Life is so funny. Everyday I am learning something new and sometimes I learn something new about myself. Growing up I was the shy kid. I never was very outgoing and preferred to be silent and let others approach me. Since college and entering the professional world I've realized that sitting back and waiting for others to make things happen for me is going to leave me waiting for the rest of my life. That's not the way I wanted to live.

Find A Need
Fast-forward to the present. Last year I helped out with The Edge program at my church. It's a middle school youth group, a lot of fun. Most the other volunteers on the core team of adults were parents. It was really discouraging to me that more people my age weren't helping out. Middle schoolers don't want to hang out with their parents. I really thought it would've been great for them to meet more young professionals who were closer in age to them and not their parents being good role models. I also realized the reason that my parish had few young adults volunteering is that there was nothing specifically for them. There was the need: a place for young adults to feel a part of our church community, to connect with one another. So I decided to help start something.

Start With What's Easy For You
Here's where my self realization came in. I found myself so frustrated after each of our Monday night meetings. I felt like there was a good solid group of young adults who wanted to make a space for others to come together and meet, learn and grow - to be a part of our larger community (both in the city and in our church). But each meeting it seemed everyone liked to talk about what we didn't want instead of what we wanted and how it was going to happen.

It became clear to me that I was able to ask questions on how we channel our wants and needs of young adults into a realistic action. Sometimes someone has to step up and take charge. Knowing what not to focus on (no we don't need to spend 3 weeks on a mission statement) and what really needs attention (We want to have a BBQ? How do we determine who will show up & how are we going to feed them?) I ended up stepping up. I didn't even realize I had done it until this week, one of the other members of our core group referred to me as the group Quarterback.

Then Tackle The Challenging Stuff
I never thought of myself as a leader or a manager. I mean, I was the one who waited on everyone else to take action. But somehow I've transitioned into the role in this case and I'm learning a lot about myself and how to piece together a project from the ground up. Someone had to do it. It was funny because I wasn't sure what was going wrong until I read this blog post last month. People are afraid to take charge because of the possibilities and the responsibility that comes with it. I might even argue that it might be particularly true in our generation.

It's been so cool getting to know a new set of people and seeing them figure out where their strengths are and how they're willing to use them together to get something accomplished. We collectively decided that our strengths is what is going to make this whole thing work. Sure, we all have weaknesses but instead of trying to cover up and fix them, we're going to focus on where we have strengths. We accept one another's weaknesses (a lot of them have mentioned they find it hard to walk up to a stranger and introduce themselves) and of course want to still be challenged (starting a social group won't continue if everyone doesn't introduce themselves) but if we can play up our strengths our weaknesses don't seem like such a big deal anymore. And while I've been termed as the QB, I don't make all the decisions. There are other really vital players on our core team that help me.

It's not always easy to recognize what are your own strong points. Ask a good mentor or asking a trusted manager comes in. Take a Myers-Briggs Personality test. Go to a leadership workshop or conference. Start with something that you're passionate about. When you use your strengths and focus on them, you become more confident when you have to step out of your comfort zone and tackle something that maybe you're not so strong in.

So what in your career have you not stepped up and taken charge?
What need in your community is there that someone needs to start up?
You don't have to start your own group to be a leader. What program needs help getting off the ground?