Initiative and Self-Direction

Initiative and Self-Direction

Few things of importance in this world were ever accomplished without initiative.

Initiative is that first step toward action. It means doing something on your own, without having to be told to do it. Initiative also means sometimes going above and beyond what is expected of you.

Without someone's initiative, governments would not have been formed, cities would not have been built, and technology would cease to exist. Almost everything you see around you was created through self-directed people.

There are many ways to take initiative—in fact, the opportunities are endless. You can have personal initiative to accomplish a goal, such as saving up to buy a car Links to an external site. or reading a book from cover to cover. You can take initiative in school by deciding to study for a test, volunteering for a committee, or joining the student council. If you have a job, you can show you are self-directed by sharing your ideas or proposing new products or ways of doing things.

Taking initiative is not just about getting things done—it can have many other benefits as well.

Initiative Helps You Accomplish Your Goals

Goals without initiative are like a car without fuel—you just can’t get very far without it. After all, what would be the point of setting goals for yourself without the drive to accomplish them? Initiative is not only the first step in getting things done. It’s that mental push you need to get going.

Initiative Makes You Stand Out

In life, especially in your career, showing initiative will get you noticed. Think about it from the perspective of an employer rating an employee. If you were an employer, who would you rather promote—someone who shows personal initiative to do things without being asked? Or would you promote someone who does the bare minimum?

Let’s say for example, that you submit a résumé for your dream job. There are hundreds of other applicants for this job. Your résumé is just one of the many pieces of paper piled on the manager’s desk. You might take the initiative to meet with the manager in person or follow up on the submission of your résumé with a phone call. You might even spend extra time making your résumé visually appealing with formatting or graphics so that it stands out. If you just sit and wait to hear whether you have been hired or rejected, you are just one in one hundred. But if you take the initiative to make sure the manager knows who you are and how interested you are in the job, you’ll stand out in his or her mind.

Initiative Creates Opportunities

When you take initiative, you are creating an opportunity. The more initiative you take, the more opportunities you are creating for yourself. Initiative in a person is usually respected and rewarded. If you are seen as someone who is self-starting and can get things done without too much direction, you’ll be given more responsibilities and opportunities.

CREDIT: Steve Skjold / Alamy
If you offer to mow your neighbor’s lawn for $10 in the summer, your neighbor might also offer to pay you to shovel his driveway in the winter. In that case, taking initiative to do a single job has created two money-making opportunities.

Practicing the Skill

Initiative is like a muscle that you can exercise. At first, stepping forward and taking on tasks of your own can be difficult. But after a while—and a few successes—you’ll find that taking initiative can be very rewarding.

Here are some ways you can take initiative in your own life on a regular basis:

• Set realistic goals for yourself and follow through on accomplishing them (e.g. save for a new iPod)
• Look for ways to expand your knowledge and skills set (e.g. read a book about Web site design)
• Go above and beyond what is asked of you (e.g. volunteer to lead a community service project)
• Find opportunities to be helpful or share your skills and knowledge (e.g. volunteer to read to people in a nursing home)
• Take action to do something before you are asked to do it (e.g. clean your room before you are asked)