Proactivity vs. Reactivity: Taking Control of Your Life

Wow, it is now 3 days since I have been off blogging due to how my week has been pretty occupied. It had been occupied since last weekend, and somehow I have let the situation of things affect my ability to manage time to create a post for my blog.

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This brings me to what I want to discuss today, which is "proactivity.". In my previous blog here, you would know that I have been reading the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and this blog is to share my understanding of what I have read on the first habit.

In life, there are two types of people: the "proactive" people and the "reactive" people.

Proactive people are people whose decisions are not affected by external forces or conditions, such as the environment. They believe that the situation of things and the condition of the environment should not control or affect their decisions.

For example, someone who plans to enter a particular field and before doing so, hears that people are failing in that field or that there is a massive layoff in jobs relating to that field Someone who is proactive would not be discouraged but would believe in their ability to attain what they want.

A reactive person is someone whose decisions are influenced by the environment. From the example I gave when discussing about proactiveness, a reactive person would most likely key into the energy of the environment and choose to change his decision.

One factor that distinguishes proactive people from reactive people is their ability to take initiative. A proactive person does not wait for people or a circumstance to motivate them into doing what is needed to be done, but a reactive person is dependent on someone or something to get it done. A reactive person would not take initiative when the environment is not motivating and may end up blaming others for their success instead of themselves.

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Locus of Control

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While I was reading this in the book, the term "Locus of Control" came to mind, although I didn't read this in the book. I was able to relate proactivity and reactivity to locus of control.

So what does locus of control mean?

Locus of control is how someone perceives the causes of events in their lives and it is subdivided to internal locus of control and external locus of control.

Internal locus of control means when you believe your success is based on your efforts and decisions and have nothing to do with fate. You are less likely to be influenced by other people's decisions.

External locus of control, you believe your success is based on fate and destiny. You tend to blame outside forces for your situations and believe luck has a role in success.

Looking at the locus of control, someone who is proactive has a very high internal locus of control, while someone who is reactive would go for the external locus of control.

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Where do I place myself?

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I seriously do not know. At some point, I know I can be a reactive person, just like in the case of three days ago when I was not able to write, and other times, I can be proactive by choosing to take initiative and do the things I believe should be done without waiting for help from anybody.

Presently, I am working on my proactiveness, and I will do my best to keep understanding what it takes to be one so that I can fully take charge of my life.

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𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁

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_{Starstrings01, also known as Giftedhands, attends the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta to study mechatronics engineering. He is a lover of the hive, a guitarist from Nigeria, and a student.}

_{His ambition on Hive is to be more than just an ordinary blogger; he wants to be someone with a purpose. That's why he started the newbies initiative @newbies-hive to help guide and support newbies. Please follow the @newbies-hive curation trail by clicking here.}

_{He tries to juggle education with being active on the chain, but his love and passion for Hive keep him on track..}

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