Proactive vs Reactive living- How to manage your life

park seesaw

How do you manage your life? It's an abstract question that can be interpreted and answered in several ways. Here, we focus on empowering individuals through structure and simplicity. In this post, we will answer this question in a simple and hopefully helpful way. We will consider what we call reactive and proactive living.

So, what is reactive living? The simplest answer is living without a plan. The decisions we make and actions we take are motivated by our reactions to events, individuals, and our environment. When we live reactively, our thoughts and actions are determined almost entirely by our reactions to our environment.

Reactive living is an essential type of living. We all live some aspect of our lives reactively. At its extreme, it is best described as the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) mentality. Trends, society, and our environment determine our thoughts and actions.

Living effectively reactively requires flexibility and receptiveness to change. It is very difficult to do without an open and adaptable mindset. A good connection with the external environment and knowledge of the views and opinions of others is also essential. One obvious issue with living reactively is the damaging impact of negative and toxic environments on our mental health. A way to deal with this problem is to live more proactively.

Proactive living is best understood as living with a plan. Unlike reactive living, which places the onus for determining our motivations on our external environment, proactive living places the onus on our personal life plan. Proactive living requires discipline because despite challenges and difficulties we may experience in our external environment, our motivation should remain largely unaffected.

Motivation in this case is mostly determined by the rules, values, and principles we set for ourselves in our life plan. Although discipline is a sought-after virtue, like any virtue, if exercised to its extremes, it can become a vice. The danger is that the discipline necessary for effective proactive living may lead to a single-minded and incongruent mindset that lacks the flexibility to change.

Change is a fact of life. During our lives, we change, and our environment consistently changes. If we do not possess the ability to adjust to the changes we face, we may find ourselves in a number of undesirable situations. Here are a couple of examples:

We change, and our values change, but we are unable to accept the change. This means we end up living an incongruent life. We will have a disconnect between who we are and who we think we are. This means we are unable to understand our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Ultimately, this means we cannot provide the self-care necessary to live successful lives.

We change and accept the change, but we do not review and adjust our values or beliefs. This leaves us restricted by the rules we set ourselves. We live according to outdated rules and beliefs that no longer reflect who we are, effectively living in a prison of our own making.

It should be clear that living dogmatically following either of the two approaches isn't ideal. The goal should be to find the optimum balance between the two approaches to living. To do this, effective reflection on the way we live is necessary.

Start by acknowledging the way you live your life and deciding if you're happy with the balance. Based on your level of proactive or reactive living, decide how you need to alter your life. Once you've accepted your current way of life and decided how to adjust the balance between reactive and proactive living, you can begin implementing the necessary changes. Implementing the appropriate actions to elicit the intended changes can be challenging. Here are a few things to consider:

• Make sure the chosen actions are realistic and relevant

• Get feedback from others after implementing the change

• Regularly reassess the balance to ensure you're happy

• Ask for help if needed

If you need guidance on how to assess your balance or implement rebalancing actions get in touch. You can book a free 15 min chat with a trainer or send us an email at info@senschen.com.

Book now