How To Be Proactive

In our world filled with so many rules, and so many consequences for breaking those said rules, it can be hard to want to take the blame. We always end up pointing fingers at each other saying "He/She did it!" and never taking responsibility for our own actions. I'm pretty sure every single one of us has at least done this once, maybe to a sibling or a close friend. And I know I've done this to my brother countless times.


Well, the 1st Habit brought up by Covey is to be proactive. While most dictionaries would describe the word "proactive" as taking the initiative, Covey expands the definition further. He states, "It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions" (71). What this means to us is that we can take the initiative, and be responsible by choosing our actions carefully, by not letting our outside factors control us. If we let these outside factors control us, then we become reactive.


What kind of outside factors can apply to us? Well one really good one I can think about is homework. It's there, we may hate it, but we can't really do anything about it other than to just do it. Covey brings up a really good point about the language people would use. Reactive students would use a reactive statement such as "I have to do this homework or...". Proactive students would use a proactive statement such as "I choose to do this homework because..." (78). In other words, the reactive student would curse that the teacher, or our outside factor, gave the homework, whereas the proactive student chose to do the homework for reasons in their control, such as to maintain a high grade. I know for certain that I have been both types of student before, so what I'm really going to strive for from now on is to be proactive.

To help with this concept, Covey used a diagram showing two circles, the Circle of Concern, and the Circle of Influence. In essence, the Circle of Concern includes problems you cannot control, like environment or homework for us, and the Circle of Influence includes things you can control like our decision to do the homework. As we grow in being a reactive or proactive person, this can cause the circles to change in size, with reactive choices making the Circle of Influence smaller, and proactive choices making the Circle of Influence larger (83). By allowing our Circle of Influence to grow, we too can grow as people by being more positive with our life.

By adopting this use of proactivity, and lessening reactiveness, I look forward to the New Year!


Alright, so my question for this post is:
How often would you say you use reactive statements daily? Weekly? Monthly?


Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. Print.