Education

'Proactivity' defined

In the last few weeks we looked at the Proactive Behaviour and Proactive and Reactive language too, and it is important for us to look at how we define Proactivity in our effectiveness process.
In discovering the basic principle of the nature of man, Dr. Covey describes an accurate self-map from which he began to develop the first and most basic habit of a highly effective person in any environment, the habit of proactivity. While the word proactivity is now fairly common in management literature, it is a word you won't find in most dictionaries. It means more than merely taking the initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behaviour 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.

Look at the word responsibility - ''response-ability - the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility and do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviour. Their behaviour is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feelings. Because we are, by nature, proactive, if our lives are functions of conditioning and conditions, it is because we have, by conscious decision or by default, chosen to empower those things to control us.

In making such a choice, we become reactive. Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them and whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

Reactive people are also affected by their social environment, by the 'social weather'. When people treat them well, they feel well; when people don't, they become defensive or protective. Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behaviour of others, empowering the weaknesses of other people to control them.

The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, conditions, and their environment. Proactive people are driven by values - carefully thought about, selected and internalized values. Proactive people are still influenced by external stimuli, whether physical, social, or psychological. But their response to the stimuli, conscious or unconscious, is a value-based choice or response.

As Eleanor Roosevelt observed, ''No one can hurt you without your consent.'' In the words of Gandhi, "They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.''

As Dr. Covey says "it's not what people do to us that hurts us but our chosen response to what people do to us that hurts us".

I admit this is very hard to accept emotionally, especially if we have had years and years of explaining our misery in the name of circumstance or someone else's behaviour. But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.'' that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.'' This is something we all have to seriously think about. In essence Proactivity is nothing but the opposite of being reactive in any circumstance.

 
Top to the page  |  E-mail  |  views[1]
 
Other Education Articles
>
Building childrens’ background knowledge and thinking skills
>
Come join us to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Sivali Central College
>
Boeing-Swinburne venture puts wind beneath industry wings
>
Higher Education opportunities at APIIT
>
IT'S DECiSION TIME......MAKE IT OR BREAK IT......
>
Complete your British Design Degree right here in Sri Lanka
>
IIHE TAKES ON A BRAND NEW LOOK AND ADDS MORE CONVENIENCE TO STUDENTS
>
Students from Kandy who are interested in studying overseas can visit 3WGE Kandy Branch
>
PCJT is the secret to reach the unseen high salaried IT job market
>
D.S. Senanayake College Colombo - 07
>
A promising head start in Psychology at HELP's Faculty of Behavioural Sciences
>
IIHE adding value to your future success with validated Tertiary Education and Academic Excellence
>
Millennium concepts: The right connection
>
Mentoring students with Real life Business Edge knowledge - ACBT:
>
Get a global qualification at TAFE NSW's CISCO Academy in Western Sydney
>
ICBT Campus holds impressive Graduation Ceremony
>
World Recognized Project Management Diploma at PMS
>
Free seminar on Graphic Designing
>
CMA embodies sound Management Accounting techniques … To manage business in a recession
>
'Proactivity' defined
>
CIMA launches Certificate in Islamic Finance Programme in Maldives
>
Prospects and opportunities in Nursing
>
ICASL the ideal foundation for your child's professional career after A/Ls
>
Swinburne University of Technology: Melbourne, Australia is the place to be
>
A parent's guide to Child Discipline
>
Special programmes of study at Gateway for students awaiting AL results
>
One UK city, Two Top Universities
>
Australia to crackdown on sub standard visa-driven courses offered by bogus education operators
>
ADA The Ghost from the Grand Banks
>
Chasing after happiness
>
The Best Selling Novel - By Sir Arthur C. Clarke
>
It's going to be a battle of wits at TMC WISDOM 2009 Quiz
>
Aspirations Education offers promising pathways to reputed British University Degree programmes
>
Academy of Multimedia Design and Technology, Truly Creative!
>
Three ways to help your kid become good with numbers
>
Four ways to keep what you study in your head

 

 
Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page.
© Copyright 2009 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.| Site best viewed in IE ver 6.0 @ 1024 x 768 resolution