By definition, being a subversive means going against the established order for your own benefit.  The established order doesn’t particularly like subversives because they put a spanner in the nice tidy system.  Find out how to avoid time wasting meetings, annoying people, irritating emails and other time wasting interruptions.

What I have found is that you are free to the point that you are self directed rather than at the beck and call of others.  A high status person typically doesn’t run around after others.  The key is to do what you want, but not in an aggressive way (there is not much point being a passive – aggressive person), and seek forgiveness rather than permission.

If you are an intelligent person, you will be able to use your discretion.  You don’t need to be directed or told what to do.  So if there is something that is a waste of time, just don’t do it.  If there is a pointless meeting, don’t bother attending and send your apologies.  If there is an email that is nothing to do with you, don’t bother reading it, just ignore it.  The whole idea is to ignore stupid and childish directives.

I used to work with someone who was a master at this.  The manager of the area mandated public calisthenics every morning.  We all had to stand in the park in view of hundreds of passers by and do stretching, because he thought it was a good idea.  The person in question didn’t like it, so just disappeared.  When there was a pointless meeting, he simply declined and did not attend despite pressure.

The person was both self directed and highly effective as a result of focusing his efforts on his job rather than the obstacles and political meetings he was meant to contend with.  He simply sidestepped the issues without a fuss.  He could do this because he had confidence in himself.

If there is fallout after you have solved a problem yourself or refused to get involved in pointless time wasting, you need only insincerely but humbly apologise.  If that is not enough, and you are not judged on how effective you are but whether you go to meetings or spend time with other activities that are nothing to do with your effectiveness, perhaps that is a clear and early sign that you are at the wrong place.

Tags: how to regain your freedom, independence, mediocrity, subversive

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Daily subversive tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.