PERSONAL INITIATIVE
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Personal initiative is vital to your success because it is what fuels your willingness to take action. It is your inner power source and some see it as the internal battery for motivation. It is the enemy of procrastination.
Napoleon Hill has personal initiative as the 9th principle in his book and course, Law of Success. He said, “Success is something you must achieve without someone telling you what to do or why you should do it.”
This is an excellent description of being proactive instead of reactive.
Being proactive means you’re doing more than what needs to be done, doing the extra work that brings more meaning to life and business. There are many successful business owners, musicians, artists, athletes, teachers, mothers, fathers, and others who achieved their goals because they have personal initiative. They didn’t have someone telling them what needed to be done, they did the work because they understood that it was necessary for them to achieve their goal.
Consider this:
No one told Steve Jobs to continue to create new products. He did it using his own personal initiative.
No one told Richard Branson to found Virgin Music as a mail-order record business. He did it using his own personal initiative.
No one told Mary Kay Ash to found Mary Kay Cosmetics. She did it using her own initiative.
No one told Dolly Parton to seek fame and fortune as a country music writer and singer. She declared her intentions in high school and followed through using personal initiative.
No one pushed these people, and others, to do the things required of them to achieve their goals. It was the consistent use of personal initiative that made it possible for them to accomplish what they did and reach that level of success.
Your goal may be to become a champion athlete, a remarkable actor, a million-dollar salesperson, the owner of a business, a real estate titan.
Whatever your goals, if you are going to be successful you must use personal initiative to do the work, to do the little things, to do what is required of you to succeed.
Beyond achieving your goals, you can expect a few side benefits. These include being respected by your peers and others in your community, being influential in your chosen field, having a solid sense of self and a high level of confidence, and being noticed by other influencers and community leaders.
Andrew Carnegie once said, “There are two types of people who never amount to anything. There are those who never do anything except what they are told to do. And there are those who cannot even do what they are told to do. The people who get ahead do the things that should be done without being told. And they don’t stop there. They go the extra mile and do much more than is expected of them.”
“I believe to be a leader is to enable others to embrace a vision, initiative or assignment in a way that they feel a sense of purpose, ownership, personal engagement, and common cause. I was very affected as a child by my father’s positive example as a civic leader who inspired others to share his commitment to improving our community.“
Melanne Verveer
What does it mean to “go the extra mile?”
It means delighting the customer by exceeding their expectations with the quality of work and adding a bit more to the project than was agreed upon.
There’s a known phrase “a baker’s dozen” that is rooted in making sure the total weight of the baked goods was a bit more than expected so a penalty wasn’t incurred. It’s become known as the little extra that we often receive from bakeries, produce stalls, and small candy shops. Order 12 and receive 13. Order 24 and receive 25. It’s a nice surprise on the part of the customer and invokes a feeling of appreciation for the shop, ensuring that the customer will remember that shop the next time they need that product.
If you own a business and someone you outsource work to doesn’t finish in time, you step in and finish the work to meet the deadline.
To lose weight, you work out an extra 2 hours each day.
You are willing to do the work, whether it is big or small, to make sure the project gets done.
Not everyone has personal initiative. If they did, we wouldn’t have the two types of people Andrew Carnegie refers to.
Which type of person do you want to be? The one who never amounts to anything or the one who gets ahead?
Now is the best time to step up your game and distinguish yourself from everyone else in the field you have chosen to succeed in. It is also the best time for you to make great progress on your personal goals. You have unique skills and talents and are capable of achieving your goals. If you’re stuck, feeling like you’re being held back, something to consider is the people you’ve surrounded yourself with. If they aren’t willing to go the extra mile or do the extra work they could be holding you back. If that’s the case, begin adding go-getters and focused, driven people to your circle.
Action Steps
Do a personal assessment of your willingness to do the work necessary to achieve your goal.
If you find yourself coming up short on that assessment, reach out to those you admire in your field and connect with them so you can be influenced by their personal initiative.
What areas of your life or business can you “add the bit of extra” to? Where can you be of better service? Where can you do more for a customer to secure their positive experience with you?
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