"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself" Andy Warhol This past weekend, I was off at Paracas with my family. Like always, it was just my mom, my dad and I; no extra help. We all had to lend a hand for cooking and cleaning up. We had just finished dinner on Friday night, and we were sitting at the table. My dad suddenly told me to get up, pick up the dishes, wash them as well as serve him a glass of water. All in a span of 30 seconds. Apparently I rolled my eyes pretty harshly at him and he laughed at me while saying "I'm just trying to make you take a little initiative". These 10 little words stuck with me ever since. Taking initiative has always been something hard for me to do. I get obvious tasks done, but going that extra step has never been in my nature. In all honesty, and without trying to sound spoiled, I pin-point this on my upbringing and on the fact that I always had someone to look after me, whether it was my mom or a nanny or a maid. However, being a part of the IA has really pushed me to try to take more initiative in my day-to-day. In the IA, I'm constantly surrounded by people that are going the extra mile for the good of everyone and they make me want to strive for more. However, I don't see beyond the obvious and it takes me longer to figure out something to do. I also have the mentality that the more stuff I find for myself to do, the less efficient I become, simply because I feel like I'm digging for more work rather than just doing what's on the surface. This may or may not be true. And as a lazy person, I'm always trying to make my tasks as efficient as possible. Those 10 little words were still haunting me and I didn't know what else to do apart from washing the dishes. As the lazy person I am, I'm always trying to find excuses to not move, to be stagnant. Staying in bed for 5 more minutes. Sitting at the dinner table, waiting for someone else to take the initiative to was the dishes. However, after this past weekend I'm scared of what my future has in store for me. If I don't take initiative to complete a task as simple as washing the dishes, who knows what my future kitchen will look like. If I don't take initiative to clean my room and have everything in order, who knows what my future room, or even house will look like. Taking initiative is something that we have to do in our daily life. It's something that if we're not used doing it from the start, it's going to be next to impossible to figure out when we're older. What I've come to realize as I try to take more initiative, is to just stop and look around you for a minute, just see what everyone else is doing. By seeing this, you get a chance to see what is not being done and do them yourself Those 10 little words were hanging over my head all weekend long, but as I finished my breakfast this morning and started to wash the dirty dishes, I found myself deliberately looking for more dirty dishes I could add to my pile. It might not seem like a huge task or a huge change, but small changes lead to constant changes.
1 Comment
Andrea H
5/4/2015 12:16:38 pm
The first thing I love about this entry is your HONESTY, your genuine honesty to admit the areas you have to grow because they haven't "been part of your nature". You bring up an important point, in the IA we have learned to take initiative, we are pushed to do it, and we've realized the importance of doing so. I think this skill is very valuable wherever you go, and whatever job you take on. If you read gonchi's blog it kind of connects to what you are talking about, he says how taking that extra step and standing out allowed him to have more opportunities in the internships. Again you open up, expand, and close really well your blog brining it back to the main focus "small changes lead to constant changes" and the purpose of the blog in general.
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Author"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Archives
June 2015
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