How to become Proactive – Create your “Proactive Personality”

What’s the difference between a proactive and a reactive person? 

Reactive means you act after external events happened. Let’s say your doctor tells you, you need to change your diet cause your cholesterol is too high. Another example would be if you reply to an e-mail after the e-mail window pops up. You react to an external stimulus. If you react only when given a stimulus you are being reactive e.g. when a task is given.

On the other hand, if you are proactive you react before an event has occurred. Someone who is proactive would keep a healthy diet in advance. In other words, someone who is proactive takes initiatives and makes things happen! Someone who is reactive lets things happen. 

Where in your life are you being proactive and where are you being reactive? 

“I am not a product of my circumstances, but a product of my decisions!” – Stephen. R. Convey

How can you become proactive? 

Being proactive is all about forward-thinking. One has to anticipate future events and consequences of situations before they happen.

1. Develop a Plan for your Future

In order to take action towards your goal, you need to know what your goal is.  Check out our blogpost on goalsetting. Being proactive helps in all areas of your life. Education, Relationships, Finance, Health, and your Career. Which steps can you take to achieve your goal? What kind of problems might occur? How could you avoid or minimize them?

[ READ: Setting Goals Like Smart Women + Free Goal Setting Template and Techniques]

2. Write a Daily To-Do List

Next, write a daily to-do list of the actions you can take to achieve your goal. Review the To-Do List daily. Which tasks are proactive, which tasks are reactive? Are the tasks on the list helping you achieve your goal? Start off with the proactive tasks and keep the reactive tasks for when you are low on energy.

[ READ: How to prioritize with the 80/20 rule]

3. Develop skills you think you’ll need for future projects. 

A proactive person thinks about the skills necessary for future projects beforehand. Which projects will come? And which skills might you need? What will you have to learn in order to successfully finish them? 

4. Think like a problem prevention specialist

Being proactive means, you anticipate problems in advance and find solutions before they even occur. Instead of thinking like a firefighter you have to think like a problem prevention specialist. Make enough room in your schedule for emergencies. 

[ READ: Simple Productivity Ideas – Discover the 5 Best Productivity Tips ]