by Alexander Cain

While many people are fans of the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” many of us struggle to ingrain those principals into our lives. It takes an estimated 21-28 days to transform an action into a habit. For close to a month, one must remain diligent about both his attitude and actions in order to adopt these 7 worthwhile habits. What I hope to provide is a basic overview of each of the habits, as well as a few actions you can do right now and in the future in order to instill these life lessons into one’s everyday life.

Habit #1 Be Proactive

Proactive is often a word we hear being emphasized by people in various management positions.To be proactive is to go beyond the commonplace definition of taking initiative, and to be responsible for one’s own decisions and behavior. Many people take a reactive response where they blame the environment for their misfortune. How many of us have said phrases such as, “ If only my boss wasn’t a jerk, I would be doing better” or “My life is terrible, no one appreciates anything I’m doing.” Rather than taking a reactive response to everything, the book encourages its readers to take responsibility for their behaviors. One’s behavior is based on one’s attitude so in order to change the behavior, one must change their own attitude and not worry about any external factors.

Tips To Being Proactive:

1)   Listen to the language you use during the week.  When you hear yourself using words/phrases such as I can’t or if only, write down two thoughts that are more proactive ideas- I can, I will, I prefer, etc.

2)   If a stressful situation arises, use the MASTER acronym to assess the situation and come up with the appropriate response

Measure the importance of the situation from a scale of 1 to 5

Asses your initial reaction

See how you would normally respond in this situation

Think of a more proactive response

Engage or exit- leave the situation or use the appropriate proactive response

Review your response to ensure you are making the right decision