6 Tips to Become a Proactive Person in All Aspects of Life

Note: This article is from blogger and author Connie Mathers, who shares 6 tips to help you become an entrepreneur.

New York City firefighters embodied the idea of ​​initiative, taking it upon themselves to think strategically without wasting time, not letting confusion get the better, and jumping in when faced with an extraordinary situation.

They faced a terrible catastrophe, and each of them made his decision under the pressure of a fight-or-flight response. They did not step aside and just watched but invested in their training to take responsibility for the situation and regain control.

If we take a more focused approach to the situation, we can live more actively and accomplish more in the areas we desire. Regardless of their age, proactive people constantly seek new opportunities in life that will help them learn and grow as individuals. Therefore, we will discuss the advantages of adopting a proactive attitude in life and the differences between being emotional and proactive in this article.

The difference between the proactive and the emotional person

Your proactive or emotional attitude has an impact on a variety of aspects of life. Simply put, the proactive person is in a particular position in life, which gives them the freedom to take the initiative. To take responsibility for one’s life and to change things when they need to be changed, a person may need to be proactive. People who are just starting out don't let external factors influence their decisions; instead, they live by their values and act accordingly. Instead of waiting for things to happen independently, they take action. Additionally, they get themselves ready for the future by making decisions now that will help them later on.

Emotional people, on the other hand, do not initiate certain actions in specific circumstances. Instead of trying to predict what will happen in the future, they let outside factors influence their decisions and simply react to what happens.

They look for external causes to blame when things go wrong rather than taking a stand to address the issue or make improvements because they are emotionally unstable and do not accept responsibility for their lives or the decisions they make.

The initiative person thinks in some ways that set them apart

• Although I could have done this more effectively, I've learned how to do so going forward.
• Nothing could stop me because I acted by my values.
• Excuses have no place in my life.
• I am in control of my success. Although external circumstances have an impact on me, how I respond to them is up to me and always depends on my values.
• I only depend on myself to get the outcomes I want.

The emotional person thinks in some ways that set them apart

• It is not my fault; this circumstance and those surrounding it are what led to my failure.
• I make decisions based on my feelings, and my priorities frequently shift.
• I enjoy coming up with good reasons not to act.
• Because I depend on others and am influenced by those around me, my success depends on fulfilling certain external conditions.
• Because I am dependent on others, I have no sense of my worth.

These distinctions are evident in the business world, where we observe emotional individuals completing the task before waiting to be asked to complete the subsequent one. Proactive people, on the other hand, seek opportunities to advance their careers and enhance their performance.

The same is true for businesses, as they must be proactive to maintain their financial stability. The person who initiates and keeps up with changes that occur in the environment will deserve the promotion more than the person who is expected to be assigned the task to perform it. We all recall, for instance, how commonplace foldable phones were in the early 2000s.

Do you think one of the companies making these phones would still be profitable if it decided it was doing well and didn't need to make any changes in the upcoming years? Of course not; to maintain their lead, businesses must be proactive and constantly present their next product with improved specifications.

As a result, it can be said that being proactive and being emotional differ significantly in that the latter takes action before a situation arises to stop the issue from getting worse. People with emotional tendencies wait for a problem to arise before attempting to fix it.

Emotional people can often see the problem on the horizon and have the opportunity and time to take action to prevent the problem from happening. Still, since the problem hasn't done any harm yet, they ignore it.

Of course, being proactive calls for a lot of effort, consideration, and careful planning. This makes it tempting to put off solving issues until they become more serious. However, fixing problems is much messier than doing the relatively minor amount of work that would have prevented them in the first place.

The smoker is a prime example of this scenario because despite knowing that smoking is extremely harmful to their health, they still choose to indulge in cigarettes despite knowing that doing so could result in serious health issues in the future.                                        

While there is still a chance of a health issue, the smoker doesn't give it a second thought and keeps smoking. However, after a few years, the smoker develops lung cancer despite seeing it coming and knowing that it was preventable. They easily resisted this unhealthy desire because they had not yet faced the consequences.

The same series of events can be observed in the business world. Not long ago, I used to feel like my job was a burden I had to carry all day. I never felt like I had time to take a breather and view the issue more broadly since I was so overburdened with tasks and worries about the next day's implications once I came home. I tried to take on more than I could handle, and every day, when I couldn't solve other people's problems on my own, I interacted with them. I was working so hard that I was exhausted.

This continued until I decided to become proactive by taking responsibility for my time, and with that, I gained a better understanding of my job. I started setting aside 10 minutes each morning to strategize my workday, prioritizing myself and the tasks needed.

I discovered that the problems follow one of two paths: either they exacerbate until they become very complicated, or they are resolved while they are still minor. After using this process, I largely got rid of the minor problems I had, which added to my fatigue. I did this by setting aside 10 minutes each morning to plan my day, and I regained control of my professional life.

So, consider a situation in your life that you don't want to happen and that you can avoid by taking a proactive approach to life. Perhaps there is a small problem on the horizon that has the potential to grow into a larger one in the future, or perhaps the problem is already forming. Still, you choose to do nothing about it and wait for it to happen instead of trying to find a solution.

You can take a proactive or impulsive position in many situations, and this attitude greatly changes the results that appear in your personal and professional life.

6 Tips to help you be more proactive in life

1. Be prepared for issues

Think as much as you can to be able to handle issues before they worsen and become very complex; some tools can help you do this; If you work in a service industry, for instance, you can take the time to review customer satisfaction surveys to address any issues you may have missed and stop them from developing into significant issues.

In other areas of business, you can pause and analyze problems that occurred in the past while doing certain tasks that you do frequently and then modify the actions you take, thus ensuring that problems do not occur in the areas that you fear will occur.

By taking the time to examine your projects, look at projects similar to yours that other people have completed successfully, or look at past mistakes that other people have made; you can also stay aware of potential issues.

Similarly, you can schedule some time every day to go over your to-do list to see if any tasks can be put off and if there are any that you are attempting to avoid, but that will probably cause issues as the deadline draws near.

Avoid leaving things until the last minute as much as you can. This could have been prevented and always results in stress and complicated issues.

2. Try to find solutions to problems

If you encounter a problem that you did not expect, you still

have a chance to be proactive in finding a solution to it. Start by

brainstorming and exploring the problem in terms of when and how it started so you can quickly address the main cause.

You can determine the steps that must be taken in the future to prevent the recurrence of problems or to define a plan that enables you to effectively deal with the problem if you encounter it again in the future by practicing remaining calm while making decisions and adhering to a plan.

3. Create a plan

Planning your day will help you stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked by pointless tasks. This is better than waiting for things to happen before dealing with them.

Make it a routine to write a list of the things you want to concentrate on the following day at the end of each day. Think about what you accomplished that day compared to what you had planned to accomplish, and then prioritize the upcoming tasks by ranking them according to importance.

By doing so, you'll know your priorities at the end of each day when you get home, be able to start working on the most crucial tasks as soon as you wake up, and remember to set deadlines to aid in planning, managing your priorities, and breaking down large projects into manageable tasks and goals.

Your to-do list gives you a thorough understanding of what you must focus on to achieve your major objectives. As a result, there is a lower chance that you will lose focus or miss a deadline. To determine whether you can eventually take on additional tasks, you must be aware of your current commitments.

4. Working efficiently

You can become more proactive by developing the processes you use to complete your work more successfully. Here are a few instances:

• In case someone needs to take over for you while you're away, write instructions outlining the steps you'll take to complete your primary tasks. You can also make flowcharts for crucial processes.
• To be aware of the relevant policies and procedures to react appropriately in an emergency.
• Communicate with your coworkers to collaborate effectively and prevent duplication of effort or wastage of time or resources.
• Stay organized by streamlining processes, developing indexes, using alphabetical order, color-coding, keeping files, or doing anything that makes your work auditable.
• Review the operations you perform at regular intervals to determine what are beneficial operations and what are not.
• Deliver high-quality training to people who work for you.
• Arrange your workspace.

Being productive will enable you to be proactive because it will free up time to concentrate on achieving your objectives. The more time you have to plan ahead, the less time you will have to waste looking for lost files or educating a coworker on how you operate.

5. Follow up and be persistent

Being proactive requires persistence and follow-through, and it requires willpower to pursue long-term goals when you haven't received the expected response or have only recently realized the situation's immediate advantages.

If you're still waiting for a response after trying to set up a meeting, if you have yet to hear back after a positive interview, or if you sent an important email that was ignored, you need to get in touch.

This will not only help you demonstrate how important the current situation is to you, but it will also make the other party look for ways to assist you.

You must not abandon your customers in a difficult situation after they have paid for your product or services; rather, you need to develop a relationship with them through email or social networking sites or by contacting them on the phone. It is also crucial to keep working with the clients or customers you have worked with to maintain a positive relationship and ensure the safety of future business. Following up with clients will demonstrate that you are taking the initiative and won't stop until you are certain they have succeeded.

6. Learn to adapt

Business is constantly changing, and your ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances increases your ability to be proactive. When you face change, make sure to analyze and understand why the change occurred, what are the potential effects of change, and how you must adapt to keep your progress well.

Being particularly proactive requires learning how to inform others of changes and instruct them on how to adjust to the new environment. That is, you have to explain to other people the concept of change, its reasons for happening, and its advantages.

Sometimes, it's necessary to take a step back and consider things more broadly. You can use this time to reassess your company and your strategy and gather the energy you need to proceed. Step back instead of getting into a pointless argument with a family member or coworker if you are trying to resolve an unresolved conflict.

When you consider the big picture, you will likely find a misunderstanding. Since the way you handled the conflict didn't lead to a resolution, you should take other steps to solve the issue or approach it from a different angle. If you can do that, it's likely that you will recognize the error of your ways and make the necessary corrections.

Conclusion

You are less likely to go wrong when you plan ahead, you develop problem-solving skills, and you communicate effectively with your team. When you become more proactive, you will realize how much influence you have in circumstances, and take control of your life. So, apply these six habits to become more proactive in your life, and so that you can reap the life benefits you wish for.