Everyone knows that initiative and success are linked. But you don’t have to be born with initiative to develop it. Then, you can succeed.
“Initiative is to success what a lighted match is to a candle.” – Orlando A. Battista
Initiative and Success: Develop the First, Achieve the Second
Initiative and success are integral components of accomplishment. If you want to be successful at something – anything, really – you need a certain amount of initiative to get you going in the first place. It’s too easy to put off doing anything without the motivation to act.
However, the longer you sit idle, the easier it is to remain idle. That gets you nowhere. Over time, this pattern reinforces itself until it becomes almost impossible to overcome the ingrained behavior.
How to Jumpstart Initiative
What if you lack initiative? Can you somehow jumpstart it, and if so, how? Here’s the key. Find something that inspires and excites you. Besides, there’s no quicker way to ignite initiative than to be so eager to get started on something that the difficulty doesn’t matter. You feel fired up and ready to go and will overcome challenges as they arise.
- The problem is that many erroneously tell themselves nothing interests them.
- Furthermore, they compound this fallacy by believing they’re not good at anything and shouldn’t attempt anything new.
- As for goals, they subconsciously use this as an excuse not to have any.
Choose a Goal to Jumpstart Initiative and Success
Yet everyone has goals – they just may not recognize them as such. Here are two examples.
Finding Food to Eat
Consider the fact that you get hungry and need to eat. That’s a goal. Finding food and consuming it is the action that succeeds in accomplishing the goal of eating.
- You can get excited about going to a restaurant and trying out new cuisine or returning to a favorite restaurant because you enjoy the food.
- That’s an initiative that leads to a successful dining experience (at least, it allows you to have the experience since other factors may play into how much you enjoy the time at the restaurant).
Preparing for a New Job
Here’s another example that everyone is familiar with: You want to look good on your first day at a new job.
- To prepare yourself, lay out various outfits until you find the right one.
- However, if you’re not content to see the ensemble on the bed, you try it on and see what you look like in the mirror.
- When you’re satisfied, you’ve got a plan for tomorrow. You are motivated enough to take the initiative to prepare and put together an excellent strategy to achieve a successful outcome.
Initiative and Success Are Self-Nourishing
The great thing about the initiative and success is that it feeds upon itself. Once you’re fired up, nothing can stand in your way – if you follow through on the momentum you’ve built up.
- However, when obstacles may deter you, persevere. Your persistence will pay off.
- Then, consciously fan the flame of your initiative.
- In this way, you’re more likely to succeed than not.
Keep a Reminder of Past Success
Furthermore, keeping a written reminder of past successes and what you did before taking action that worked will also help. This rekindles the initiative you need the next time you have a goal worth working to achieve — especially if you do what you love.
Remember, you’ve done it before, so you can do it again. That’s a pattern of initiative and success you can count on and replicate.
