Are You Proactive or Reactive?

These words seem to emerge in many conversations about a Business Mindset. Since revisiting some of my old favorites and being active in the Master Key Master Mind Alliance, I have realized that Proactive trumps Reactive all the time

“If you’re Proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.” – Stephen Covey

A few years ago I won a Kindle Fire in a contest. One of my first Kindle purchases was the acclaimed book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey.

It did not take me long into the book to realize Stephen Covey and I share the same thought of living a Proactive Life, rather than wasting time wallowing in the mire of Reactive Victimization. Stephen Covey sees Proactive living as the foundation of the other 6 Habits and therefore goes into great detail in defining PROACTIVE behavior in the 1st chapter.

We both agree that Proactive Behavior is the act of taking charge of our lives, being responsible for it, and taking all actions necessary to become the master of our own destiny. We are all born with the opportunity of choice and that becomes a principle underlying a Proactive Mindset since we have the choice on how we respond to what happens to us in our daily lives and it is our reaction to those circumstances that determine how things affect us.

Those who lack the Proactive Habit are seen as being more Reactive, seeing themselves as victims of circumstance, and are usually unable to change their reactions and therefore tend to feel enslaved.

I have observed over the past couple of decades that the word Victim crops up in daily conversation regularly. Those who feel victimized are Reacting to what other people or persons are saying about them instead of focusing on the facts that they command about themselves. This Mindset that causes phrases such as “he makes me so mad” or “she made me feel bad” are examples of a victim mindset language.

This attitude is fostered, in my opinion, through the Education System and in many instances, the Pulpit. And in the past few years, Victimhood seems to be all the rage. Even if you are not a VICTIM, social pressure seems to indicate you should be a victim because of your financial status, religious belief, ethnicity, or gender

A dominating central government is more likely to grow if the populace can consider themselves in a Reactive, Victim, Mindset.

So what are we doing about it?

Start by:

Taking conscious control over your life
Setting SMART goals
Working to achieve them

Instead of reacting to circumstances and waiting for opportunities, get off your duff and create your own events and opportunities.

Being proactive allows YOU to consciously engineer your own events.

Stephen Covey points out that there’s a gap between stimulus and response, and within that gap lies the potential for us to choose our response.

The gap seems to be the spot where we may rely on our intuition.

Do we choose based on the information from others or based on our personal experiences and/or that sixth sense, that seems to be most powerful?

Four special human endowments give us this power:

Self-awareness – Understanding that we do have a choice between stimulus and response. If you are offered a dietary temptation, YOU can choose not to eat it.
Conscience – We are all born with the ability to consult our inner compass to decide what is right for us. You can make decisions based on unchanging principles, regardless of what is socially favored at the moment. OR you can follow the herd in a Reactive direction
Creative Imagination – By using our imagination, we can mentally generate and evaluate different options. Napoleon Hill emphasizes the Power of Imagination in Think and Grow Rich
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Independent Will – We all have the freedom to choose our own unique response. You are not forced to conform to what others expect from you. Learn to Unleash Your True Authentic Self.