Be Proactive

The other day I woke very early in the morning and the car refused to start. Fortunately I have been reading Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of highly effective people”. Rather than getting upset and cursing the gods for this misfortune I decided to be a bit more proactive. I did some simple diagnostics and realized there was no quick fix. I then called a friendly neighbor who gladly gave us a lift. As we waited to be picked up I decided to take some breakfast and make conversation with our daughter who was preparing to go to school.

We were picked up by our friendly neighbor and had a good conversation on the way to work. Actually I rather enjoyed being chauffeured. On the way to work I called the mechanic and asked him to go home and check out the car. The mechanic gladly obliged. He fixed the car and drove it to work. Needless to say everything turned out quite pretty well at the end of the day.

Proactive people respond effectively to circumstances which occur to them. They believe they control their lives. They focus on things they can control. Reactive people on the other hand blame the entire world including the gods (plus the devil) and their jealous ancestors for their bad luck. They see things happening to them as a sign of their inadequacy. They focus on external things out of their control. This breeds restlessness, anxiety and stress. This then becomes a self perpetuating cycle in their lives.

Developing a mindset of being PROACTIVE enables us to see and grab the opportunities before us. Rather than blaming the entire world for our lean purses we choose to see things differently and act proactively. Our bank accounts then respond with proactiveness.