that the more you put into things the more you will get out of them. So I have given the companies I have worked for everything I have. Ironically enough, it appears that the opposite has been true for me. In fact, I question whether or not I get more out of doing nothing. Could the same be true for you?

I always knew that keeping my mouth shut and not over speaking was going to be helpful in my career. I can’t say that I am perfect about it, but I constantly try to be better at it. This appears to also translate to my personal relationships when there are disagreements, me trying to argue my point becomes detrimental to the discussion because in many cases I only add “fuel to the fire.”

I currently work for a fantastic company with a lot of opportunity to be great. I am able to identify client needs or areas of improvement within the organization and have tried to take the initiative to move it forward. However, since it is extra work or outside of the traditional workflow there has been push back against the effort. Is it worth the headache? It is not.

So I am starting to think that not doing extra work, and just keeping my head down and solely completing the tasks that are asked of me is more beneficial than trying to do more.

This probably falls under my “mid life crisis” of trying to figure out who I am and where I fit in, but the writing seems to be on the wall. I intend to not do the extra work moving forward, and I have a feeling it will be better perceived. Maybe that is the correct strategy for you too.