Taking Initiative

By: Alex Schwartz, Junior 1st Dan

Taking initiative is doing something without being told to do it. When you are anywhere, whether at home, work, school, or other place, a person who takes initiative is useful to help get everything done without having to bother a boss, coach, etc. with a bunch of questions.

This is important because it helps out the people around you along with yourself. When you take initiative it shows the people around you like your friends, family, or even boss that you have a high work ethic and shows how well of a leader you can be. Taking initiative is a great way to show your ability to take action and help out at the same time. At home you can take a little more initiative and do the dishes, clean, walk the dog, etc. before your parents or roommate have to ask you a bunch of times. And they will appreciate everything you help out with.

In taekwondo there are many times when taking initiative is important and very very useful. A big time when it is useful is at tournaments (or any other event). At the tournament there are lots to set up (or take down) like trophies, judging chairs, ring flags, etc. It really helps out when you take the initiative and just start helping with whatever you see needs to be done, without just standing around and letting someone else do the work. And it takes a whole lot of stress off off everyone when everyone helps out.

Another place where taking initiative is really important is at school or even a workplace. At school there are times where you do a lab of some sort in science. After the lab there is always at least 10 minutes where their teacher has the class clean up, during this time a lot of students ask the teacher a billion questions causing them stress. It is really helpful when there is a student who takes responsibility and just cleans up whatever they can, being a huge help for the teacher. This is not just for labs but any project you do in school. This can be the same as your job, at your workplace there are often team meetings and sometimes potlucks. When those meetings are over, if you stay make sure the chairs are pushed in, there's no trash or anything spilled, the person who ran the meeting and the next person to use the room will be extremely thankful. 

In summary, it's not hard to take initiative and you don't have to do everything. Just a few small easy things can make a huge difference to help out no matter where you are. And along with helping out it can show to those around you your leadership skills, and your willingness to work hard when needed.