Taking Initiative is a Simple Way to Gain a Competitive Edge

Success is complex. There isn’t one single tip that I can give everyone that will guarantee success. It depends on each person, their situation, and their goals. Each person has a unique path to their own version of success. Any successful person can give you many tips of how s/he got there, and those tips may or may not apply to you. One tip for success that is worth exploring is the concept of taking initiative.

Taking Initiative Helps You Be More Productive

Most people know when you have a job, you  get paid for the time that you put in. Consider the hours that you put in and all that you do within that time frame. The more you were able to get done the market productive you are. To be more productive, you have to take more initiative.

Being more productive doesn’t happen by accident. It’s an active choice you make every day. When you take initiative, you’re actively making the decision to do more. You’re also making the effort to take on either more responsibilities or more important responsibilities. You are deciding to make better use of your time, which in turn, makes you more productive.

In every job I’ve ever had, I hated being bored. I didn’t want to be busy; I wanted to be productive. Call it my competitive nature, I wanted to accomplish more than everyone else. I wanted to maximize my time. My productivity depended on not just the time I put in, but my effort, which stemmed from taking initiative. 

Make Your Vision Known

One thing that you should do is take the initiative to let people know what you want. Talk to your supervisor, friends, colleagues, and family members. Tell them what you want to do in life can you tell him your vision. That way, they can help hold you accountable. Keep in mind, as much as they can help, it’s ultimately up to you to keep yourself accountable. 

At work, tell your supervisor what you really want: a raise, promotion, different responsibilities, or a different project. Your supervisors aren’t mind readers. You have to tell them what you want in order for them to know what you want. If you want more responsibility, you have to show them that you not only deserve it, but there is a need for you to do it. Also, you need to make it clear to them that you can handle the responsibility that you want.

Before I worked in professional development, I was an employee who wanted to be a trainer. My supervisors didn’t see me in that light. All the meaningful and high-profile responsibility was given to someone else who was much less experienced than me. Eventually, I told my supervisors that I wanted to get promoted into the professional development department as a trainer. They may not have given me more opportunities to advance, but when I took initiative to participate in professional development related events, they stood out of my way. Eventually, I earned a promotion to trainer. 

Take Initiative To Get an Active Advantage

Being proactive gives you an advantage over being reactive. When you are proactive, you are taking the initiative to start something that needs to get done. Instead of waiting for someone to tell you to do something, you are doing it yourself. If everyone else is waiting to be told what to do, you get a head start by being a self-starter. 

When I worked in professional development, I created a lot of training protocols. When staff had to be trained on new procedures or using new software, I usually volunteered to create the training. Why did I do that? I knew that I was going to have to do the training, and I wanted it to be good. The best way I knew how to make the training practical, informative, and engaging was creating it myself. I took the initiative to make it happen.

Lasting Thoughts

If there is something that you’ve been meaning to get done, you need to take initiative to get it done. It’s up to you. No one else is going to do it for you. It’s up to you to get started, it’s up to you to put in the time and effort, and it’s up to you to get it done. If you don’t take initiative, it’s never going to get done.