Freedom
The power which gave this nation its freedom is the self-same power that must be used by every individual who becomes self-determining.
Find out how to get production up, and it will drag you and a bigger paycheck along with it.
It’s common knowledge that the person who knows the most about how to improve the productivity of any job is the person who holds that job. Why is it, then, that we are often reluctant to offer suggestions for improvement? Perhaps we’ve seen too many layoffs and reorganizations to trust the cracker-barrel wisdom that our goal should be to work ourselves out of a job — so that we can move on to a bigger and better position. Nevertheless, the old wisdom is still sound. If you find a way to do things better, faster, or cheaper, you increase your value to your employer. You will be asked to participate in planning sessions and quality circles because you’ve demonstrated that you know how to make things work more efficiently. It’s inevitable that you will be promoted, because you will become one of those exceptional employees who are too valuable to lose.
You don’t have to do more than you are paid for, but you can push yourself ahead mighty fast by doing it voluntarily.
Initiative is that exceedingly rare quality that prompts — no, impels — a person to do what ought to be done without being told. It’s also a commodity upon which the world places great value. Initiative will immediately set you apart from the competition, whether you are an entrepreneur, a professional services provider, a corporate staffer, or an hourly worker. Your boss, your clients, or your customers will notice you and come to depend upon you because you have shown yourself to be a person who can be counted upon always to do the right thing.