“Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment.” – Stephen Covey
Having looked at the meaning of taking initiative and some intricacies around it in Part 1, Part 2 and 3 are focused on how taking initiative builds you and adds to your social value in the family, relationships, workplace, and in every engagement of life. You may not always be able to take initiative within the numerous circumstances that surround your life, but there are those areas of interest, passion, work, relationships, and engagements in which you feel a calling from within to go forward, to push forward, to go forth, to do something and to act as you deem fit. Those specific moments where you feel prompted from within or even by some circumstances to act, could be great moments of taking initiative. If you can see the art of taking initiative as an expression of your value-addition to life, then you will develop the lifestyle of a valuable initiator, while you leave behind a great legacy.
WHAT DOES TAKING INITIATIVE DO TO YOU?
Taking Initiative Teaches You Empathy
When you see others struggling, you take initiative by way of empathizing with the person. It comes easier to judge, criticize or blame others. But you may well pause, put yourself in their shoes and do what is within your power to help, support, encourage or just be there for them. When you do what you can for someone, even somebody you do not know, you train yourself to be truly empathetic.
Taking Initiative Opens You to Unexpected Opportunities and Even Privileges
You see an advert or an opportunity and decide to take the step to follow it up and apply. This could very well open you to an opportunity which becomes a steppingstone to the great things you’ve always wanted in life. You may as well postpone following up on that opportunity and not even realize the chances and privileges you have just lost. Some persons have postponed and lost the chance of a lifetime. There are opportunities I have applied for and gotten, and in a short while have seen the ripple effects of that one opportunity I allowed myself to venture into. Interestingly, one good thing you get has a way of just attracting more good things and more good people into your life. This may well become the chance of a lifetime for greater future possibilities. Remember that the future you want for tomorrow is built today.
Taking Initiative Helps You Key into Your Potentials
Do you know that you have unexplored potentials in you? If you believe that you are made in the image and likeness of God, then you can be sure that you have potentials that are too immense, too great to be exhausted in your lifetime. Yes, and this is irrespective of your age and experience. In fact, the younger and less experienced you are, the more of your potential you are yet to explore. And the older you are, the more you will see (with wisdom’s eyes) that there is still so much more that you can achieve and positively influence. Think of yourself as a tree. A fruitful tree has within it an abundant potential to bear branches, leaves and fruit. It just must keep growing and bringing out what it has within. This is same with you too and even more. This is always that fruit within you that can be brought forth for the good of others. When you keep taking initiatives you may well be amazed at what more you can do irrespective of what you may or may not have achieved in life. Developing the habit of taking initiative is a great way to build your personal and social life and attain your potentials.
Taking Initiative Expands Your Capacity to Do More
When you develop the habit of keying into your potentials by taking initiative, you gradually develop your capacity to do more. Have you ever noticed that even in an office setting, if you want a task done and delivered quickly and you give it to a busy person who is reliable, you can be sure it will be delivered? That guy who has more time and is free would likely find a reason to postpone doing that task, or when eventually she is ready for it, it drags on and on. On the contrary, a busy person will set the task somewhere in the list of priorities and would want to get it done and out of the way so that s/he can move on to the next item on the task agenda. Persons who have trained themselves to do a lot seem to be able to do even more. They have learnt to build their work ethics around taking initiative and so they are productive at work. By so doing, they expand their capacity to do more and achieve more.
Taking Initiative Makes You a Likeable Personality
People reckon you as selfless and thus a likeable person when you easily and genuinely take on initiatives. It is usually a show of goodwill. People who see the genuine-ness of your action would perceive you as a likeable person. On the other hand, you could be criticized for being too forward, for being a pretender, for trying to show that you are better than others or just for standing out from the crowd. This should not bother you, except if your taking of initiative is based on presence, eye service or to please someone. Personal initiative is a life of service which in turn benefits you at the end of the day. Taking initiative makes you someone reliable and perhaps also trustworthy.
(To be continued in – Part 3)
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