are you reactive or proactive let's start with a small assessment and ask a few questions of ourselves and in the meantime I'll try to give you some examples on how proactive and reactive people think what is your attitude towards learning reactive people tend to think that they know enough and don't see the point in learning but proactive people always keep learning and developing themselves no matter at what age they are and how busy they are learning and acquiring new skills will always be their priority what is your mindset at work reactive people do what they're told and when it's done they just wait for more orders proactive people while doing a job are always looking for improvement and opportunity that's why they'll be more likely promoted to higher positions while those who wait for orders always get stuck in the same jobs for years what is your attitude towards change proactive people strive for change because that means they're moving forward whereas reactive people just settle into the same old routine and change for them is associated with discomfort and unpleasant feelings in general reactive people tend to deal with things as they come these people are often referred to as firefighters because everything for them is done in the last minute reactive people are often surprised by situations such as was the exam planned today oh my god my project deadline at work is tomorrow I can't believe I have all these tasks at the same time the problem with reactive people are that they don't plan things they show up to life unprepared and deal with things as they come which eventually leads to two main things first they waste a lot of time with unproductive activities and second they often feel overwhelmed with things when few of them have to be done in the same time but of course it only happened because things were not planned out the second group of people are proactive people this group of people are very organized and they project themselves into the future rather than focusing only on what's happening in front of them so let's have a look at the main characteristics of reactive and proactive people characteristic number one proactive people don't blame anyone or anything reactive people blame circumstances conditions and conditioning it is easy to blame others for your failures because it looks like you don't do anything wrong and it's not your fault but what I want to point out here is that this is a key element of your own internal power if something didn't work out as it should don't justify it with excuses accept the fact and learn from it here are two good things that can happen even if things didn't work out a you had practical insight and how it's done and you experienced it be during that process you definitely acquire new knowledge that gave you the new ideas that you can use to approach same situations next time characteristic number two proactive people's behavior is a product of their conscious choice based on values reactive people's behavior is a product of their conditions based on feelings feelings make us unique as human beings but if we don't learn how to master them will soon become our feeling slaves our feelings will start to control us and we don't want that because we want to be in charge of our own lives that's why it is important to be guided by our own internal values and conscious choices let's say you want to become more fit and you start to practice a healthy lifestyle that means you'll have to start exercising eat healthy and maintain a different daily routine from the one you currently have if you're driven by this value then nothing will get in your way but if you're driven by feelings you'll soon find out that some days you're too tired to exercise some days you have other priorities and of course you don't want to run when it's raining and the excuse list goes on and on and when the perfect day has arrived and there's no more excuses that voice inside you says well I haven't been exercising for a week so I don't see the point to do it now when I will start to exercise I'll do it everyday of course I don't have to tell you that this never happens and that's how it is in real life there's always so many other things to do that we can have 365 excuses per year only not to do it today so define your values and make sure you prioritize them when the choice comes and remember that the choice is not going to be oh I have a spare 90 minutes now so I'll just go exercise now you'll have to make a choice after a 10-hour day at work when you're already tired from all the issues you had to deal with during the day you can either go for a run in the rain or just watch TV at home where it's warm and relaxing so stay tough characteristic number three proactive people are still influenced by external stimulus but their responses value-based choice reactive people build their lives around others emotions everyone is influenced by their environment around them at any given time but proactive people stay focused on their values where reactive people find it more difficult because they feel dependent on others I've been in this trap as well when I feel so dependent on someone else that I lose sense of myself I remember when I was looking for a publisher for my product and it felt like my products launched success was depending on the publisher I was being reactive and driven by my feelings and emotions when I got the publishing deal I was so excited and convinced my product was going to succeed my publisher helped me with preparing my product for launch he made my product available in the market and he also advertised the product and acquired users when the product was launched it didn't take long for me to realize that it was not going to be successful and it wasn't because of the publisher it was a product that didn't perform well in the market and guess who was responsible about my product and its design that's right me so it works out at the end of the day that I had the most influence on the products launch and success but I got caught into my feelings and emotions that my product successes in someone else's hands now let's have a look at some of the ways at how you can become a more proactive person first predict and prevent proactive people are rarely caught by surprise you have to anticipate problems and events this usually happens when we know something is going on but instead of dealing with it straight away we avoid it in hope that it will disappear but that is not how things work things don't disappear they either one get resolved - or they grow and explode it is so much easier to deal with the issue when it arises rather than later because it's always smaller in the beginning and you don't have to deal with the consequences of the issue so be the person who gets involved straight away I know this is not easy but is the right way second plan proactive people have planned daily agendas that's right they don't just show up to life and wait for what life is going to throw at them they plan their time closely I personally plan my daily activities every day as I approach my day I have a list of tasks a to-do list that I have to complete every day and unless I have completed my to-do list I don't do anything else there's so much going on in everyday lives and if we don't stay focused on what we have to do we'll soon get lost in other activities that we don't even intend third have clear goals and vision having clear goals and vision will help you to stay on track planning your goals are completely different from daily task planning daily tasks are small things you actually do on a daily basis where your goal is to achieve something bigger such as submitting a business plan launching a project we're learning a new skill it is very important that you have bigger goals and vision your goals and vision will drive you while you're working on your daily tasks here are some of the things that you can do to help you maintain and improve your vision and goals a set milestones and evaluate progress against them it's easy to get demotivated at the early stage of a project because you can't see the fruits of your work be realistic about what is possible at every stage of the project and evaluate your progress against plan milestones not the final goal of the project be consult with someone who has done it before it is important why you have a goal to make it very clear and more detailed about what exactly you're trying to achieve you don't have to refine your goal with an industry top consultant ask a friend who's done a similar project to help you refine your goals and vision this will help you to avoid typical traps you don't want to be falling in C surround yourself with people who are passionate about the same thing you are you can do it by joining communities or attending seminars these things have helped me a lot and I hope they will serve you - certainly there are times when it's appropriate to be reactive we have plenty of decisions to make in the moment there are times when we need to be flexible and adapt to a rapidly changing environment there are times when long-term plans must be abandoned in order to meet immediate needs and there will always be those unavoidable roadblocks that even the most proactive person in the world would not have been able to foresee or avoid however the ability to be proactive provides a clear advantage if you strive to improve any area of your life if you have any questions about areas of life where you're struggling or want to make improvements please tell me in the comments below or write to me at Facebook or Twitter and I'll make a video about how best to approach it