Motivational Monday: Proactive or Reactive? Which is best mindset for success?

Proactive vs Reactive Mindsets. One will propel forward, one will make you slide backwards. One will lead you to accomplishing your goals, the other will leave you too busy to even think about your goals. One will leave you excited about the next thing on your agenda, the other will leave you completely overwhelmed. 

Sadly I am going to admit this past week or two (or four) I have been in a "Reactive mindset" and I hated the feeling yet I couldn't seem to find my way out. It was like being in quick sand with my head above looking around at the word blooming in beauty yet I was stuck in the muck. *sigh* Talk about being in the wrong frame of mind. I spent too much time focused on what was going on around me, mostly noticing the negative, and couldn't seem to snap out of it. While it was going on, I wanted desperate to get back to my positive mindset, the thing that kept me from being locked in despair yet I had no idea how to get it back. I had no idea what set it off ~ except one thing. A thief came and stole my joy, my passion, my drive, my motivation, that thing that sets me apart from the norm. That thief was an ugly critter named comparison. 

See, I share the many parts of my life for the simple motive of inspiring and encouraging others to love the life they live right now even if it is not perfect, and even when it is. I share here on the blog, on Facebook, and even on YouTube ~ not to become this "famous" person, but to be real and to show that real lives matter too! I am transparent. Sometimes I have a dirty kitchen ~ other times it is clean enough to eat off the floors. I am a real person, with a real life. And like you, I can easily find myself comparing my life with those who ONLY show the good parts ~ the cleaned up parts. The not so perfectly perfect but made to look that way parts. And when I realize I have been duped, I get mad. Angry. And sadly, reactive. 

HOWEVER, this weekend I partially unplugged and simply said NO to everything (good or bad) and relaxed ALL weekend! By the time I was making dinner yesterday, I had the kitchen back in shape, bar &  living room areas cleaned, and laundry caught up. Immediately when I woke up I remembered the things I wanted to get a jump on and began working towards them. Not taking time to see what everyone else was doing first ~ no, I tackled my own life first. 

When you are in a Reactive Mindset ~ you will spend all of your energy and time reacting to situations, circumstances, conversations, even dumb social media garbage. You are unable to create, motivate, or even move in a way that allows you to be the best version of you.

When you are in a Proactive Mindset, you are able to move forward thinking ahead, preparing for what's to come, all while keeping things in your current view stable and organized. Your time is managed better, your finances are managed better, and you can easily see the VAST picture in front of you instead of just seeing the moment your stuck in exacerbating the negative.Indeed with a Proactive Mindset you are automatically in a positive frame of mind looking for the good in every situation, and other people. It's easy to collaborate with like minded souls, and you do not feel isolated as if you are in a Reactive Mindset fighting to get out.

I will tell you though, that sometimes being in a reactive mindset will lead you to make decisions you thought you never had the guts to. Decisions to make goals you thought you never could achieve. It is in the pit of that reactive mindset that you decide to quit the job, leave the marriage, untie bondages to people that you have been wanting to let of for so long but never found the guts. So, by all means a reactive mindset is not all that bad, and to be honest can be the BEST thing that has happened to you in a long time. Just don't stay there. You will be drug down deeper than you have ever been before, perhaps to a pit so deep you can't get out.

The good news? It can be a choice if you know where you indeed are. Let this be the BEST week of your year, by being in that Proactive Mindset! A new month is upon us ~ perhaps it's time to make some new goals. If you are in a Reactive mindset figure out why, tackle it, and move towards that Proactive mindset by indeed taking action. Say the "I'm sorry", Apply for the job, pack up your house and move. It is truly up to you and how you spend your time.