Disenchantment with the way things are going is common. It’s also a feeling that can make you feel powerless or not in control of your own fate. Disillusionment can take you out of your comfort zone and turn you from an A player to someone standing on the sidelines very quick. The feeling could come from others unfairly judging your work, clients with completely unrealistic expectations, bosses not recognizing your value or even just from inside yourself thinking you aren’t doing a good enough job.
3 years ago I was working on a project where the goals were constantly changing and there was no way of being successful in sight. I was sitting at dinner one night with a colleague I was on the project with and we were trying everything to come up with a way of turning this thing around. Every time we came up with a new solution there was some obvious flaw. Up until the point where we decided to throw out the playbook and deliver the solution that needed to be delivered. It was in that moment that we turned a flawed project around and delivered something really valuable. Yes, it was a risk because we were providing a solution that hadn’t necessarily been requested but at the same time anything else would have been of little to no consequence.
Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and simply tackle the problem head on; politics and consequences be damned. When the only choice remaining is win or lose and the deck is stacked against you it is time to throw caution to the wind and do whatever you can to win.