Australia Day 2018. Another day off work and a time to come together, right?
You and your mates have been planning this long weekend, just waiting for that escape from the humdrum of work. But what makes work so humdrum for many?
I couldn’t help but wonder, as I watched the latest of Liam Neeson’s action-packed movies – The Commuter – today, how many people follow his character’s lifecycle. Wake up. Coffee. Breakfast. 7:23am train. Work. 5:43pm train back home (if you’re lucky). Scrounge around for a seat like a rogue box in an iron shipping container, desperately tumbling around trying to find its place in the world. Sound familiar?
We are creatures who like certainty and routine, and that’s OK. Heck, from the days of being an intern or a part-time sales assistant, we’ve been repeatedly taught about ‘policies’, ‘protocols’ and ‘systems’. It’s almost as though we are groomed into the concept of the obedient worker-bee. But how productive is that for Australia?
Aboriginal people thrived on the apparently barren plains of this land, to the amazement of the First Fleet. How could they have learnt and developed such skills? They dared to think and experiment and find what worked, then pass that knowledge on to their children. How does one spear a fish? That knowledge may be the difference between a meal and starvation.
We were never meant to be worker-bees who simply flowed along. It is comfortable, and some dare to call it productive, but long term it is merely the demolisher of innovation and progress. If we ALL do what we always did – in the exact same way – we would never move forward. What would Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein think of all this? Einstein worked in a simple job at a patent office, and in his free time would challenge the established theories of science. Look at what he discovered and see how far his contributions brought us!
Dare to think beyond. I urge you, be sceptical! In whatever task it is you do, at home or at work, dare to invent a better way, be creative, and if your policies (or spouse) wont let you implement your ideas, then share them with others!
We were all born not knowing. We were born able to learn.
Bring forth the fruits of your mind…Our future depends on it!
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