Hi folks,
I read a book fairly recently called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Dr. Stephen Covey and just wanted to share some insights I got from it.
One of the habits is: Be Proactive
By being proactive, it means we are responsible for our own lives.
We humans have a quality called self-awareness, that is, being aware of our own thought processes, being able to project our minds outside of ourselves and look at ourselves from the outside.
Often people blame their actions or situations on external factors by saying things like: that’s just the way I am, I just had to do it, it’s how it has been in my family, etc.
Being proactive means recognising that you have the power to decide how you act in any situation.
I found it quite enlightening how Dr. Covey breaks responsibility as response-ability, that is to say that we are able to select our response by using our self-awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will.
So, I take being proactive as not waiting for things to happen, but going out there and making things happen.
When one realises that he or she is totally able to select his/her responses it changes how we view things in life and how we interact with others. It empowers us to begin to learn to select the most effective responses to any situation we have in life.
So, examples of being proactive are as follows:
If a person wants a better job, he or she should take interest in the industry and even specific problems of organisations
If a person wants better health, go out there and exercise regularly.
Part of being proactive is focusing your energy on things you have control over, that is, things that are in your circle of influence, rather than things you may be concerned about but not have control over.
That’s it for now. Till next time, have a proactive time.