Be the change
Proactive (adj)
(of a person or action) creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.
If you’re struggling to get a job.
If you’re struggling to find clients.
If you’re struggling to sell your product.
If you’re struggling to lose weight.
If you’re struggling to improve your diet.
If you’re struggling to save your relationship.
If you’re struggling to change.
It’s probably because you’re being reactive to that change.
And that’s not your fault. We’re not taught to be proactive. We spend most of our lives being given problems that require a reactive response.
Learning to be proactive takes time. It’s a skill developed through patience in its purest form. If you’re not patient, you’ll never be proactive.
Being proactive means seeing much further ahead than most other humans ever do.
If you’re proactive, you won’t search for clients when you need them, but continuously establish relationships, write relevant blog posts and produce other valuable content for potential clients to find, even while your demand is off the charts.
If you’re proactive, you won’t react to the failure of your relationship when it happens, but improve that relationship little by little, identifying problem areas when they become problem areas.
If you’re proactive and want to lose weight, you won’t exercise when the doctor tells you, or when you look down at the scales and discover you’ve put on ten pounds. You’ll exercise whenever you find the time. You’ll recognise the benefits of regular exercise, and not be put off by the fact losing weight, gaining muscle or getting fit simply takes time. And you won’t just limit your health improvements to physical exercise, either. You’ll research diets and super foods. You’ll learn to cook fresh meals rather than buying ready-made ones. You’ll get deeper and deeper in to improving your mental and physical wellbeing, all because you stopped deciding to be reactive.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how to be proactive about everything you do.
And in all honesty some change needs to be made reactively, it just can’t be helped. Some change creeps up on you and demands to be achieved in an instant.
But it’s important that you limit these moments. And you can only achieve that by being proactive in everything you do.
Which means: not waiting for change to demand your attention.
Which means: creating the change when you want the change to happen.
Which means: being your change.
Stop reacting.
Go do.
