So, you want to be more proactive at work and in life? Well, you’re in the right place. In this guide, you will discover 10 tips on how you can make a positive change in your life and make things happen.
Being proactive means you are the one who takes action and makes a change and not the one who sits and waits for things to happen.
Instead of reacting to your circumstances, you are the one who goes and makes things happen. And that’s being proactive.
And being proactive is one of the prerequisites for success.
No matter what kind of success you want to achieve in life, whether it is at work or in your personal life, you need to be proactive.
People who are reactive will wait for things to happen. They are the ones who will sit and do what most people are doing. And as a result, they end up like everybody, living in mediocrity, complaining about their work, and having no goals in life.
On the other hand, proactive people are always on the move. They are constantly making progress, they have goals, they know what they want, and they don’t wait for people to tell them what to do.
If there is something that proactive people want, they go and get it. They are the go-getter.
So, what can you do to become more proactive? Here are the 10 tips…
1. Develop Future Thinking
First, you need to develop future thinking. Meaning, you want to know what kind of life you want to live – from every aspect.
Your thinking will shape your life. What you think about most of the time, you will become. And this is why to be proactive, you want to be constantly thinking about the future you desire.
Your thinking creates the intention…
- If you don’t have the intention to lose weight, you will never get a gym membership and train there.
- If you have no intention to become the best basketball player, you will never practice and join the championship.
- If you don’t have the intention to become a millionaire, you will never read books or attend seminars about making money to live a financially free life.
Do you now see how your thinking will direct your intention and how your intention will shape your life?
Thus, to be proactive, first, you must choose to think that way. Constantly think about the future you want, and you will create an intention to make it happen.
That’s the first step.
2. Set Goals
Next, set goals. Ask yourself honestly, do you have a goal in life? Do you write it down?
Most people don’t have a goal. They have wishes, but not goals. Goals are concrete targets with action steps. They are not thoughts, but the manifestation of thoughts.
If you say your goal is to be happy, to get rich, or to stay healthy, or to live better, those are not goals. Those are wishes.
Goals are different. And proactive people have goals. They understand that for things to happen, they need to start with a goal.
So, set a goal and work on it.
Check out my guide here:
Ultimate Goal Setting Guide: How to Set Goals and Achieve Them
3. Make Plans and Create Schedules
When was the last time you make a plan? And do you schedule your priorities? If you don’t, you are being reactive.
For you to be proactive, you need to have a plan. When you create a plan, you are telling yourself what you want to achieve and what you need to do.
But without a plan, you are just letting things happen and you don’t have control.
Think about a weekend when you have nothing to do. You are free and you have no plan at all. How do you spend the weekend?
Perhaps, you wake up late, you spend most of your morning checking Facebook and watching Netflix or funny videos on YouTube.
That’s what happens when you don’t have a plan.
But imagine what if you have a plan. Say you make a plan to read a book in a local café? Now that you have something to look forward to. When the time comes, you grab the book, head to one of your local cafés, enjoy the book while sipping your favorite mocha.
This is the difference between someone who has a plan and someone who doesn’t.
Your plan will make you proactive.
When you have a plan, you know what you need to do, and you can get it done.
Want to learn how to plan your life and work? Check out these resources:
- 10 Effective Action Plan Templates You Can Use Now
- How to Turn Your Goals into Actionable Plans
- 10 Tips How to Plan Your Day and Live a More Successful Life
4. Prioritize and Do the Important
C.S. Lewis has a great quote, he once said:
“Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose both first and second things.”
If you want to be proactive, you need to prioritize and do the important stuff first.
Most people don’t prioritize. They do whatever that is thrown at them. And this is why most people are not productive and they are living in mediocrity.
It is just like having a meal. You don’t eat the dessert first. You get the starter and then the main course. What happens if you eat the dessert first? Well, you will get full, and you don’t have any more space for the main course.
It is the same with everything you are dealing with in your life.
If you attend the minor stuff first, you will never have the energy, time, and willpower to complete the main task.
There are only so much time and so much energy you have in a day. So, use them wisely. Prioritize your task and do the first thing first. That’s how you become productive. And that’s how a proactive person would do.
If you want to learn more about becoming productive and handling your tasks, read this amazing book, Free to Focus…
5. Focus on Progress
This is one of the most vital keys to becoming more productive. You must focus on making progress, not results.
It doesn’t matter what kind of results you get, you must keep making progress. And that’s crucial to becoming proactive.
I have seen a lot of people start a blog or a YouTube channel to grow their online platforms. But too bad that they focus on the results rather than the progress.
After they published some content on their platforms, but they don’t get the results, they choose to stop doing.
For instance, a lot of people start a YouTube channel, but they only do it for the result, not the progress. All they want is the views and subscribers.
If their videos don’t get enough views and subscribers as they have expected, they quickly lose their motivation and eventually, stop publishing new videos.
Never let that happen to you. Commit to making progress.
Tell yourself no matter what result you are getting, whether you fail or succeed at the target you set, keep doing.
In short, be consistent. Don’t do it for the short-term, but do it for the long term.
The more you do, the better you become. And the more proactive you will be.
Read: 10 Amazing Methods How to Be Consistent in Achieving Your Goals
6. Be Accountable
Next, be accountable. Either you learn how to hold yourself accountable, or you get an accountability partner to keep you accountable.
Being proactive is hard. And sometimes you need other people to remind you and push you to do the work.
The enemy of proactive is procrastination. If you are not doing what you are supposed to do, then you are procrastinating.
And to get rid of procrastination, you need accountability.
Find out the reasons why you procrastinate, and then tackle the problem at its root.
Remember this, procrastination is a symptom, not a cause. If you procrastinate, there is a reason behind it.
Maybe you fear failure. Or maybe you lack the technical skills to complete the task. Or maybe you don’t like what you do.
Whatever the reason, find out why you procrastinate and overcome it. Better yet, take this web class and learn how to overcome procrastination once and for all.
7. Be Solution-Oriented
Yes, if you want to be proactive, you must learn to be solution-oriented, not problem-oriented.
Whenever something went wrong, focus on the solution, not the problem. This is easier said than done, but you must learn how to look at things objectively and solve the problem rather than escalate it.
When you take action and make progress, there will be mistakes and unexpected things will happen. But you have to understand that mistakes, failures, and unexpected things are normal. They are a part of the success equation.
So, instead of blaming and making lousy excuses, start to look at why things fail. Learn from your mistakes, not run away from them.
When you become solution-oriented, you become less prone to fear of failure. Once you acknowledge that mistakes and failures are a part of the journey, you are more willing to take action and make progress. And that makes you proactive.
Check out these guides:
- 10 Great Ways How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure
- 3 Fundamental Principles How to Turn Failure Into Success
- Why Failure is Good and Necessary to be Successful in Life
8. Align Your Actions with Your Purpose
The reason people become proactive – they act instead of reacting – is due to their purpose. When you have a strong and emotional purpose to support you, you will be the one to act rather than wait for things to come to you.
Why do you think extraordinary people like Thomas Edison were able to invent the lightbulb, even at that time, there was no such thing as a lightbulb?
Because of his purpose.
Edison has a strong purpose to invent and as a result, he became proactive and made it possible. Imagine what would happen if Edison was not a proactive person, the world will still be in darkness.
Proactive people are dream chasers. They pursue their passion, and they take massive actions to achieve their goals.
Why? Because they are motivated and inspired by a strong sense of purpose.
Hence, ask yourself, why do you want to achieve your goals? Why are your goals or the things that you want important to you?
If you can’t find a good reason, that’s probably why you lack the motivation to act. And that’s why you are not proactive.
Read this guide now: Why You Have No Motivation and What Should You Do
9. Stop Talking and Start Doing
Yes, the fastest way to become proactive is to stop talking and start doing. That’s right. Just do it.
You don’t have to overthink and don’t let procrastination get in your way. If there is something that you want to achieve or accomplish, you just need to act, right away.
Take action right now. Do something. Anything.
It doesn’t matter if what you do is not working, just keep trying and you will figure out a way somehow.
The universe doesn’t reward dreamers, it rewards action takers. You can have the grandest dream, but if you don’t execute, it will only remain a dream.
Thus, just do it. Take action right now.
If you are someone who always procrastinates and puts things off or finds it hard to keep yourself motivated to do the work, attend web class from John Assaraf, and get rid of procrastination forever.
10. Review and Evaluate
Finally, if you want to be proactive, you must review and evaluate your results and progress frequently.
You cannot be proactive if you are taking one step forward and three steps back. The key to doing a review and evaluating your results is to make sure you are being effective and in the right direction.
Proactive people understand it is important to stay on the right course as much as possible. You don’t want your hard work to go wasted. And this is why it is important o review your work and evaluate your progress.
Yes, it is important to take massive and consistent action, but at the same time, you must also make sure the action you take – the work you poured in – is worth your effort.
If you are serious about creating success and making a real change in your life, I suggest you attend this webinar to discover the techniques to let go of your limiting beliefs, fears, or self-esteem issue that hold you back. Go here to discover how to change your brain to change your income.
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