.

• Proactive: Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened.  Oxford Dictionary
• Proactive: Acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes. Merriam Webster
• Proactive: Serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, especially a negative or difficult one; anticipatory.  com
• It is far better to be proactive than reactive. Che Garman
• Law of Control: An individual will have high levels of self-esteem and will feel positive about themselves, to the exact degree they feel in control of their destiny, decisions and life. Peter Jordaan
• A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction. Rita Mae Brown
• Rather than waiting for the world to give them what they want, people can become more proactive in making things happen for themselves. Edward L. Deci
• Opportunity,  Initiative,  Preparation,  Be the author of your own life story

.

.

Be proactive in scripting your own life

• What you make of your life is up to you. Every person creates his or her own reality. Authorship of your life is one of your absolute rights, yet so often people deny that they have the ability to script the life they desire. Stephen Covey
• My life didn’t please me, so I created my life. Coco Chanel
• If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday, you have the opportunity to write a new page. Mark Houlahan
• Life is a book and you are its author. You determine its plot and pace and you—only you—turn its pages. Beth Mende Conny
• As you begin to pay attention to your own stories and what they say about you, you will enter into the exciting process of becoming, as you should be, the author of your own life, the creator of your own possibilities. Mandy Aftel

.

Be proactive in creating your own success

• A man carries his success or his failure with him… he does not depend on outside conditions. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Not in time, place or circumstances, but in the man lies success. Charles B. Rouss
• We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance. Benjamin Disraeli
• Success

.

Be proactive in taking responsibility for your own life

• Being proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. Stephen Covey
• Look at the word responsibility—’response-ability’—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling. Stephen Covey
• Proactive people recognise that they are “response-able.” They don’t blame circumstances, or conditioning for their behaviour.  They know they choose their behaviour.  Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their physical environment.  If the weather is good, they feel good.  If it isn’t, it effects their attitude and performance.  Stephen Covey
• It is time to stop looking outside yourself for the answers to why you haven’t created the life and results you want, for it is you who creates the quality of the life you lead and the results you produce. You–no one else! To achieve major success in life–to achieve those things that are most important to you–you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do. Jack Canfield
• Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. Les Brown
• The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react. George Bernard Shaw
• Responsibility

.

Be proactive in sculpting your own future

• A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance. Benjamin Disraeli
• Every man is the architect of his own future. Proverb
• From tonight onwards, take complete control of your life. Decide, once and for all, to be the master of your fate. Run your own race. Discover your calling and you will start to experience the ecstasy of an inspired life. Robin Sharma
• He who trusts all things to chance, makes a lottery of his life. Proverb
• Control your destiny or somebody else will. Jack Welsh
• I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley
• I was taught very clearly that I would have to depend entirely upon myself; that my future lay in my own hands. Darius Ogden Mills
• I’m the creator of my life. As creator, I decide what I want to create, I plan how I’m going to create it, and I take the necessary steps to create it. Marelisa Fabrega
• The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create. Leonard I. Sweet
• If you do not design the future, someone or something else will design it for you. Edward de Bono
• Most of us do not ‘sculpt’ our lives. We accept what comes our way, then we gripe about it. Susan Jeffers
• So few people have taken the time to design their own lives. If you don’t know where you are going, then how will you know when you get there? And how can you hit a target you can’t even see?  Robin Sharma
• The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Alan Kay
• The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity. Victor Hugo
• You can achieve anything you want in life if you have the courage to dream it, the intelligence to make a realistic plan, and the will to see that plan through to the end. Sydney A. Friedman
• To be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer. George Bernard Shaw
• We fail to see that we can control our own destiny; make ourselves do whatever is possible; make ourselves become whatever we long to be.  Orison Swett Marden
• You are in charge. You have the ability to master your destiny. Michael J. Mccarthy
• Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. Kahlil Gibran
• You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes – you can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  Dr Seuss
• Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future. You will never be the same. Robin S. Sharma
• The future is up for grabs. It belongs to any and all who will take the risk and accept the responsibility of consciously creating the future they want. Robert Anton Wilson
• To begin with the end in mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen. Stephen Covey
• The future

.

Use the language of a proactive person

• Between stimulus and response, you have the freedom to choose. This is your greatest power. One of the most important things you choose is what you say. Your language is a good indicator of how you see yourself. A proactive person uses proactive language—I can, I will, I prefer, etc. A reactive person uses reactive language—I can’t, I must, if only. Stephen Covey

.

Be proactive in preparing for the future and preventing problems

• It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. Howard Ruff
• Dig the well before you are thirsty. Chinese Proverb
• The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
• It is well known that “problem avoidance” is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place. Edward de Bono
• Intellectuals solve problems….geniuses prevent them. Albert Einstein
• Be the lighthouse…. not the rescue boat. Lauren Zimmerman
• A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. Albert Einstein
• Problem solving

.

Be proactive by making and sticking to commitments

• The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, is the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity. Stephen Covey
• Commitment

.

.

Be proactive in taking initiative and making things happen

• Long ago I learned nothing gets done by just wishing it. You have to do it. Louis L’Amour
• Make the iron hot by striking it. Oliver Cromwell
• Don’t wait for your ship to come in and feel angry and cheated when it doesn’t. Get going with something small. Irene Kassorla
• I like things to happen; and if they don’t happen, I like to make them happen. Winston Churchill
• It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. Elinor Smith
• People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them. George Bernard Shaw
• Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. Stephen Covey
• You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream; you’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself. Diana Ross
• If you’re proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own. Stephen Covey
• Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways. Edward de Bono
• Either you let your life slip away by not doing the things you want to do, or you get up and do them. Roger von Oech
• Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it. Cathy Hopkins
• You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.  Jack London
• If you don’t act on life, life will act on you. Robin Sharma
• I’ve always been in the right place and time. Of course, I steered myself there. Bob Hope
• Nothing ever happens in your life unless you create the space for it to happen in. James McCay
• Some people want it to happen, some people wish it could happen, others make it happen. Michael Jordan
• Why not just take charge and create the experience you are looking for? Eric Allenbaugh
• Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.  Clint Eastwood
• Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen but give us the determination to make the right things happen. Horace Mann

.

.

Be proactive in preparing yourself for when opportunity knocks…

• The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Benjamin Disraeli
• All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen. Sidney Lumet
• Be ready when opportunity comes. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.  Roy D. Chapin Jr.
• I will prepare and someday my chance will come. Abraham Lincoln
• It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared. Whitney M. Young, Jr.
• It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready. Theodore Roosevelt
• Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability…. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation. Thomas A. Edison
• You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation. Roger Maris
• Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it’s too late. Rita Coolidge
• Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor. Jackson Brown Jr.
• One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it. Henry Moore
• Opportunity

.

… or even better, creating your own opportunities

• If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd. Edward de Bono
• Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and it looks like work. Thomas Edison
• I create opportunities; I don’t wait for opportunities to find me. Marelisa Fabrega
• To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities. Bruce Lee
• If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. Milton Berle
• If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it. Jonathan Winters
• One of the great myths of business is that opportunity knocks. Opportunity does not knock on your door, you have to bang on the door yourself and keep knocking until you get in. Richard Branson
• If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. Milton Berle

.

.

Be proactive in making conscious choices

• Live by choice, not by chance.
• If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself. Robert F. Bennett
• The first choice we make each and every day is, “Will we act upon life, or will we merely be acted upon?” Stephen Covey
• You are in control of your life. Don’t ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made. Barbara Hall
• To decide, to be at the level of choice, is be in control of your life. Abbie M. Dale
• You cannot manage your life if you do not manage yourself. You cannot manage yourself if you do not manage your choices. Manage your choices, and you will manage your life. Shad Helmstetter
• To direct your life, you must exert control over the consistent daily decisions that you make. Tony Robbins
• Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters. Michael Josephson
• Choice

.

.

Realise that you can control some things in life, but other things you cannot

• Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquillity and outer effectiveness become possible. Epictetus
• Realise what you cannot control

.

Be proactive in taking control of the things you can…

• Instead of focusing on that circumstances that you cannot change – focus strongly and powerfully on the circumstances that you can. Joy Page
• I shall focus on those things which are within my control, and act within my sphere of influence. Marelisa Fabrega
• There are some things over which we have no real control and others that we can do something about. Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about: health, children, problems at work. Reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern, things over which they have little or no control: the national debt, terrorism, the weather. Stephen Covey
• When you experience a negative circumstance or event, do not dwell on it. Be proactive — put your attention on what you need to do to bring the situation to a positive result. Rodolfo Costa

.

… but let go of the things you cannot

• There are two kinds of worries — those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter. Duke Ellington
• Let loose what you can’t control. Serenity will be yours.
• If you can fix the thing that worries you, then fix it, otherwise don’t waste precious time or energy on it. Colleen Grant
• Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. Coco Chanel
• Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Serenity Prayer

.

The result will be greater energy to control what you can and a richer life

• When we stop fighting the inevitable, we release energy which allows us to create a richer life. Elsie MacCormick
• There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. Epictetus
• Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t. Steve Maraboli
• The more concerned we become over the things we can’t control, the less we will do with the things we can control. John Wooden
• How would your life be different if you stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change. Steve Maraboli

.

What you do always have control over is your response to what happens

• We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them. Epictetus
• While we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose our responses. Stephen Covey
• The art of life isn’t controlling what happens, which is impossible; it’s using what happens. Gloria Steinem
• Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness. Stephen Covey
• When you have the constant focus of going within and then acting, your life will unfold in magical ways. Elizabeth Joy
• Master your responses to external events–don’t attempt to control them. Caroline Myss
• Realise you can choose how to respond to events

.

Basing this response on your values is the very essence of being proactive

• The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Stephen Covey
• Proactive people recognise they are responsible for their choices and have the freedom to choose based on principles and values rather than moods or conditions. Stephen Covey
• You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values. Stephen Covey
• Mastering proactive responses will take time and practice. You may not always succeed, but just remembering that you have a choice will make a great deal of difference. Stephen Covey

.

When a challenge arises that could cause a negative, knee- jerk response, focus immediately on your inner body and become present

• So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental- emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level.  Eckhart Tolle

.

• I’m killing time while I wait for life to shower me with meaning and happiness. Bill Watterson
• When the opportunity finally knocked on his front door, he was out in the back yard looking for four- leaved clovers.

.

.