The Boundless Wisdom of Proaction: There’s a Lot to Embrace Here, in both Belief and Action
I just read a smart piece slamming the self-help industry. It makes big, important points. I won’t disagree — this is not a setup for a counter-slam — but I will offer some supplemental and complementary evidence and thoughts.
While acknowledging that the advice sometimes helps, the article states that one of the “myths, shibboleths, icons [is the] idea that you can help yourself out of a mess, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, maybe become the next Bezos or Oprah…”
Further, “especially in an age like this, where most Americans struggle to pay bills, live on the edge of poverty, will live poorer lives than their grandparents, and can’t even raise small amounts for emergencies… Americans just…work harder…for the systems which exploit them…
And, “… the symptoms self-help tries to address… are system problems… not individual problems. How could they be, if so many people have them?”
The article goes into far greater depth than implied by brief excerpts. But the quotes capture the essential distinction between self and system (and indicate the relative power of systems over individuals).
I want to add and highlight a third option, beyond systems changes vs. personal responsibility to help oneself personally. The added alternative is proaction by individuals, groups, organizations, and societies — all of which change by people initiating change and following through to make it happen.
There’s a big, broad, general point here: If you think you have only one option (“I have no choice”) or only two options (caught between a rock and a hard place), you should search for a third option and then even more possibilities. We self-sabotage when we don’t immediately recognize a full set of options, and don’t try harder to find them.
This suggestion is not naïve, nor mere personal opinion; commending proactive behavior is based on extensive empiricism and solid theory. Much of the research has occurred in the workplace, and I recommend Proactivity at Work: Making Things Happen in Organizations (Sharon Parker and Uta Bindl, editors).
For a quick introduction to the personal advantages — that is, net advantages, as there are risks as well — try this:
In a different, community and global arena, here’s a piece about proaction and climate change:
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/kind-behavior-bedrock-sustainability
Individuals and collective effort really can make a difference. The lesser options are to be defeatist, or naive about things working out without our efforts, or think that grit alone will prevail without applying the right tactics and adjustments along the way.
For proactive efforts to prevail, they require self-regulation (of which grit is one element), time, strategic thinking, and more:
And again, remember that more often than not, you have more options than you might think:
https://medium.com/@tsb3c/self-regulation-is-your-executive-in-charge-36ff351a398e
