What Does It Mean To Be Proactive?

The Merriam Webster definition of proactive is “Acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.” The ability to be proactive is so essentially tied to success that it is #1 on Stephen Covey’s list, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Every day, we’re faced with choices. We can either respond to what’s going on in the world or we can predict what may happen and prepare for it. While there are many things that are beyond our control – global crises, societal trends, a tree falling in our yard – there are many more – discovering potential sales leads, setting your top three priorities for the week, exercising – that we can do something about which will make the occurrences in our life either less negative or more positive.

Covey suggests that you spend your time focusing on the things that you can control, rather than on the things that are outside of your control.

People often believe that we are a product of nurture or a combination of nurture and nature. Covey disagrees. He believes we are a product of choice. Regardless of whether the cards dealt to us were stacked in our favor or against us, Covey believes it’s how we decide to respond wherein we find our destiny. Check out the video (3 min) below to learn a little more about how Covey believes that being proactive is at the core of happiness and meaningful life design.

Being proactive means taking responsibility for your actions. It means looking forward to anticipate how you will react if something undesirable or unexpected occurs. It does not mean we can always prevent negative events. It means we can mitigate how negative they are.

For example, in the business world we, we may take annual retreats to agree on a strategy for the year or we may even set 3 or 10-year visions. On a day-to-day scale, we are behaving proactively whenever we set reminders in our phones or review our list of actions steps we will take the next day.

Being proactive is equally meaningful in our personal lives as well. Imagine what you could expect to happen if you forget your significant other’s birthday! Instead of facing that person’s displeasure, you can take the time to plan for a gift or outing that they would find enjoyable.

The bottom line is, everyday we have decisions to make that will be anticipating the future or we will have reactions because we failed to act proactively. The more time we spend on preparing for the future, the more successful and happy we will be in our personal and professional lives. Responsibility is, quite literally, our ability to respond to what happens in life.