Initiative. This word has come up many times in my BLF journey. Dictionary.com defines the word as readiness and ability in initiating action. So in this definition, initiative is not just simply taking action before anyone prompts you to. Taking initiative involves some leg work prior to the initiative event. One must be ready and have prepared themselves to take action. Personally, I feel as if initiative is equivalent to one's drive. Your initiative is what fuels your ambitions and without it, much seldom gets accomplished. We prioritize this concept as a BLF area of focus because of how crucial it is for success. BLF has given us access to a plethora of resources and contacts but without the initiative to use them, they go underutilized. Those who take the initiative to start a process early often win, no matter what that process is in life. The initiative taken by the Young Alumni panel really made me reevaluate some things in my life. It really made me feel as if I was not doing enough right now to prepare myself for my future. One of the young women was handling the assets of a million dollar Station 88 project by the age of 22. I'm 20 right now and I can barely handle the little funds which I currently have access to. Sitting there listening to their stories of what they did in their college years unintentionally created a negative comparison in my mind that basically I'm not doing enough. I should be on a first name basis with doctors and should be reading medical journals and writing blogs on the latest medical breakthroughs and newest technology. I will not let this negative comparison effect me. I've already started making some changes to my life. I've researched some anesthesiologists in the area whom I will be contacting for meetings to simply figure out how they made it. I need to know what they did during college, the classes they took, who they studied under and talked to. This is Initiative. Realizing the area you are lacking and acting putting in effort to rectify it. I will be great. If it's the last thing I do.
Interview:
I interviewed one of my friends who is working on a research project with three other students. She and her colleagues were just about finished working on the project when two of the students got into a heated argument which turned somewhat physical. Both students refused to finish their parts of the project while the other remained in the group. However, the project still needed to get finished. Therefore, she and the other student took the initiative to collect the data from the bickering students and finish the project for the good of the group. She realized that sometimes life is not going to go your way and that at times you may have to "bite the bullet" and take one for the team. This is what they did. She took the initiative to finish her part of the project and the other two students parts even though it was not fair to her or the other student who helped her. Due to her initiative, the group received a good grade on the research project and she even gave the two arguing students good evaluations. Not only did she take initiative but she was also caring and selfless.
