Successful People Initiate. Are we the Intiators?

Successful People Initiate. Are we the Initiators?

Most people only do what they are asked, doing only the minimum requirement. They need specific instructions on most things they do.

Conversely, those who become successful are anxiously engaged in a good cause. They don’t need to be managed in all things. They don’t just do the job, they do it right and complete. They also influence the direction for how certain ideas and projects go.

Most importantly, those who become successful initiate. They reach out to people, ask questions, make recommendations, offer to help, and pitch their ideas.

Being successful requires being proactive and not waiting for life to come to you. It means you’re on offense, not defense. You’re active, not passive.

Summarized…they make things happen.

The idea of the “initiator” is something that I have not only looked for in myself but in others. I wrote a post about the “4 Attributes of a Great Assistant Principal”, and I wrote something similar as the first point because my former AP’s exemplified this in spades:

1. Self-starters – There is often a mis perception that a principal should be delegating tasks to the leadership team and I guess sometimes this does happen. With that being said, I rarely had to ask my leadership team to do anything because they were already jumping on every opportunity to do different things for our school. One of my proudest days as a principal was when our school started “Identity Day“, not only because it was such a great day for our school community, but this was an idea that was started and lead by my assistant principal. Not only did she come up with the idea, but she worked with every single grade to ensure that the day was a success. Being able to be actively lead initiatives and work alongside teachers gave them instant credibility.

Bruce Dixon said the following statement that has always stuck with me:

In no other profession do we watch people do our job for a minimum of sixteen years before we do it ourselves.

Want proof that we recreate experiences in education and that they are handed down from generation to generation? Here is an example.

Have you ever said the term, “The bell doesn’t dismiss you; I dismiss you”? Maybe you haven’t said that, but have you heard it being stated? And if you have heard it, did you hear that phrase as a student, educator, or both? I guess that many educators that are reading this have witnessed this being stated (or something eerily similar) in their career, yet who made it up? This is a saying that has been passed down from generation to generation in education, which is proof that we carry on practices over time.

Handing down these experiences can be seen as a negative or a positive. If practices are passed down from generation to generation, what new practices that benefit student’s today will you implement that will become standard practice? Although I think it is important that we are flexible in our learning, I do believe that we need to revamp some practices in education and create new norms. The beautiful thing about teaching is that since we know we are creatures of experience, we can create new and better experiences in education that will impact generations moving forward.