Tweet

Smart Women Live A Proactive Life

Written by: Joy Chudacoff

Article Overview: This article is about living a life that has a clear plan to take you where you want to go. Rather than “react” to our days, it’s more beneficial to be “proactive” about our days. It leads to a calmer life with goals being achieved. Being “Proactive” allows you to think ahead about your life and your goals week by week, day by day.

Smart Women Live A Proactive Life

Yesterday, as I was on my way to pick up my kids from school, it occurred to me that I was feeling exhausted-I mean really tired. As I made a mental scan of my day, I realized that I had been in a "reactive" mode most of the day rather than a "proactive" mode. We do need to react to situations that occur in our lives as best we can at that moment, however, Smart Women know that living a "proactive" life where you plan, prepare, and practice conscious living is clearly more rewarding.

Living a "reactive" life can be exhausting and frustrating. There are a lot of quick stops and fast starts--most of them unplanned. The best way for me to describe my day was it felt like I was in a ship without a rudder. No direction, just floating out in a big sea of confusion. No real direction, just reacting to each wave. There was no planned course or clear navigation. I was just trying to keep this rudderless boat afloat and get back to shore.

In contrast, when you are living a "proactive" life, your days are on course with clear navigation, doing things that will lead you to your Big Ideas, Dreams, and Goals. Being "proactive" about your life is being conscious and thoughtful about how you spend your days. You are queen of your ship, with a well thought out map on where you're going, what you're going to do, and with whom you will do it.

As I reflected on yesterday, I felt a calling to share it with you. Many women are living a "reactive" life day after day, without a clear plan of action to take them where they want to go. Most of my days are quite "proactive", with a plan in place to keep moving me toward my goals. As I reflect on my day yesterday, if I was living in this "reactive" mode most of the time, I would be a very unhappy, restless, tired and exhausted woman! How can you get more "proactive" and get out of "reactive" mode? Here are a few tips and solutions:

1. Change "Yes" to "No" - Women are nurturers by nature. We like to be helpful and supportive. It's a challenge for us to say "No." The next time someone asks you to do something, I invite you to pause for a moment and ask yourself if this request is one that calls you to action. If someone's in a real bind, that's one thing. But if it's to take on a role that really doesn't serve you or there may be someone else better suited for the role, maybe you should consider a "No" response. In my Women's Success Circles, I share with women that there are actually four answers to a Yes or No question!

2. Plan for Downtime - When you see that you have a busy day, plan for some breaks in-between meetings or events. Even 10 minutes can recharge your battery before moving on to the next big task. Make sure you take time to eat lunch in the middle of the day, take a few moments to breathe, get re-focused, and refreshed for the afternoon.

3. Get some support - Find ways to automate, delegate, or delete more of the "to do" items on your list. This is essential for women who are committed to living a life that is passionate and on-purpose with meaning. You can do it all, but you can't do it all by yourself. It was a tough lesson for me to learn but one that I clearly embrace in my life today. I just brought another person onto my team, as there is no way that I could achieve my "Proactive" life without more help from others.

What I just shared with you is what I left out of my life yesterday. Making too many commitments to others, not giving myself enough downtime in between appointments, and not taking full advantage of the support I have in my life. The above solutions are simple to put into place and they will help you to navigate a clear, well thought out plan for your day and your life. Will there be unavoidable storms on the horizon? You bet. But as I share with the women in my Success Circles; if you can navigate a "proactive" life 85% of the time, you will be sailing into the high seas with plenty of blue sky filled with energy, passion, purpose, and meaning.

"How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives." Annie Dillard

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

*****

Related Articles
  Are Men Smarter Than Women
  Are You A Smart Cookie When It Comes to Overwhelm?
  Smart Women Live into and Find the Flow
  Smart Women Know What They Want
  Smart Women Are Nutritious

Article Tags: confusion, conscious living, dreams, map, proactive, queen, reactive mode, rudder, smart women, strong women



Related Forum Posts
How Quick is That - Just to let you know that as I'm not as sharp as I might be in the ftp sort of world, I had a problem today with uploading a new site. Hostgator 'Live Chat' fixed this for me in two minutes flat and didn't make me feel I was an idiot at all (at least anymore than I felt myself). As I'm in the UK and ringing early am for me here, I thought that 'Live Chat' might have been EST, so off for me, but no, they were there! BTW I'd spelt my nameservers slightly wrong - duh! Now that's what I call service. Regards.
The Second Life Platform - Greetings! I'm not sure how many of you have heard of or are sensitive to Second Life and its related entities. However, Second Life is a fantastic platform to mimmick real life business operations in a real currency based economy. There are plenty of successful stories for creative individuals, but I'd highly suggest doing your research and appreciating Second Life for what it is, and what it isn't.
Re: History of Women in Business in the United States - Yes. Women have increasingly made positive economic contributions to society and their position is being recognized more and more as seen on the Forbes List of Executive Women. In general, women can be a bit more practical in their approach as entrepreneurs too.
A ton of Great Women - You might want to profile Teresa Cascioli of LakePort Brewery. She has an amazing story! I met her at at the celebratory luncheon for the Profit/Chatelaine Top 100 Women Business Owners. The Top 100 list is also a great resource for inspirational stories of Women Entrepreneurs.
Re: The Second Life Platform - [quote="JBunion":fhe23fsu]Greetings! I'm not sure how many of you have heard of or are sensitive to Second Life and its related entities. However, Second Life is a fantastic platform to mimmick real life business operations in a real currency based economy. There are plenty of successful stories for creative individuals, but I'd highly suggest doing your research and appreciating Second Life for what it is, and what it isn't.[/quote:fhe23fsu] Hi JBunion, I've heard about the site. So are you currently a member? And more importantly, have you tried to open a store front in that virtual world?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Civility in the Workplace---Is it Decreasing?

Five Ways to Show Honest Appreciation

Work Life Balance: Adding White Space

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.