Doing things differently can be a daunting task. For a lot of people, different equals bad. It’s the unknown.
It’s important to remember that it’s normal for people to resist change.
Sometimes though… different can be the best thing you will ever do.
When you try to do things a little differently it allows you to see new perspectives. Sometimes you will try something different and quickly realize that there was a reason it was done a certain way, to begin with, and guess what…that’s okay. It’s okay to try something new and fail. If everyone did everything the exact same since the beginning of time we would still be living in cold caves. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who enjoys living in a house with heat. Different is good. Different equals growth. Different equals opportunity.
I will say that there is a proper time and place for doing things differently. It truly is an art. You must ensure that you aren’t doing things different too often for then you might never actually get anything accomplished
You need to understand the motivation for doing something different. Are you trying something new because you're giving a big old FU to the system? If so, I would recommend sticking to the plan. If you see that things can improve from trying something new, then it’s probably worth a shot.
You need to be realistic and set deadlines and goals to ensure that you don’t just keep trying to do something that isn’t working. You need parameters. You need to understand what it means to succeed and what it means to fail in this new environment.
The goal when you are doing something different should be to get better results that you have in your current situation.
There will be a lot of naysayers, it comes with the territory. Be prepared to state why you are doing what you are doing, absorb all perspectives and advice, don’t get defensive, and don’t feel like you are required to overexplain.