Stay In The Lead
Now I want to talk to you about one of the hardest parts of being a Patrol Leader. That is staying in the lead. You'll want to keep ahead of the rest of the patrol in Scoutcraft and advancement so they'll always be trying to catch up to you. That's the easiest way to keep the moving toward the goal. The problem is, once you get them to be enthusiastic and ambitious, it gets harder to stay ahead of them.
Once you get them to take the initiative they won't want to let it go. They'll work harder and harder to learn new skills and keep advancing. That means you'll have to stay enthusiastic and ambitious just to stay ahead. Don't worry though, you'll have a lot of fun and do a lot of exciting things in the process. Pretty soon, you'll find yourselves working together on advancement, not so much because you'll all have the same interests, but because the merit badge Jeff is dying to work on sounds like a lot of fun.
The key words here are "Enthusiasm," "Ambition," and "Initiative." You want your patrol to be enthusiastic, and not just about advancement, but about everything. You get them to be enthusiastic by being enthusiastic yourself. Remember, you're trying to stay ahead of them so they will be motivated to catch up. You're not trying to stay ahead of them so you can rub it in every week.
You want them to be ambitious. To want to try new things and learn new skills because it's fun and exciting. You want them to set goals, and you want to help them achieve those goals. And that means helping them take the initiative. Show them that they are responsible for their own advancement by being responsible for your own. That doesn't mean focusing all of the patrol's efforts on activities that help you, but on activities that help everyone in the patrol.