Proactivity
"We are responsible for our own effectiveness, for our happiness, and, ultimately, I would say that for most of our circumstances."
Stephen R. Covey
Proactivity is the first habit of highly effective people, according to Stephen R. Covey in his book of the 7 habits. Based on experience, it is stated that proactivity gives us the freedom to choose our response to environmental stimuli. This empowers us to respond in accordance with our principles and values. Ultimately, it is what makes us human and allows us to affirm that we are responsible for our own past, present and future.
This habit is exemplified by the story of the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who was locked up in concentration camps in Nazi Germany. With the exception of his sister, he lost his entire family. Frankl himself was subjected to countless humiliations, never sure whether he would be taken to the gas chamber in the next moment. According to this psychiatrist, proactivity does not only mean taking the initiative. It means that, as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values.
One day, naked and alone in a small room, he began to become aware of what he called "the ultimate freedom", that freedom that his jailers could not take away from him. They could control their entire environment, do what they wanted with their body, but Viktor Frankl himself was a self-conscious being capable of seeing his own participation in events as an observer. His basic identity was intact. Inside, he could decide how this could affect him.
Frankl used the human privilege of self-awareness to discover a fundamental principle of the nature of man: between stimulus and response, the human being has the inner freedom to choose. Then he drew a precise map of himself, from which he began to develop the first and fundamental habit of people who, in any medium, are highly effective: the habit of proactivity.
The word proactivity does not mean just taking the initiative. It means that, as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our life circumstances. We can subordinate feelings to our values and principles. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.
If our decision is that, we become reactive. Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitudes and behavior. Proactive people bring their own climate with them. Reactive people are also affected by the social environment, by the so-called “social climate”. When treated well, they feel good; when they are not treated well, they become defensive or self-protective. Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behavior of others, allowing other people's flaws to control them.
An excellent way to become more aware of our own proactiveness is to examine how we invest our time and energy. Each of us has a wide range of concerns: health, children, work problems, public debt, wars…
Proactive people focus their efforts on the circle of influence. They are devoted to things that they can do something about. We live in a world of worries. An accelerated life, in which we are never satisfied with what we have or what happens to us. If I am proactive, I must act rather than complain. Everything is in the character with which you face things. As stated “Whenever we think that the problem is“ out there ”, this thought is the problem, because we give something that is outside the power to control us. The paradigm of change is then from the outside in: what is outside has to change before we change ”
In short, it is oneself who has the responsibility to act. If we expect others to act on us, they will act on us. We should not wait for others to change, but do it ourselves first. The proactive approach is to change from the inside out. This proposes to be different, and in this way cause a positive change in what is outside: always being better, being positive.
