By Mical Imbukwa
“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared and the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take the first step.” Les Brown
Les Brown has correctly stated it and I dare ask, have you taken the first step yet? Or let me put it this way. All of us have a purpose on this earth. Have you discovered yours? Look. One thing is certain and constant. Death is inevitable. All of us will die someday. How we die doesn’t matter but how we want to be remembered is the catch. Do you want to enrichen the grave or the earth? Here is to enriching the earth. Success!
Success begins with a well thought out written down goal, followed up with strategies for its actualization. For the goal to be objectified, several aspects have to be applied, key amongst them, The Principal of Personal Initiative. According to Dwight Turner, a newspaper columnist, initiative is a force of personal energy that arises from deep within and flows forth into positive, goal-oriented action. To add a punch to this personal initiative principle, Napoleon Hill notes that, success is something you must achieve without someone telling you what to do or why you should do it.
Personal Initiative uses an active approach that is characterized by its self-starting and proactive nature and by overcoming difficulties that arise in the pursuit of a goal. Self-starting suggests that the goals are not given or assigned by someone else, but that the person himself or herself develops these goals. Successful people always have the inner power that starts all action. Instead of dwelling on what is required of them, they do the extra things that bring more meaning to their life.
Realistically speaking, in 1988, if Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were PhD. students at Stanford University by then, didn’t put their heads together and invented Google, it could be non-existent today. Their inner power pushed them towards actualizing their goal. Robert Hutchings Goddard an American engineer, professor, physicist and inventor, on March 16, 1926 launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket that he had created and built through his personal initiative and knowledge. Today, he is remembered worldwide for it. Thanks to the personal initiative of Louis Braille, the blind can read using the Braille system that he developed.
We are able to read of the inventions that happened in the past, thanks to the Personal Initiative of the writers and historians who saw it worthy to package the information for the future. The world yearns for people who can push themselves beyond their limits to see things happen. We are in the Covid 19 times. When it hit, it hit hard and so many things were destabilized. The economies, education, careers … name them. For the first time in many decades, the whole world was brought to its knees. Many died the actual death and many others died internally. Still, there are those who kept hope alive and turned things around.
Those with personal drive took advantage of the digital space that was propelled higher by the pandemic circumstances and established businesses. Businesses that thrived to unimaginable levels. Power of positive mental attitude, applied faith and personal initiative. Here is a situation where on the one side of the coin, many suffered and on the other many thrived.
The pandemic is still here. Are you among the crop of people who are blaming their current circumstances to the pandemic or you are among those who are making things happen? You see if you are still playing blame games, then you seriously need a paradigm shift. Apart from material things, the greatest thing you should gain or should have gained from the pandemic, is a mindset change. That, things will not always go the way you anticipate them to. That, change is constant and whether you like it or not, you have to adjust. That, our time on earth is short and we have to do what we have to do when we still have breath. That, where we are born is in our circle of concern and how we shall be buried is in our circle of influence. That, the power to change things resides within us and that all things are achievable when the power of personal initiative is exercised.
When Azziad Nasenya created her Tiktok account, she didn’t know that it would push her to the levels she is at today. Within months, she became a household name. Even though she encountered cyber bullying, her story of the pandemic is different. In January 2020, Elsa Majimbo was just a common name. She didn’t ever envision herself dinning and hanging out with Naomi Campbell in December 2020. Still, a pandemic beneficiary. There are so many other people with great pandemic stories but for today, let’s focus on these two. They used what they had, put themselves out there and the hands of favor located them. The hands of favor wouldn’t have located them if they had chosen to lock themselves in their houses and whined about their terrible circumstances. Personal initiative propelled them to where they are today.
So today, instead of languishing in self-imposed curses of stagnation, why not learn to push yourself beyond your limits? Why not awaken your inner drive? Success is sweet when it is achieved through personal initiative. When you identify your goal, write it down and work on strategies towards achieving it.
Write those books, start that podcast, launch that YouTube channel, apply for that scholarship, launch that business. Don’t wait for things to come to you. They definitely won’t. No matter what happens, ensure history has your name. Call yourself for a meeting today and fire the imposter syndrome in your head. Remember … as personal initiative propels you to greater heights, don’t forget God!
