The term proactive, as most of us understand it, refers to taking action in advance to deal with an unexpected problem or difficulty. Proactivity at work enables a person to act quickly and take responsibility in order to prevent problems from arising. This anticipation aids in reducing workplace stress and maintaining a pleasant organisational climate. Proactive person does not expect their leaders to notice a problem and incubate solutions.
There are many examples that demonstrate this concept.
Notice that when a company conducts a customer survey on its products or services, what is it actually doing? It is taking proactive steps to improve the service it provides to its customers.
Consider another example: a city is taking a proactive approach to crime prevention by hiring more cops.
A proactive person, according to Bateman and Crant, is someone who takes action to influence environmental changes. A proactive entrepreneur will first identify opportunities before taking action and persevering until they have reached a conclusion by bringing about meaningful change. Merriam-Webster defines it as “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.”
Being proactive means focusing on what’s important, not just what’s urgent. Proactivity is a vital part of creating massive success, and it’s the only way to reach your full potential.
A reactive (rather than proactive) person is at the mercy of time constraints and outside influences. Because the sense of urgency frequently trumps the sense of importance, many of us spend our days stuck in an endless loop of promptly responding to irrelevant emails, agreeing impulsively (without giving it much thought) to routine meeting requests from stakeholders, and attending to a variety of other unimportant (but urgent) communications/activities.
However, keep in mind that proactivity always outperforms reactivity.
After all, reactive tasks are self-evident; these are the urgent day-to-day chunks that most people do automatically. And it’s not that reactive tasks don’t need to be completed; it’s just that they don’t have to be completed right now, and they don’t have to be completed by you.
Proactive tasks, in comparison, necessitate more thought and effort. They are the projects that have a significant impact on your company; the great ideas you’ve been putting off until you “have more time.” These tasks could include creating a compelling list of reasons why a specific feature is important for your product to move the company in that direction, or writing a blog post to develop thought leadership in your market.
In a nutshell, proactive tasks are strategic initiatives that bring you significantly closer to achieving your goals.
“Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.”
Stephen R. Covey,
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
So, what does it take to be proactive?
In a word, discipline.
Here are some of the reasons why self-discipline is so important:
The world will put your resolve to the test the moment you begin incorporating proactivity into your life. Emergencies will arise, demands will rise, and you will be tempted to revert to ineffective, reactive behaviours. So, You need unyielding self-discipline to stay proactive in a reactive world; you can’t always control your circumstances, but you can manage your response. You have the option of remaining proactive.
Not only that, you will be confronted by procrastination. Procrastination leads to pressure, which leads to stress, and stress severely limits your brain’s creative processing abilities. As we all know, creativity is an essential component of proactivity; therefore, procrastination renders you incapable of being fully proactive.
References:
- Ewers, Patrick. “How to Be Proactive: A Guide for Entrepreneurs | Better Humans.” Medium, 25 Jan. 2022, betterhumans.pub/the-definitive-guide-to-understanding-proactivity-and-becoming-a-proactive-entrepreneur-558ecf3a755d.