You are respected at work, you always complete assigned tasks and never miss deadlines. But did someone else get the promotion once again? Perhaps it’s because you lack proactivity. What is this quality and is it possible to develop it?
What Is Proactivity
Every employer and recruiter wants to get an initiative, responsible, independent and psychologically stable employee. It is these qualities, plus a focus on achieving success, that best describe what “proactivity” is.
A proactive person is not afraid to take responsibility, is stress-resistant and knows how to separate personal from work. He is proactive and ready to offer new ideas if he sees that they will lead to improved results. At the same time, he defends his opinion in a constructive manner – without aggression or pressure.
Proactive people look for new opportunities and prevent potential problems. They take steps to improve their life or work, even if no one else asks them to.
They plan everything in advance, anticipate possible difficulties and calculate how to manage them. This helps them be prepared for different scenarios and less dependent on chance. Such people are very flexible, know how to adapt to circumstances and often become initiators of change for others.
When choosing which employee to give preference to, many recruiters will choose a proactive person. That is why, under the same conditions and with approximately the same volume of tasks performed, some people climb the career ladder, while others remain in the same position for years.
How to Improve Proactivity: Advice from Experts
To develop proactivity, you need to develop self-awareness, take responsibility for your decisions and choices, and master the skills of delegating authority. You can start developing this strategy of behavior with your family, showing by your own example how a way of responding to circumstances can improve life.
1. Set Clear Goals
When you know where you are going, the path becomes much easier. There is an exercise in coaching called “brain dumping.” Try it!
List your goals from global to small, and then rank them according to the criteria of “importance” and “deadline”. Having done this, you will know where to start, and what may not give you a headache in the near future.
2. Change Your Focus
Stop shifting responsibility for your life to fate, your environment or the world government. Instead, focus on what you can actually do to change the situation for you.
If you want to climb the career ladder, think about what skills you can improve, what training you can take, and what initiatives you can offer to management. Take small but confident steps towards your goal.
3. Don’t Remain Silent on the Sidelines
From the outside, proactive people seem to have a lot of ideas. And indeed it is. But many of them come to the minds of reactive people, they just immediately reject them.
Don’t be afraid to offer your vision of the situation, this is a great chance to express yourself. Initiative is not punishable, but commendable.
4. Take Mistakes As Learning Experiences
Only those who do nothing make no mistakes. Mistakes are an indicator that you acted and did not go with the flow. It is important to learn not to reflect on them for too long, but to perceive them as valuable experience and draw the right conclusions.
Working on yourself will help you avoid mistakes in the future. Collect information about possible options for the development of a situation involving different people, learn to work with information and be attentive to details. Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. The only question is the repeatability of errors and their systematicity.
5. Increase Your Level of Competence
Be interested in the results of the latest research on the topic, get training, and communicate with people who can show you a worthy example through their actions and achievements.
Regularly analyze your successes and failures. This will help you understand what works and what needs to change.
6. Look Up to Those Who Have Succeeded
Many experts write blogs and columns. One example is the insightful articles on NationalCasino that not only delve into gaming strategies but also offer a plethora of professional tips that can be applied in various fields including enhancing career proactivity. Read and adopt their experience, analyze the tasks and their solutions. This will teach you to think in the right direction, anticipate risks and avoid difficulties.
7. Learn to Deal with Stress
The ability to cope with stress will help avoid burnout. Find the way to regain your peace of mind that suits you.
This could be long walks, cycling, strength training, hobbies, spending time with children, or anything else. Do this regularly, and not when the pressure comes, and then temporary hardships will not have any impact on you.
Any situation should not be considered irreversible or final. Nothing ends here and now.
8. Develop Positive Thinking
It creates conditions for healthy mental functioning. Allows you to be stable, purposeful and collected in those moments when others “break down” under the weight of stress and anxiety.
Don’t waste time talking about the injustice of the world. Instead of asking, “Why did this happen to me?” ask yourself, “How could I have avoided this situation and what can I do to prevent it from happening again in the future?” Believing in yourself and having a positive attitude towards life will not allow you to give up and will ultimately bring results.
9. Be Friendly
To build a dizzying career, you need to communicate with different people. And do it kindly and respectfully.
Respect your own and others’ boundaries. Separate work and personal. Learn to accept criticism without tying it to your personality. Make it clear that these are work issues and they have nothing to do with you as a person. They just need to be corrected.”
10. Don’t Overact
In an effort to be proactive, be realistic about your capabilities. An adequate assessment will help you calculate your strength. Use the experience of colleagues in similar issues, refer to the history and practice of other people. This will allow you not to waste energy in vain, but to direct it to solving really important and pressing problems.
11. Take Care of Your Health
Good physical condition is promoted by proper nutrition, a healthy lifestyle and sports. When a person is healthy and has the ability to realize his goals, it makes him more competitive among other people.