WINNING ATTITUDE; THE POWER OF BEING PROACTIVE

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Henry David Thoreau wrote ‘I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor’

It takes the conscious endeavor of an individual to achieve success amidst harsh economic situation, poor family background, poor governmental policies and bad leadership.

Productivity in any field requires being proactive. Proactivity, according to dictionary.com means ‘Serving to prepare for, intervene in or control an unexpected occurrence or situation especially a negative or difficult one’. Simply put, it means taking active steps in turning a bad, negative situation to a positive and favourable one. Always remember that your mind is your greatest asset and your most important resources. If you lose it, you’ve lost it.

In the previous article, we talked about the power of the mind; I am sure we learnt a few ways on how to develop our minds to achieve results. The mind is the most powerful weapon that can be used to overcome even spirit forces. Now continuing this series, we shall talk about another very important aspect of the attitude that winners carry with them where ever they go. That’s the attitude of being proactive. Every leader that ever made a difference in the world, name them; Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr., Nelson Mandela, Sir Winston Church Hill, Margaret Archer and even Jesus; they were all proactive when it comes to leading people and becoming relevant in their sphere of contact. We can go on mentioning world leaders who stood up for something in the midst of steep opposition and adversity, how about those employees in their work places who nobody takes note of, yet they contribute immensely to the success of the organization.

‘We are not our feelings. We are not our moods. We are not even our thoughts….’ Stephen R. Covey. The fact that we see ourselves in a certain way doesn’t mean that’s how we are; it just means we have been conditioned to think that way. Stephen R. Covey calls it conditions and conditioning and he has grouped them into three different categories;

•         Genetic determinism; Your grandparents did it to you
•         Physic determinism; Your parents did it to you while nurturing you
•   Environmental determinism; Your boss, spouse, team member, government policies and regulations, economic situation, classmates etc or someone or something in your environment did it to you.

A majority of us have based our success and happiness on these social mirrors

In the previous article, I talked about building you mind’s capacity through constant learning and meditation exercises. To be proactive means to be in charge of your mind. ‘The first and best victory is to conquer self’ Plato. To conquer self means to be in total control of your mind. To achieve personal victory, you need self awareness just like Viktor Frankl. Stephen Covey had this write about Frankl

 ‘Frankl was a psychiatrist and a Jew. He was imprisoned in the death camps of Nazi Germany, where he experienced things that were so repugnant to our sense of decency that we shudder to even repeat them. His parents, his brother and his wife died in the camps or were sent to the gas ovens. Except for his sister, his entire family perished. Frankl himself suffered torture and innumerable indignities, never knowing from one moment to the next if his path would lead to the ovens or he would be among the “SAVED” who would remove the bodies or shovel out the ashes  of those so fated.

One day, naked and alone in a small room, he began to become aware of what he later called “The last of the human freedoms”. The freedom his Nazi captors could not take away. They could control his entire environment, they could do what they wanted to his body, but Viktor Frankl was a self aware being who could look as an observer at his very involvement. His basic identity was intact. He could decide within himself how all of this was going to affect him. Between what happened to him or the stimulus and his response to it, was his freedom or power to choose that response. In the midst of his experiences, Frankl would project himself into a different circumstances, such as lecturing to his students after his release from the death camps. He would describe himself in the classroom, in his mind’s eye and give the lessons he was learning during his torture’.

The strength of proactivity lies in you knowing that No one can hurt you without your consent. Having a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses are key elements that help you achieve ‘Self Awareness’

PROACTIVE LANGUAGE

The Language of proactive people is absolutely fixed on positivity. Failure in a certain task or project is usually a lesson for them to improve and get better at what they do. Failure isn’t an option for them although they may face certain setbacks and limitations in their quest to achieve their objectives.

Reactive people go towards the negative and blame everyone else but themselves about the negative circumstances and outcomes of their lives; their lifestyle, emotional/psychological state and everything else that goes wrong. They are often times ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ and always very defensive; so you get to hear statements and comments such as;

•          ‘Its not my fault and there is nothing I can do about it’
•          ‘That’s just the way I am and I can’t change it’.
•      'This is how everyone else is doing it. It can't be done differently'

Reactive people lack the creative power to generate the positive energy that can help them come out of a bad situation.

Just like Viktor Fankl, between the stimulus and your response is a very strong and powerful determining element ‘CHOICE’. You cannot control some of the negative circumstances around you such as the family into which you were born, the environment where you were raised, the standard of education you receive. But you have the power to choose your response to these negative circumstances.

The quality of our life is dependent on the choices we make daily; the choice of food, outfits, where we go, the circle of friends we keep, the type of movies we watch, the type of relationships e keep etc. No wonder the bible says ‘Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the of life’.