Be Proactive

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Let’s define it:

Google defines ‘proactive’ as ‘creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.’

What does it mean?

Being Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. Proactive people recognize that they are “response-able.” They don’t blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they can choose their behavior. Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and performance, and they blame the weather.

All these external forces act as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is our greatest power—we have the freedom to choose our response. One of the most important things we choose is what we say. Our language is a good indicator of how we see ourselves.

A proactive person uses proactive language—I can, I will, I prefer, etc. A reactive person uses reactive language—I can’t, I have to, if only. Reactive people believe they are not responsible for what they say and do—they have no choice.

Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence^®. They work on the things they can do something about: health, children, or problems at work.

Reactive people focus their efforts on the Circle of Concern — things over which they have little or no control: the national debt, terrorism, or the weather. Gaining an awareness of the areas in which we expend our energies is a giant step in becoming proactive.

Being proactive is all about focusing on what you can control. It’s about forward-thinking behavior; anticipating the consequences of a situation before they happen.

In being proactive, we can pre-empt potential complications with the aim of reducing the impact on ourselves, others, and our progress.

From Steven Covey’s perspective, proactive behavior involves taking responsibility for your life and identifying solutions to problems before they actually manifest themselves.

Why is it important?

Being proactive is an extremely powerful skill. It’s a very strong interpersonal skill and can help us manage challenging situations. In preparing for life events, we can ensure we have explored all possible routes that the event could take, which difficult questions we could be faced with, and how we may approach them. This way, we are less likely to be caught off guard and find ourselves in a position to do something we do not mean or have not thought through.

Develop this habit: Practical tools

Thinking about your ‘Ripple Effect’ can be a good place to start. What impact will your action(s) have? Who will be affected? Why could they be affected? How will it impact people/the situation and when? In asking yourself these questions you are holistically exploring the impact of your actions and considering all possible reactions/outcomes. This will encourage you to think about how you can minimize negative or unhelpful impacts and create the best possible solution for yourself and those around you.

Leading on from this series of questions to ask yourself, another good question to consider is ‘what could go wrong?’ Focus on the possible negative implications for a moment but remain optimistic! The key is to not allow the negatives to cloud the positives and cause frustration or inactivity. Explore the negatives and learn to either accept them (if they are beyond your control) or overcome them (if you can proactively make the negative a neutral or a positive). This idea stems from Martin Seligman’s ‘learned optimism’ theory – the idea that we can cultivate an optimistic outlook by challenging negative self-talk.

Exploring your Ripple Effect and the notion behind learned optimism essentially invites you to be nosey with yourself! Ask the questions, explore the possibilities, and prevent possible problems: that’s what being proactive is all about.

                                                          Excerpts from the  7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

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