Do you feel that you're coasting, stuck on autopilot in a routine and not bringing your best self to work? Are you hanging on by the skin of your teeth, resisting change and turning up at the office for the pay cheque? It happens to the best of us. There's something about the cushiness of a safe job that makes us complacent and switches us off. In these tough times, complacency is something individuals and organisations simply can't afford.

The idea that we turn up with our "work face" and leave our real personality, spontaneity and enthusiasm at the door ready for the weekend is outdated. Any job that allowed you to coast, like a movie extra, doesn't exist anymore. You have to play the leading role in your career. There's no place for old preconceptions of the workplace as a prison. We need to bring our whole personality and not just our professional selves to work.

We also need to move outside our comfort zone. We need to ignite our creative skills, because without them we are shutting off a huge part of ourselves. It's time to forget the "this is how we've always done things" mentality and unlearn conventional practices. What worked yesterday will not necessarily work tomorrow. It's complacency we should fear, not failure. We all must become more entrepreneurial in our jobs.

Adopting this approach gives you buzz and energy and brings joy back into work. It will also give you a competitive advantage in your professional life. Success requires everyone to use these tools—even within large organisations, not traditionally the preserve of entrepreneurs. Staff have company resources with which to play, colleagues to bounce ideas off. Smart employers allow staff to stretch and, unlike entrepreneurs, you have the comfort of a salary and holidays to cushion you.

Don't let a "this isn't me" mental block become a hurdle. An ability to be creative is not some magic infused in only a few people's DNA. It is within all of us. You use it in your everyday life, you just need practice to bring it to work.

Even the most established organisations will have to rethink how they do things. What makes money now may not make money in the future. Organisational survival depends on cultivating, and not stifling, a "switched-on" culture.

Sahar Hashemi is an entrepreneur and author of Anyone Can Do It and Switched On. Next month she starts a career advice column.
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