Proactive or Reactive? Here’s the Difference

This is the first in our December series on Being Proactive. Before we talk about actions, habits, or outreach, it’s helpful to revisit a term that’s become so commonplace — maybe even overused — that we’ve lost some of its power.

Stephen R. Covey introduced “proactive” in Habit 1 of his landmark book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He wrote that human beings are responsible for their own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative — and the responsibility — to make things happen.

Covey describes response-ability as our ability to choose our response. Highly proactive people recognize that ability and do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a conscious choice rooted in values, not a reaction rooted in feelings.

And because we are, by nature, proactive, if our lives feel like a product of conditions or conditioning, it’s because — consciously or by default — we’ve allowed those things to take the lead.

As we close out the year and look at what worked, what didn’t, and how we contributed to both, this is a perfect moment to return to this definition.

Action Items for This Week

• Re-read Covey’s definition and look at where you’re choosing values over feelings — and where you’re not.
• Identify one recent outcome you’re proud of and one you’re not — and name the proactive (or reactive) behavior that created each.
• Choose one value-driven action you will take this week, regardless of conditions, circumstances, or feelings.
• Put The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People on your December reading list — or gather a small group to read it with you for both personal and professional reflection.

Understanding what proactive truly means is the foundation for everything we’re going to talk about this month — outreach, pipeline, connection, and the behaviors that create opportunity instead of waiting for it.

Now, go get that book.
oxo
Jody