Winding Up The Mainspring Of Success
Now for the flip side. Out of pre-printed deposit slips, I was filling in the generic kind by hand when an alert bank teller noticed my predicament. Flickety-flick. An order went into the computer. A free packet of slips would be dispatched immediately. That impressed me enough to write a note of commendation to one of her bank's top executives.
One virtue is the mainspring of success. Wound up, it drives the wheels of progress. But without it, otherwise noble qualities fall short of the mark with disappointing, far-reaching consequences. Students underachieve, businesses forgo profits, and homes languish in disarray, and so on, ad infinitum.
What did Flickety have that Clickety lacked? Initiative! Plainly stated, initiative is doing what needs to be done without being asked to do it. Supervisors will fight to find, hire and keep workers with initiative. They will be the last to go in hard times. Surprisingly, those who have initiative need not be scholastic giants, the "best and brightest" that too many companies literally grovel and slaver to hire.
Initiative is a rare quality that stamps success on its possessors wherever they find themselves. It puts faces on the elusive "they," "them," and "somebody" who get blamed when the right things don't happen.
When asked to do something, the Clicketys of the world will look at you with a beady eye and chirp out a predictable response. That's not my job. Do I have to do it now? That won't work here. Let's form a committee. That's against our policy. That's been tried, and it didn't work. We've never done it that way before. The boss won't go for it. Are you in a big hurry? Can't someone else do it? I always get the bad jobs.
Not so with Flicketys. If the need is apparent--and they are in a position to do it--they don't wait to be asked. They tend to focus on one thing at a time and aren't paralyzed with a quest for perfection. They just want to get things going with a reasonable assurance of the outcome.
Initiative is best developed in childhood, but it's never too late to learn. It's probably better caught than taught.
Is there work to do? Then begin without excuse, even if the task is not too appealing or even disagreeable. Initiators will make a move in the right direction and make "mid-course adjustments" if necessary.
I'd better do a little flicking of the keyboard myself. I wish these columns would write themselves, but they don't. There's work to do!
Copyright 2000 James McAlister
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