Initiative
I’ve always enjoyed human behavior and people’s motivations for making the choices that they make. And recently I’ve been looking deeply at what seems to make one person successful over another. And while I could name off a string of variables that we could measure, like education, status, fortune, and fame, it’s initiative that stands out the most.
This is another edition of Optimum Philosophies, if you haven’t figured that out already, and my observation is that a person can’t be truly successful if they have no initiative. No initiative to better the situation, whatever situation that may be.
I mean, let’s think about it in the simplest of situations. If you don’t have enough initiative to go apply for a job, what are the chances you will land a job? If you don’t educate yourself about finances, you will probably never achieve wealth unless you win the lottery of come into an inheritance. Even if that did happen, you probably wouldn’t be able to keep it for long. If you don’t practice good health habits, you will probably eventually develop health problems. Never brushing your teeth will eventually lead to them dropping out of your head (not to mention people running away). You get the idea.
While there are a lot of key components that make up being successful, and unfortunately, our society puts a lot of emphasis on financial success over other types of success. I look much deeper than money when it comes to this definition. I’ve known people with more money than they will ever need, but utterly sad and destitute, void of love and happiness. What’s it matter how much money you have if you don’t have family, friends or loved ones to share it with? This is how I see success, as a combination of the following:
- Figuring out what makes you happy
- Sharing your life with people you love and that love you back
- Giving back to society in some meaningful way
- Belief in a higher power and the fulfillment that comes from that
- Having enough money to do the things you want to do without the stress that can come from a lack of it
- Being in good health to fully enjoy it all
So show initiative in all that you do. Don’t wait for someone to hand you a free ticket, figure out how you will arrive at your destination on your own, while enjoying the process of getting there. A couple quotes to leave you with:
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vince Lombardi
“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway
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Your friendly health & fitness expert,
Melissa
OptimumCondition.com
(619) 252-4993
Empowering people through fitness, education, and coaching
