“If you want to reach your potential, you have to show initiative.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Beyond Talent (p. 50). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

So many great ideas never happen because the person who had the idea never started to implement it. 

John says, “A tourist paused for a rest in a small town in the mountains. He sat down on a bench next to an old man in front of the town’s only store. ‘Hi, friend,’ he said, ‘can you tell me something this town is noted for?’

“‘Well,’ answered the old man after a moment’s hesitation, ‘you can start here and get to anywhere in the world you want.’

“That’s true of nearly every location. Where you finish in life isn’t determined so much by where you start as by whether you start. If you’re willing to get started and keep initiating, there’s no telling how far you might go.”

He later says, “Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation’s Founding Fathers, advised, ‘To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.’ People who take initiative and work hard may succeed, or they may fail. But anyone who doesn’t take initiative is almost guaranteed to fail. I’m willing to bet that you have . . .

            a decision you should be making,

            a problem you should be solving,

            a possibility you should be examining,

            a project you should be starting,

            a goal you should be reaching,

            an opportunity you should be seizing,

            a dream you should be fulfilling.

“No one can wait until everything is perfect to act and expect to be successful. It’s better to be 80 percent sure and make things happen than it is to wait until you are 100 percent sure because by then, the opportunity will have already passed you by.”

John finished this section by saying, “Talent without initiative never reaches its potential. It’s like a caterpillar that won’t get into its cocoon. It will never transform, forever relegated to crawling on the ground, even though it had the potential to fly.”

So, what are you waiting for?  Let’s go make that great idea happen.  So, will you take the initiative and go for it?  Will you?

Yes, yes!