[Life Design] INITIATIVE RULES！
Initiative rules. It’s one the most important findings that I learnt from last 4 months working experience.
When I first started doing the Bytes of China Program with Tricia, I was still in the “do what teacher assigned” mode - like what I did in past 20 years. I waited for her to assign me tasks, I waited for her to tell me exactly what to do, and the worst of all, I waited for her to check on me to collect what she had assigned to me.
But what happened was:
- I keep saying yes to all the assignments. But I don’t really know how to do them.
- I am constantly under pressure of those unfinished work. But I have never really been able to properly arrang time for my life and my work.
- As a result: most of my energy was used on urgent work, and most of important work which need a lot of time to do can’t be done at all.
- At last, I basically didn’t really do anything important. And one and half month later, I realized: OH, it’s not the way to work!
I was not the one who was taking control of my life. The deadline was. I was totally driven by deadlines, felt upset and depressed at the thought of my piled up “to do list”.
Then I began to feflect about myself. Why I felt that I had tried so hard to accomplish my work, but nothing really worked? Why there was always something important I forgot to do? Why I felt that I was so busy, but I didn’t really feel I did anything meaningful? And why I never felt I am the master of my own life?
Several days later, I finally figured it out: because I haven’t take any initiative in my life. When I can’t take the initiative to live my own life, other things will take control of my life for me. And when this happens, I can hardly feel happy.
Later on, I discovered that actually it’s how the whole world works. People who don’t plans for Friday night be asked out by people who made plans for the same night. People who are constantly keep silent got represented by people who speak their views. People who don’t have big dreams work for people who have dreams. Time and all the other resources are all so limited, those ones who take initiatives to think ahead of time got the most resources.
Based on my last 4 months experience, I concluded 3 most important elements to take initiative. Here I am gonna share them with all of you:
- Independent thinking. Taking initiative requires one to be clear about what she/he wants, what she/he is capable of, and what is his/her value. One can’t think independently are more likely to rely on other people’s judgements, but not themselves’. Gradually, they might just get lost in the chaotic noises. Time will be wasted when you hesitated, feel pressured or afraid. Without independent thinking, let alone to accomplish anything, it will be hard enough just to get started.
- Put yourself in other people’s shoes. Think about what are other people’s need, and try your best to make it easy for others. Taking initiative is not all about yourself, it’s also about your team. It’s always said that we should work hard and work smart. Taking other people’s needs into account when we work is a great way to work smart. Because finish one’s work is actually not the end of one’s work, but one’s work be made use of is. It means, if we can make it easier for others who use our work, the better we are doing it.
- Admitt that we all need help, and ask for it properly. No one can be perfect and no one can accomplish everything on their own. There is just no possibility that we are gonna know everything. So just admit, we all need help. Asking for help is not a sign of stupidity, on the contrary, it is a must step to explore the unknown world.
One can’t always wait for someone else to guide he/she through his/her life. Also, one won’t be able to discover his/her new land if he/she does nothing but follow other people’s instructions. Lives are ours, so let our initiative rule our lives.
ps: I really hope this blog post can help some people who have the same problem as me. I will try my best to be the master of my life from this second. Starting by writing blog post everyday! O(∩_∩)O
