Initiative
Initiative is necessary both to allow innovation to work and also to ultimately implement the solution.
Intensifying Your Initiative
Without harnessing the power of initiative, the wheel of innovation comes to a screeching halt. We all have a desire to "make a difference" or to make improvements in our lives, but for a variety of reasons, many people face challenges in regard to taking initiative in one form or another. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to enhance your power of initiative, and the payoffs are huge.
The power of initiative is a critical catalyst for personal brilliance. You need it to bring your dreams to life, but it's also necessary in order to start the innovation process. Without the motivation to amplify your awareness, explore your curiosities, or expand your focus, you probably won't even make it to the drawing board, let alone come up with a new idea or solution.
Meaningful Motivators Feed Initiative
Let's face it, if you don't have a good reason to accomplish a particular goal, you probably won't do it. There are two primary types of motivation: internal and external. Depending on the goal you have in mind, one or the other may work to get you going. Using the example of book writing, if you have a burning desire to simply write a book whether anyone else ever reads or buys it, that internal motivation might be enough to propel you forward. If your motivation is primarily external, such as getting the book published or self-publishing it and selling a ton of copies, you'll probably need to know that your desired outcome is feasible before you'll take the goal seriously and actually sit down to do the work.
The key to moving from idea to action is to identify what it will take to make the goal worth achieving. Once you are aware of your internal and external motivators, your mind begins to connect the process with the success of achieving your goal.
Goals Plus Values Equal Action Steps
Pursuing a goal that's in conflict with your value system is kind of like trying to squeeze your feet into shoes that are a size too small. You may be able to hobble around in them for awhile, but it will only be a matter of time before the discomfort is so great, you'll have no other logical choice but to remove the shoes. The bottom line here is to get real with yourself. Before you can set and work toward achieving your goals, it's essential to be very clear about your own values and beliefs.
Getting Clear About Your Fears
When we're worried about a potentially negative outcome or situation, we spin our mental wheels going around and around in circles, kind of like a hamster on one of those cage toys that look like miniature Ferris wheels. Hamsters need those wheels to use up some of the energy that can't possibly be expended by walking around their cages. Humans, on the other hand, particularly in today's fast-paced world, need to conserve energy and use it wisely in ventures that yield real results.
Time and energy that's wasted by focusing on fears, worries, and potentially negative outcomes can be wisely spent by training yourself to return to the present moment over and over again, regardless of the situation or problem that you are facing. No one is a natural born worrier. Worrying and being fearful are behaviors that we learn. Therefore, these behaviors can be "un-learned." Just like any other habit, learning not to worry and not to dwell on fear is a process that needs to be practiced for it to become a new habit.
Taking the First Step
One of the secrets to increasing initiative in your daily life is to shorten the time line between your idea and your first action step. As adults, many people have the tendency to put off that first step in favor of conducting more research, increasing their education, and basically trying to learn everything they need to know before they begin. If toddlers viewed the idea of standing up and walking the way many adults approach taking a first step, most people would still be crawling. Learning to increase your comfort with taking the first step toward any goal or objective will give you an edge over many of your potential competitors. People who reconnect with their innate sense of taking initiative are the ones who tend to accomplish the most and therefore experience the greatest deal of self-satisfaction.
Jim Canterucci is the author of Personal Brilliance. He can be reached via the web at www.MyPersonalBrilliance.com or at 614.899.9044.