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Thomas Edison, one of the biggest innovators of all times said, “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.”

In this statement the following holds to be true that “discontent is the first necessity of progress.” If we therefore are satisfied with a situation, we would be happy not to change it, and so we would not stretch ourselves in forcing the agenda for change.

But people who always challenge rules are tiresome and those we would dismiss and wash our hands off, if we had the opportunity. When faced with “cannot be done” and “no” statements, some accept it and move on, whist others stubbornly would like to understand the “if nots and why nots” of these statements. They can be very hard to handle especially if you set and life by rules as most project managers do. Having somebody on your team like this, calls for a concerted effort and fact base confirmation of every strategy and decision made. The “because I said so” statements just fuel the challenge and the need to know. These resources require a lot of work, but the rewards can be big as alluded to by Edison as it forces us to think about things from a different angle.

A discontented heart however leads to unhappiness and a lack of fulfilment.  When you are forever discontented with every situation, you tend to have a deep-rooted unsatisfied attitude towards life in general. If affects everything you do, everybody you interact with and all you own. The glory of the rain escapes you in the moment as you mope about its wetness and think of ways to keep dry.

In some cases discontentment however are justified and leads to growth, but if it is allowed to nest and fester in your outlook on life, it can have devastating consequences, not only for you, but also to those around you.  It is necessary that we therefore choose and judge these discontented moments wisely and ensure that we still enjoy today in it small moments.

Written By: Lizette Venter

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net