Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 1: Be Proactive

A unique ability that sets humans apart from animals is self-awareness and the ability to choose how we respond to any stimulus. While conditioning can have a strong impact on our lives, we are not determined by it. There are three theories of determinism: genetic, psychic, and environmental. Genetic determinism says that our nature is coded into our DNA, and that our personality traits are inherited from our grandparents. Psychic determinism says that our upbringing determines our personal tendencies, and that emotional pain that we felt at a young age is remembered and affects the way we behave today. Environmental determinism states that factors in our present environment are responsible for our situation. These theories of determinism each assume a model in which the stimulus determines the response.
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the death camps of Nazi Germany. While in the death camps, Frankl realized that he alone had the power to determine his response to the horror of the situation. He exercised the only freedom he had in that environment by envisioning himself teaching students after his release. He realized that in the middle of the stimulus-response model, humans have the freedom to choose. Within the freedom to choose are those endowments that make us uniquely human. These are self-awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will.
The first habit of highly effective people is proactivity. Proactivity means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions not our conditions. Proactive people are driven by values that are independent of the weather or how people treat them. They don’t blame conditions or environment. They subordinate feelings to values.
We can choose to be reactive to our environment. For example, if the weather is good, we will be happy. If people treat us well, we will feel well. We also can choose to be proactive and not let our situation determine how we will feel. Reactive behavior can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. By accepting that there is nothing we can do about our situation, we in fact become passive and do nothing.
Frankl suggests that there are three central values in life- experiential or that which happens to us, creative or that which we bring into existence and the highest of three values is attitudinal or our response in difficult situations. Proactive people use their resourcefulness and initiative to find solutions rather than just reporting problems and waiting for other people to solve them.
There are many concerns in our lives, but we do not always have control over them. One can draw a circle that represents areas of concern, and a smaller circle within the first that represents areas of control. Proactive people focus their efforts on the things over which they have influence, and in the process often expand their area of influence. Reactive people often focus their efforts on areas of concern over which they have no control. Their complaining and negative energy tend to shrink their circle of influence.
In our area of concern, we may have direct control, indirect control, or no control at all. We have direct control over problems caused by our own behavior. We can solve these problems by changing our habits. We have indirect control over problems related to other people's behavior. For problems over which we have no control, first we must recognize that we have no control, and then gracefully accept that fact and make the best of the situation.