You can wait to win an elected office, or be chosen to lead a project, or be asked to contribute something valuable, or you can act as if you’ve already got the title, just do the work, and trust that the right people will recognize impact when they see it.
I’m not suggesting that you go rogue in your club or organization. I’m saying that you don’t need a title or permission to do great work. Don’t wait. Do the great work now.
One of the most appealing traits you can show a college is initiative, the kind of self-starting drive that doesn’t wait to make things happen. It’s something I’ve written about before. And Seth Godin summed it up perfectly in a short but effective post yesterday. It’s aimed at working professionals, but every word of it is equally applicable to high school students.
Here are a few of my past posts on this topic, one on executing vs. initiating and another on how to be a leader without a leadership position.
And in the unlikely event that you don’t believe in the power of initiative, there’s actually math to prove that it works.