How to be Proactive | Brian Tracy

Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about how to be proactive versus Reactive. At the end of the day, being proactive will allow you to go above and beyond exceeding the expectations of those around you. Being proactive will help you grow in your career and guide you to be a leader at work and in your personal life. Being proactive allows you to focus on creating future opportunities for yourself without being prompted and helps you to be more prepared for any situation that arises. If you're not proactive, you are simply reactive. Being reactive means you respond to something that has already happened or has been asked of you. When we act reactively, we are waiting to be told what to do. We are doing what is expected of us. While that's helpful to keeping your job, it also keeps you at the same level of your job. Acting proactively instead of reactively will help you to excel in your career and become a leader in your field. For example, being proactive will allow you to anticipate all possible outcomes and solutions before they arise, helping you become a better problem solver and decision maker. Additionally, being proactive can help you figure out your purpose and feel more driven to achieve your goals. So if your goal is to grow and exceed expectations, it's essential to act proactively. Seek out opportunities that will open the door to improvement and personal development. To get you started, there are five steps to help you be proactive instead of reactive. The first step to be proactive is to always think long term. Reactive people often fail to see the bigger picture and only think short term. While it's important to accomplish short term goals, remember not to get too stressed or consumed and by things that won't help you achieve your big goals. Thinking about your end goal allows you to achieve small goals that lead to milestones without getting stuck on them. So in order to get things done and to be proactive, always keep the big picture in mind. Remember everything you want to accomplish as smart goals which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bounded. Smart. Each of these goals will help you to be a proactive leader. But in order to achieve your goals promptly, you have to know how to manage your time wisely. Which brings me to step number two. Develop good time management skills. Proactive people are able to stay one step ahead because they aren't wasting time solving problems that could have been avoided with proper planning. For example, if you have a presentation on Friday, don't leave it until Friday to prepare for it. What happens if an important project comes up that day and you're stuck trying to find time to do both. Proactive people make it a point to stay organized and efficient and with their time to avoid situations like this. They manage their time by creating lists, getting work done early, cutting out distractions, focusing on one task at a time, and allowing enough time for each task or project. If you manage your time wisely and focus on your most important tasks, you can identify the tasks that are most important to your long term success. This is when it becomes time to apply the third step using the 8020 rule. This rule states that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. A proactive person realizes that focusing on their most important goals will provide the maximum value toward their success. So rather than focusing on or stressing about unimportant tasks, proactive people spend more time thinking and planning about how to execute high value tasks efficiently and effectively. Efficiently is doing them well and effectively is doing them correctly. To understand which tasks are essential, proactive people keep an open ear to others Ideas Leading to My Next Step the fourth step to be proactive versus Reactive is to listen and share ideas with your team. A proactive person makes an effort to engage with their team in order to achieve the best possible results. They think strategically about planning for the future and they listen to ideas from others to create an effective plan of action. Proactive leaders value collaborative work. It allows them to learn about other processes and gain social knowledge that ultimately helps them to improve their leadership qualities. By working well with your team and developing a good plan of action, you will be ready for the next step. My last step to help you become a proactive leader is for you to be prepared for anything to happen. While many problems may arise unexpectedly, a reactive person spends most of their time and energy putting out fires and fixing ongoing problems because they weren't prepared. On the other hand, proactive people always think ahead and can recognize which problems may come up based on knowledge and experience. So when problems do inevitably arise, they can calmly dissect and resolve the issue without wasting too much time stressing about it. The truth is, proactive people are problem solvers and are prepared for anything that may come up at the end of the day. Being proactive will allow you to go above and beyond exceeding the expectations of those around you. With good time management and problem solving skills, you will excel as a leader and be capable of inspiring others around you. If you want to learn how to become the most proactive version of yourself, check out my free Personal Development Platform plan. This guide will help you plan out your goals effectively and measure your success along the way. Now I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is what steps are you taking to be proactive in your day to day life? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about how to be proactive versus Reactive, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.