In modern times of constant change, to maintain a proactive attitude and inclination no longer is just a “nice idea”, it is a definite “must have skill” and an essential tool that each of us SHOULD have in our survival armory… especially to efficiently deal with change (specifically future shock) and accompanied LAB-Factors.

Unfortunately, most people tend to only regard proactive as a synonym for “planning ahead”, which in itself is strongly advisable and an important aspect of “being prepared”. However, we can only plan for what we are aware of at a specific point in time. Using proactive in the context of merely planning ahead - as matter of fact - in essence is only a “reactive attitude aimed at the future”. Because, when we know about it, we can either react or respond to it well in advance. However, the many changes that we are confronted with in a modern-day context, merely allow us to roughly estimateplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAn educated guess and most likely probability. Nothing can be predicted with any certainty. what the future might bring. Therefore, being proactive implies being prepared to deal with problems that we don't know about and using tools, methods, techniques, mechanisms, processes and technologies that don't exist yet.

How do we prepare ourselves to deal with problems that we don't even know will exist in future?

It seems quite difficult and virtually impossible to prepare ourselves successfully for something that requires a certain level of expertise, which no one could accurately determine, nor predict at this point. We would only realize what is expected once the proverbial “papaw hits the fan” and then we must act accordingly, with maybe - if we are lucky - an hour or two to prepare ourselves for the challenge. Quite a difficult conundrum to deal with successfully… thus, preparing oneself for something that nobody can determine with certainty what it could or maybe like and implying that we should be prepared for everything, any possible conceivable situation, possible LAB-Factors or unexpected “curveballs” that life might throw at us in future.

Being proactive isn't just an acquired skill, it is a way of life. On the surface, it may seem that it is impossible to establish and sustain a proactive inclination and a reactive attitude seems to be the more effective way to go when dealing with the future. To a large extent, this is a valid point, providing that we know exactly what the future might hold for us… but, we don't!

Adopting a proactive inclination and lifestyle isn't impossibly difficult and it is something that we can steadily work towards when we pay attention to…

• our strengths and weaknesses as related to possible opportunities and threats (i.e. a reliable and accountable SWOT-analysis).
• establish and sustain a personal 'life-long' and sound self-empowerment and psyche management strategy.
• develop, initiate and sustain a generalist-specialist and independent-team player “survival kit & preparation toolkit” sourcing from our specialist knowledge.
• deliberately and frequently deal with and solve the paralyzing and derailing impact of the little jackal trap… NOW!
• put some time aside to reflect and specifically deal with choice digestion and frequently revisit and tweak our vision, mission, value and legacy statements. Thus, to connect and remain in constant contact with our Future Self.
• constantly approach life in an open-minded manner to steadily expand our existing levels of awareness by deliberately fine-tuning and sharpening our different ways of knowing.
• sharpen and practice our common sense capabilities and self-determination competencies.
• deal with life - and its many up's and down's - using minimum standards as a foundation (i.e. a core, responsible and accountable GPS).
• realize that a proactive inclination is mainly sourcing from and is primarily driven by our values (i.e. our value statement) and NOT by the feelings we are currently experiencing.

In essence, being proactive is the cumulative outcome of the choices we made & decisions we take, and not our current conditions, opportunities and/or present circumstances.

Being proactive is an essential requirement and key element to ensure our survival and support our prosperity in the future. We need to acquire a “feel” for the energy or rhythm of life and sharpen our mental alertness, which will allow us to deal with changes, the unexpected, to counteract the incident-isolation trap, enhance our coping mechanisms and prevent the subtle dangers of future shock, which often culminate as cognitive dissonance and an active Newton's Cradle trap.