Habit 1: Be proactive

People are just about as happy as they make up their mind to be.

-         Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President

What does being proactive mean? To be proactive, you just need to stay calm. You take life as it comes, don’t make a huge scene when you don’t get your way, and don’t blow up in someone’s face. When you are proactive you use T.H.I.N.K. before you speak. Think is an acronym for is it True, is it Helpful, is it Inspiring, is it Necessary, and is it Kind?

You can’t control everything, which is why you don’t worry about the things you can’t change but focus on the things that you can change, because each day you have almost 100 chances to be either proactive or reactive. Reactive people make choices based on impulse. They are like a can of soda. If life shakes them up a bit, the pressure builds and they suddenly explode.

The victimitus virus is where people this that the world owes them something. They say things like “I would be starting but the coaches have something against me.” Or “I would have done a better 40-yard dash time, but my shoes came loose.”

Proactive people are different than reactive people; they are responsible, think before they act, bounce back when something bad happens, focus on things they can do something about, and always find a way to make it happen. They are more fun to be around because they do not hold grudges or say they can’t right away.

The fact is we can’t control everything that happens to us. We can’t control where we were born, who are parents are, or how others might treat us. But we can control one thing, how we respond to what happens to us. This is why we need to stop worrying about things we can’t control and start worrying about things we can.