The Power to Take Initiative
By Robert
What would your life be like if you never procrastinated? What could you accomplish if you had the ability to step out and try anything you wanted? There are reasons people get stuck in ruts. Most of us have gone down the “try harder” route so many times we have lost hope. However, it is possible to find the motivation to pursue your dreams. The following quote illustrates this well.
“A manager loses his cool and berates an employee in front of the rest of the team. He thinks his tirade was good for productivity because the rant ’scared people straight,’ but their fear soon settles into caution. To perform at their best, the team members need to take risks, stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone, and even make some mistakes along the way. No one on the team wants to be the manager’s next target, so the team members play it safe and do only as they are told. When the manager gets docked a year later for leading a team that fails to take initiative, he wonders what’s wrong with the team” (Bradberry, Greaves, p.66 Emotional Intelligence 2.0).
Taking initiative involves risk. The only way a person can do this is if they feel safe. Often our parents first taught us that we live in a safe or unsafe environment. We learn early if we are free to take initiative even though we might fail.
Fear of failure is rooted here. In shame-based family rule systems, you are never to be out of control and never to be vulnerable. Somebody might get hurt. The answer to being more intentional in your life is not in trying harder. It is in dealing with the roots in your family system that creates the problem.
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Hi Robert, Thank you for this outstanding blog post. You are an excellent writer and bring up very practical points to improve people’s lives. Blessings, Randy
Once again you’ve hit the nail on the head!!
All my life I’ve strived to please/appease/measure up and all I’ve got for it is a sore head and an aching heart and ended up discouraged/frustrated/condemned because I
Listened to those who were irrational/unreasonable/critical/cruel and harsh and led
me to believe God was on their side and I had no right to disagree/complain/disobey them.
Until Father God broke in and told me to Trust Him and be with Him the way I was
with my own Dad when I was a child.
Now I Know that people who are irrational etc are Only like that because they don’t know Father’s Love for Themselves and it’s the only way they Know to try to hold things together!
Well Said and very true. May God’s grace be upon us all that have walked through this, remember how it feels, and try never to do it to anyone else. LU and the job you and Cindy are doing in the Kingdom of God’s love.
I love it! Lessons for every one in this one! Thank you for your vision and your ministry to God’s people!