Initiative activates talent
IN OUR day to day endeavor especially in our work as public servant, we are always faced with a decision to initiate or not, to do that thing or not. This topic will remind us to be creative in our workplace. To have the ability to be resourceful and work without always being told what to do. To be resilient and determined. When we show initiative, we demonstrate that we can think of ourselves and act when necessary. It means using our head, and having the drive to achieve.
It is a cliché to say that every journey begins with the first step, yet it is still true. Talent plus people don’t wait for everything to be perfect to move forward. They don’t wait for all the problems or obstacle to disappear. They don’t wait until their fear subside. They take initiative. As soon as they take that first step and start moving forward things become a little easier. If the momentum gets strong enough, many of the problems take care of themselves and talent can take over. But it starts only after you’ve taken those first step.
What are things that initiative can do to us? First is initiative is the first step to ANYWHERE YOU WANT to GO. Where you finish in life isn’t determined so much by where you start as by whether you start. If you’re willing to get started and keep initiating, there’s no telling how far you might go.
Second is initiative closes the door to fear. Author Katherine Paterson said, “To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another. “We all have fears. The question is whether we are going to control them or allow them to control us. Author and Pastor Norman Peale asserted. “Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence.” Action is not only the result but the cause of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. If you want to close the door on fear, get moving.
Third, initiative opens the door to opportunity, Benjamin Franklin advised, To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions, “People who take initiative and work hard may succeed, or they may fail, but anyone who doesn’t take initiative is almost guaranteed to fail. “I’m willing to bet that you have a decision you should be making, a problem you should be solving, a possibility you should be examining, a project you should be starting, a goal you should be reaching, an opportunity you should be seizing and a dream you should be fulfilling. No one can wait until everything is perfect to act and expect to be successful. It’s better to be eighty percent sure and make things happen than it is to wait until you are one hundred percent sure because by then the opportunity will have already passed you by.
The fourth is initiative is often the difference between success and failure. Most people recognize that initiative is beneficial yet they still frequently underestimate its true value. Perhaps the best illustration of the power of initiative is a story about the patenting of the telephone. In 1870’s, two men worked extensively on modifying and improving telegraphy, which was the current technology. Both had ideas for transmitting sounds by wire, and both explored the transmission of the human voice electrically. What is remarkable is that both men, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray filed their ideas at the patent office on the same day, February 14, 1876. Bell was the fifth person on record that day who filed for a patent. Gray, on the other hand, sent his attorney, and the man arrived more than an hour after Bell, applying for a caveat, a kind of declaration of intention to file for a patent, those minutes cost Gray a fortune. Bell’s claim was upheld in court even though Gray complained that he had come up with the idea first.
Talent without initiative never reaches its potential. It’s like a caterpillar that won’t get into its cocoon. It will never transform, forever relegated to crawling on the ground even though it had the potential to fly.