"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to be start to be great."
-Zig Zagler
Being proactive means you no
longer chalk up past failures of lack of achievement to your family background
or personal circumstances. Being proactive means that you no longer cry over spilt milk and complaint about the hand this world has dealt you.You must exercise your
proactivity muscles to develop the mindset of a true champion. You must see
yourself as a little god on this earth, one who has all the qualities required
for great success and a burning desire to achieve it. If you have such dreams, you will indeed find
a way to achieve them. Gandhi, Ford, Lincoln, Bell, Kennedy and Salk all did
and so can you.
All highly successful people
are proactive. They view setbacks and failures as lessons and see mistakes as
wonderful opportunities to grow. They have come to understand that pain is a
teacher and there are no negative events in life, only outcomes which you can
choose to view in a positive light if you wish. Study any rose and its stem.
Some will see it as a rosebush with a few little thorns along the way. Others
might see it as a thornbush with a little rose at the end. The object to study
is the same, what is different is your interpretation. Once you develop the
essential habit of thinking effectively, a new reality will unfold. When you
begin to realize that you hold in your mind infinite power to shape your destiny,
wonderful things start to happen. More than likely, you are only using 25% of
your mind incredible potential, at best. What about the rest? Are you really
willing to waste the billions of brain cells that you have been given and the
marvel we call the human body on a life of mediocrity? In the twinkling of an
eye, this very second you can transform your life. Make the decision and the
commitment to be the very best you can be. Being the proactive means
you shape the circumstances and they do not shape you. You have the choice of
interpreting any event that has happened in the past or that will unfold in the
future according to your wishes. For example, if someone is particularly
insulting to you, you have a choice as to how you interpret the event. The
average person becomes angry and repeatedly asks himself why someone would do
this-pushing himself into a negative, fully unproductive state. The person who
has developed proactivity appreciates that he has the power to interpret the
event in a manner to empower him. As Eleanor Roosevelt said: “no one can hurt
you without your consent.” Gandhi put it another way:”they cannot take our
self-respect if we do not give it to them.” The key is the interpretation of
the action and to choose to see the event as one that will help you grow.
Being proactive means that
you can live a blissful existence, seeing the good in all events unfolding on
the beautiful canopy of life. There is no such thing as an unpleasant
experience. Every experience has the potential to improve an element of your
character or to present a challenge to you which may lift you to a higher level
spiritually, physically, mentally and professionally. True winners see problems
as great opportunities. Where other fail, they thrive. See blue sky above every
rain storm-it is there. Proactivity is the first
step to personal mastery. It is really nothing more than self-control. And
self-control, like all essential mastery qualities, can be developed through
patient and consistent perseverance and regular conditioning. Once you make the
choice to run these muscles on a daily basis, you will take control of your
life and awaken the true potential that now slumbers deep within you.
