It is not Philosophy hope useful in real life.......

[Prasad Chikshe]

Be Proactive

Being proactive means more than taking initiative. It means we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior
is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.“Response-ability” is the ability to choose your
response. Highly proactive people do not blame circumstances,conditions or conditioning for their behavior.
Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of those

conditions, based on feeling.

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 performance. Proactive people carry their own weather with them. They are still influenced

by external stimuli, but their response, conscious or unconscious, is a value-based response or choice.

Taking the Initiative Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious or aggressive, but recognizing your responsibility
to make things happen. People who end up with good jobs are the proactive ones; they are solutions to problems,
not problems themselves. They seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, to be consistent with correct

principles and to get the job done.

Act or Be Acted Upon
If you wait to be acted upon, you will be acted upon. Language, for example, is a real indicator of the degree
to which you see yourself as a proactive person. The language of reactive people absolves them of responsibility.

A serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Examples of reactive

language are: There’s nothing I can do; That’s just
the way I am; I have to do that; and I can’t.
On the other hand, proactive language takes responsibility.

Examples are: Let’s look at our alternatives;

I can choose a different approach; I control my own feelings;

and I will.

Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence

We each have a wide range of concerns — health, children, problems at work, the national debt and nuclear
war.We could separate those from things in which we have no mental or emotional involvement by creating a
“Circle of Concern.”Within our Circle of Concern are some things over which we have no control and some we
can do something about.We could identify those in the latter group as within our Circle of Influence.
Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging

and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase.

Reactive people focus their efforts on the Circle of Concern, which results in blaming, accusing

attitudes and increasing feelings of victimization, causing their Circle of Influence to shrink.

Direct, Indirect and No Control

The problems we face fall in one of three areas:
1. Direct control problems are solved by working on our habits, which are within our Circle of Influence.
These are the “Private Victories” 
2. Indirect control problems are solved by changing our methods of influence. These are the “Public
Victories” 

3. No control problems involve taking responsibility to smile, to genuinely and peacefully accept and learn to

live with these problems, even when we don’t like them.

Proactivity: The 30-Day Test
For 30 days, work only in your Circle of Influence.
Make small commitments and keep them. Be part of the
solution, not part of the problem. When you make a
mistake, admit it, correct it and learn from it — immediately.
Don’t get into a blaming, accusing mode. Work
on things you have control over.