What Does It Mean To Be Proactive: A Guide To Mastering Adversity
What does it mean to be proactive? If you want to master adversity, you need to know.
The fact of the matter is that nobody is going to save you. It’s your job to transform setbacks into successes. Whether or not you want to accept it, challenges are a normal part of life. What matters most is how you respond to those challenges.
When adversity strikes, a reactive person curls into a ball, blames the world for their problems and says, “Why me?”
Conversely, a proactive person rides the tides of change, takes responsibility for their life, and says, “Why not me?” Instead of reacting to life’s blows and letting life happen to them, they take control and constantly look for ways to transform their pain into possibilities.
Are you ready to learn how to be proactive in the face of adversity? Let’s dive in!
Watch the video below:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
Are you ready to learn how you can get back up when life knocks you on your ass? CLICK HERE for instant access to my free resilience mastery eBook!
What does it mean to be proactive?
Stephen Covey first popularized the concept of proactivity in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, he points out that your life doesn’t just magically happen. Rather, it is carefully crafted by the decisions that you make. This is your life, which means that you have the freedom to respond in whatever way you see fit.
When you know how to be proactive, you are always ready for the unexpected.
From time to time, all of us encounter challenges in life that leave us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and lost. However, in these moments, we have a choice. We can either master our emotions and take action to change our circumstances for the better, or we can play the victim.
The good news is that being proactive is a skill that you can develop and strengthen. It comes down to shifting your mindset and noticing the point at which you are starting to fall into reactive mode. It is at this moment that you have a choice, to either reframe a situation in a more positive light or lose yourself in adversity.
In the words of Stephen Covey himself, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
Don’t get down on yourself if you derail from time to time. We are all human and we make mistakes, but the trick is to not make it a habit.
What does it mean to be proactive? Let’s explore 3 ways that you can learn how to be proactive instead of reactive when the life doesn’t go your way.
1. Pay Attention To How You Talk To Yourself
What does your inner dialogue sound like? If it’s negative, you are sabotaging yourself. Our inner critics feed off of negativity and low self-esteem. If you are constantly telling yourself that you can’t do something or that you aren’t strong enough, guess what? That’s exactly what you are going to get.
The Universe gives us what we ask for, which is why we need to be so careful how to talk to ourselves. Words are powerful, and so are the meanings behind them.
Shifting your mindset doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m a big believer that when we condition our mind for positivity, we become addicted to success. The voice inside of your head doesn’t have to be your worst enemy.
Meet your critic where she is and observe what she is saying and why she is saying it. At the end of the day, you know way more than she does. Stop beating yourself up and trust that you have everything that you need inside of you to master adversity.
2. Look For Solutions
If you want to get yourself out of rough waters, you need to find an anchor, and that anchor is YOU. The people that are able to thrive through setbacks and become more as a result of them are the ones that look for solutions, rather than dwelling on problems.
Solving any problem is impossible if you only focus on the negative. Shift your perspective. What can you learn from adversity and how you can leverage it to grow and expand yourself?
Sometimes the only way to move forward and get yourself out of a rut is to forgive yourself and others. Once you free yourself from the emotional baggage that problems tend to create, you make room for your rational brain to take over and find a solution.
Proactive people are masters at problem-solving. They have a disposition towards taking intentional action to influence their situation and environment, whereas reactive people tend to fester in their shit and go in circles, never making any progress.
3. Focus On What You Can Control
If you obsess about the things that you can’t control, you are setting yourself up for failure. The fact of the matter is that the only thing that we have control over is ourselves. We can’t predict how other people are going to act or what life is going to throw us.
Reactive people spend their time worrying about all of the outcomes that are beyond their locus of control, which makes them feel helpless, whereas proactive people have the discipline to keep moving forward, even when nothing feels certain, knowing that everything will work out. This optimistic mindset sets them up for success.
All that we can do is learn how to master our emotional center and respond in a way that serves our highest self. We can’t always control the outcome, but we can influence it in our favor. Research shows that the best route to top performance is to focus on what you can control and ignore what you can’t. This is how to be proactive.
Steve Maraboli said it best – “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”
4. Take Massive Action
Don’t just sit on the sidelines and wait for life to happen to you. That is a recipe for disaster. Proactive people rise up, unleash their inner badass and take massive action to change a situation that no longer serves them.
Do you want to be proactive and become addicted to success? If so, the only way to do it is to do something! When you make the choice to consciously create your reality, every day, and I promise that you will become stronger, and will find yourself growing in ways that you never thought were possible.
What does it mean to be proactive?
Hopefully, after reading this blog post, you have a better idea and are ready to start being proactive.
Being proactive means that you are constantly seeking solutions and striving to become more. whereas being reactive means that you resist change, dwell on the negative and take minimal action in the face of challenges. Which path will you take?
In order to create change, we must know how to be proactive and take responsibility for our lives. Don’t wait for life to happen to you.
Choose happiness. Choose success. Choose inner strength. You’ve got what it takes. Are you ready?
Are you ready to learn how you can get back up when life knocks you on your ass? CLICK HERE for instant access to my free resilience mastery eBook!
Please subscribe below to get automatic updates of my latest video blogs:
Thank you so much for your support, and if you have yet to leave a rating or review, please leave me an honest one on YouTube or below on the blog. Much love!
