Having Initiative

Initiative:

Initiative is the ability to act before others do (without being prompted or being told to do something by others), and being able to find a new way(s) of solving problems. God has given to each of us a measure of creativity, to be able to make things better, and to make the most of every opportunity.

Creativity:

God has put a spark of His creative energy into every person. It's the source of art and invention, and makes humans experiment, risk, fiddle, revise, and generally want to change the way things are. In younger children, creativity flows naturally, but as you mature, creativity may be stifled by too much TV and entertainment, by unimaginative schools, by the desire to imitate your peers, and by other factors.

God has given each of us abilities and skills which He wants us to use. Creativity is seeing problems that everybody else sees, but then thinking of solutions that no one else has considered. To find new solutions, you need to believe in your own creativity and abilities, and use these to solve problems, make decisions, plan and achieve goals.

Developing Creativity:

To help you develop your creativity, take an object such as a toothbrush, pen, wrench, mirror, or shoelace. Now, invent a new use for that object, and demonstrate its use. For example, use a toothbrush for erasing the blackboard, or use a mirror to warm up your lunch. The crazier the use, the more fun it can be!

Did it surprise you that you could come up with so many different new ways to use the object? Try it out on your friends and see what they can come up with! Did it help to hear the ideas other people came up with?

Using Initiative:

To find new new ways to use the object, you had to go ahead and put your mind to work to come up with an idea, and then put your body into action to show others the idea, and perhaps convince them that your wild ideas could work! All this takes initiative. It's all about having "Get Up and Go".

We all need initiative because God wants to help you become a more effective leader. Pray and ask God to help you develop your creativity and help you have more initiative to do things and help solve problems.

God Bless!