3 Steps to Take Initiative: Stop Thinking, Start Doing

Would you rather ask for permission or ask for forgiveness? When you see something that needs to be done, do you do it yourself, or do you hope somebody else will do it? Are you more of a thinker or more of a doer? Today, we dive into chapter 10 of this book in our exploration of the 21 indispensable qualities of a leader, focusing on initiative.

Understanding Initiative

If you're searching for your mission in life, your calling, or how you can contribute to this world, the answer lies in taking action, being proactive, and embracing initiative. But what exactly is initiative?

Initiative means choosing to be proactive rather than reactive, active instead of passive, and creating opportunities rather than waiting for them. It means to drive your life instead of drift through your life.

The Essence of Taking Initiative

Here's a challenging quote to consider:

"There are 3 types of people in the world: those who MAKE things happen, those who WATCH things happen, and those who WONDER what happened." - Mary Kay Ash

Which type of person are you? Which type of person do you want to be?

For many, the idea of taking action is daunting, often held back by fears of failure, rejection, or embarrassment. If you can relate, then I'd love to help you make some progress in growing in the area initiative.

Realizing Your Potential for Initiative

First, give yourself more credit. You have probably taken many initiatives already that you may or may not realize. You've taking initiative...

• If you've ever started a conversation with a new person
• If you've ever confronted a teacher, a coach, a friend, a parent, a sibling, and spoke up about something that was on your mind
• If you have advocated for somebody; you've defended somebody
• If you have started something new--a club, Bible study, event, organization...
• If you have run for class office
• If you have volunteered to help somebody do something

These are all initiatives. You're fully capable of taking initiative, and you've already proven that to yourself.

Now you're ready to take the next step. Your next step might be different from the person next to you, but you're here to discover what the next level of initiative taking is for you.

Learning to Take Initiative from Kobe Bryant

I want show you an example of a person who took much initiative in his life and got very far, even though his life was very short: Kobe Bryant. In this video on Kobe's life, you can identify at least 10 initiatives that he took when he was alive, which is what allowed him to accomplish so much in such a short life.

Watch Kobe's story here on YouTube.

Not that you have to accomplish a whole lot in your life. That's not the point. The point is that when you take initiative, you can achieve a lot even in a short lifetime.

Kobe probably doesn't need any introduction, but you know that he is most famous for being an NBA basketball star. He was also an entrepreneur who owned several businesses, an author, a filmmaker, and an investor. He did a lot.

The first and most important initiative that Kobe took was his mindset. He watched professional basketball players playing, and that inspired him to ask this key question that we should all ask ourselves:

"What could happen if...?"

What could happen if I tried to get better at basketball?

I wonder how far I could go if I tried.

Can I get to that level?

And then three favorite words of Kobe: "Let's find out."

Identifying and Pursuing Interests

How about you? What do you want to find out about? The first step that we need to take in becoming people who take initiative is giving yourself permission to identify what you actually want, to identify that area of hunger, that area of passion that naturally fuels your curiosity. Once we find that area of interest, we will naturally take initiatives to learn everything that we can about that area.

Kobe said once he identified that he wanted to be a better basketball player, everything he did was in that direction to meet that goal. He said, "The world became my library."

Ask yourself, "I wonder how far I could go if I gave myself permission to pursue __________?" 

Or, "What could happen if got really good at __________?" 

That is where initiative begins.

Short-Term vs Long-Term Initiatives

When you answer the question, "What could happen if...?" or "How far could I go if I allowed myself to...?", you don't have to fill in that blank with a huge rest-of-your-life plan. It doesn't have to be your life-long goal. It could be just something immediate that is weighing on your mind and on your heart.

Let me give you an example:
When I was in seminary, I would give rides to one of my classmates from Uganda. He was here earning his Master of Divinity degree so that he could go back to Uganda to be a pastor there.

In one of these car rides, my classmate mentioned that he didn't have electricity back in his village in Uganda. When he told me that, I could not believe that his village didn't have electricity.

I asked him, "So what does that mean? You guys are using candle lights and torches to see at night?" And he answered, "Yes."

I asked, "Why? What would it take for you to get electricity in your village?"

He said it would take about $1,000.

In my mind, I was doing the math. I thought, "I wonder if we could help him raise a $1000. I wonder what could happen if I asked ten people to donate a $100 each. Or if I asked twenty people to donate $50 each. I wonder if I asked a brother to partner with me, if we could do a campaign, an appeal to all the students and faculty at our seminary, and crowdfund this $1,000 that he needs."

And that's exactly what we did.

Three Steps to Become a Person of Initiative

So ask yourself, "Is there something I could do short term to practice this process of taking initiative?" You probably have short term goals every week.

You you have tests you need to take.
You have projects you need to complete.
You have homework that needs to get turned in.

Those are good ways to practice taking the initiative:

I wonder what would happen if I invested an extra hour into this project... if I took it from good to great.

I wonder what would happen if I formed a study group to study for the midterm together. I wonder if that would make studying more manageable and more fun.

I wonder if I could take my B+ to an A- if I went to office hours, or if I found a tutor, or if I asked for more support and help.

These are some examples of things you could do right now to take the initiative on things that you already have on your plate.

Take the Initiative: Step 1 - Summary

 To become a person of initiative, the first step is to allow yourself to answer the question.

"I wonder what would happen if ________?" or

"I wonder how far I could go if I gave myself permission to pursue _______?"

When you find that area of interest, it will incite a natural initiative to find out how far you can go.

Take the Initiative: Step 2

The second step to becoming a person of initiative is to simply decide that you will find out. Decide that you're not just going to forever wonder: "I wonder what would have happened if I allowed myself to pursue this interest, this passion, this desire..." You actually have to make that mental switch and decide to find out. A decision--a firm decision--must be made.

Take the Initiative: Step 3

The third and final step in becoming a person of initiative is to take action. Once you decide to find out how far you can go, you have to take the next step.

For me, that meant I needed to find a brother who could partner with me in this campaign to raise money for our classmate, because I knew that I didn't want to do it myself and that God was calling me to invite a brother (since we were helping a brother). Once I found that classmate to help me, everything went a lot more smoothly and efficiently. We actually raised more than what we needed for this classmate! It was the best feeling when he sent pictures of the poles and the wires outside his house, and the porch lights that had been installed on his house were illuminated!

It was a beautiful moment to receive those pictures and know that I had a part in making that happen, simply because I had identified my desire to help, made a firm decision to help, and took the next step which was to act on it.

Don't miss this: taking that next step after you've decided what you want to find out is the initiative itself. Initiatives are a series of actions. It's the first in a series of actions. It's the first action that sets the rest of the in motion. That is what initiative is.

Be Inspired by God's Initiative Toward You

We take initiative because we are created in the image of an initiating God. Do you realize that God took the initiative to send Jesus to die for your sins even before you committed them? Jesus died for your sins not when you became a Christian and accepted salvation in Christ; Jesus died for your sins when He died on the cross over 2,000 years ago. He took some major initiative, even before you ever became a Christian, even before you were a thought in your mother's mind.

So we take initiative in the image of a God who takes initiatives toward us every single day. We serve and worship a proactive God. God does not wait for us to feel a need for Him before He comes to us. He doesn't wait for us to clean up our sin before He comes to us and invites us to come to Him. God pursues us way before we ever pursue Him. He is a God who continually takes initiative.

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

God takes initiative to save us while we are still sinners.

Conclusion

Let's remember a very basic fact: nothing would exist in this world if somebody hadn't taken the initiative. God took the initiative to create this world. Then we as people invented things, started things, ideated, imagined, experimented -- all part of the creation process.

Initiating is how things get created in the world, things that we use every single day.

The leadership value of initiative is important. It's so basic, and it is what keeps the world turning, and it is what keeps us progressing in our sanctification to become more and more like God.

I know that you, like me, are so thankful that we worship a God who continually takes the initiative toward us, a God who will leave the ninety-nine and go find the one. In response to this kind of God, let us take initiative to make important things happen. 

If you are interested in more of these leadership development values and skills for students, subscribe to the YouTube playlist Core Qualities of Christian Leaders, and share this with a friend who would benefit from it.

Brenda Jung is a Christian leadership mentor who loves equipping middle and high school students with Christian leadership values and skills so that they can find and fulfill their God-given mission in life. Interested in more Christian leadership development for students? Visit www.weleadthis.com or contact Brenda at [email protected]