Personal initiative is a proactive and goal-oriented mindset, characterized by long-term focus and persistence in the face of obstacles and setbacks.  Such a mindset is action-oriented, planful, and anticipatory: quickly turning goals into actions - with back-up plans ready just in case. Unsurprisingly, personal initiative is associated with goal achievement (Frese and Fay, 2001).  For instance, recent studies in Africa found that small business owners who completed personal initiative training achieved much greater business success over a two-year period than owners assigned to a no-training control group or who had completed a conventional business course (Campos, Frese et al, 2017).

Individuals high in personal initiative also tend to be happier (Jostman, Koole et al, 2005). The link between personal initiative and well-being is partly a matter of being better at riding the ups and downs of goal pursuit. For one thing, anticipating potential setbacks is likely to make actual setbacks less serious and less upsetting. For another, being action- and goal-focused means quicker rebound from feeling frustrated or discouraged.

But the connection with well-being is deeper than being better at regulating emotions. It has to do with factors that contribute to happiness. Personal initiative is killed without these "feeder streams" of happiness, which include:

  • Sense of control: you can actually change a situation
  • Sense of purpose: you're motivated to achieve your goals
  • Self-efficacy: you're pretty confident you can do what's needed to get closer to your goals
  • Sense of progress: you are moving forward and getting closer to your goals
  • Challenge: the reward is often in the overcoming  

There's a lesson here for politicians and partisans: whatever your vision or plans for making the world a better place, remember to consider their impact on personal initiative. 

Next: A really good example of conditions that undermine personal initiative.

References:

Campos, F., M. Frese, et al. (2017). "Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa." Science 357(6357): 1287-1290.

Frese, M., & Fay, D. (2001). Personal initiative (PI): An active performance concept for work in the 21st century. In B.M. Staw & R.M. Sutton (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 23, pp. 133-187). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.

Jostmann, N. B., S. L. Koole, et al. (2005). "Subliminal Affect Regulation." European Psychologist 10(3): 209-217.