[00:00] Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Sudddhart here aka the focus b. And on this show, I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness, and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic. Welcome to a brand new episode of.

[00:38] The Focus B show. I absolutely love today's topic. It has totally transformed my life. And I don't know, I just think it's absolute magic and transformational and exceptional. So at first you might just think, okay, how is being proactive and be proactive, which is the topic of today's episode, so magical? Well, let's look at the opposite of being proactive. The opposite is being reactive. And this means that everything that happens in your environment affects the way you feel, affects the actions you take, and affects your overall happiness. This means that the weather, people's reactions, your job, how your spouse greets you, all of this will affect you without you feeling that you have a choice. This leads to you feeling victimized. Like you're a victim of circumstances. The circumstances are happening to you, then you blame or you complain. And really it doesn't make you very happy. Let's face it. That feeling of powerlessness, that feeling of all these external things happening and you can't do anything about it. And you feel that one thing after the next is coming onto you and you're totally stuck and overwhelmed. It's a terrible feeling. And many of us have felt this more than once in our lives. And some people feel it all the time. And that doesn't need to be the case. If you're listening to this or watching this and you feel like this regularly or quite often, then this might be the moment where it's time to pivot. The first part involves taking responsibility. This is something that all coaches talk about, every single one of them. And this is because during our coaching training, we are all taught this pretty much as lesson one take responsibility. I guarantee I've done several coaching trainings and in all of them it was a fundamental pillar. And this is because both of the coach but for our clients to empower them, they need to understand that they are responsible or you are responsible. I am responsible for the lives that we're leading. And the more we have this perspective.

[03:08] The easier it is for us to.

[03:09] Change things in our life. Think about it. If we believe that we are a product of external circumstances, then how is it in our power to have a different job or to earn more or to be slim or whatever it is? We'll feel that the outside world is dictating how we lead our lives. And when we feel this way, this leads us to be powerless, helpless, hopeless. So by taking responsibility, it means we have nowhere to hide. We don't have excuses or blaming or circumstances. We choose what we're doing with our time. A great example of being reactive compared to being proactive is when we say that we're busy or we don't have time. Because this is looking at our schedule, at our life as if it was outside of our control. We're thinking we don't have the time. So this implies that the time isn't given to us, therefore we're a victim of lack of time. Really think about this. I know it can sound twisted, but if you really think about it, when you say that you're busy, I'm really too busy to do this. You're saying that things are piling up onto you and that you're not choosing how you're spending your time. A different way of saying it, that would be a proactive way of saying it would be I am choosing to focus on Xyzw and therefore I will not be dedicating time to these other tasks. And that's fine. We can't all be doing everything at any given moment. We need to choose, we need to prioritize, but it's not blaming this lack of time. So this is a great example. So how can you be proactive? Why would you be it? We already explained that this is magical because we take responsibility, but also because then we're more able to see the world in terms of possibilities. Being proactive really just comes down to setting an intention and having self discipline and willpower to follow through with that intention. Example you want to work out every morning. You set the intention, you decide you're going to do it. You commit, you prepare your clothes, you prepare your workout power idea that you're going to put in place. And then when the workout moment comes, you have the self discipline to follow through with it. This is being proactive intention action, intention action. And you need both because if you're not really clear on your intention, then how can you be proactive? Proactive comes from acting on something. It's not just taking any old action, it's taking aligned action. Action that's aligned with your goals, that's aligned with your values, aligned with your principles. So the first step to being proactive is being very clear on your goals, aspirations, vision, which would be a whole other topic. And then being clear, how would you measure that progress, what would be the first steps and then setting the intention and deciding to do it. This is really where it all begins. And once you have this in place, then having that willpower the self discipline. From a self accepting point of view, this is very important, a mindfulness point of view. So not just forcing and pushing and feeling bad about yourself, but feeling good about following through with your goals and aspiration and then taking action. This is also related, for example, to Mel Robbins five second rule. The reason it became so popular is because she is promoting that first habit of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. That's first habit of being proactive. Because what Mel Robbins explains is that when you think about something that's important for you, maybe it's a bit outside of your comfort zone, maybe it's a bit challenging then you give yourself 5 seconds to do it to say that answer to get up and exercise, to go and talk to that person that's intimidating. You just go 54321 and you do it. And this is great because it encourages you to bypass that moment of doubt and fear when it goes to the amygdala and reptilian part of the brain where you get all scared and nervous and you just don't allow yourself to go there. You take action straight away. Of course, the idea isn't to take any thought of action. Like I said, it's aligned action. But if you think on the moment, I'd be great if I could just ask this person out on a date, or ask for my boss for a raise, or ask this person for an interview on their show and you have this thought, but then as you're about to backtrack because you're scared, you fear rejection or failure. 54321 go. The reason I said that being proactive is magical and transformational is because everything I feel that I've achieved in my life or business has fundamentally come from this, from just taking action, just daring to go outside of the comfort zone, for doing The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins, for listening to Stephen Covey about being proactive. And I feel that there's a clear line in my mind, clear division between before I was so proactive and afterwards. And the difference is, before I felt I was just being taken by the current no clear real decision, I was just following the path maybe that my friends were doing, maybe that society encouraged and just drifting. That's how I felt. And the first conscious real decision that I felt I made that was really empowered decision was when I decided to go on my coaching training. This was totally off my drifting. The drift would have been continue my work as an engineer, progress up the ladder. There was no go on a coaching course. So I felt that decision led to me taking on the coaching training, led to me becoming a coach, starting my own business, and led to everything else I changed in my life. And it all stemmed from that one decision, that one action of I want to stop drifting and start to take back control of my life, be empowered and take that decision. I didn't realize at the time that this was so powerful. It's retrospectively. When I look back, I think that was the moment and I can see it. I even remember where I was, what I was doing when I made the decision. Now, imagine if you lived like this every day, if every day you thought, no, today I'm going to focus on this first thing in the morning, or I'm going to take action on this particular project, or I'm going to speak up in this situation, every aligned action, every Being Proactive has consequences. And if you're challenging yourself out of your comfort zone when you're taking these actions, this literally transforms you not only mentally or mindset, but even in your brain. Neurologically speaking, things that used to be scary will feel easy because you have been so proactive on them and you've done them so often that suddenly the resistance won't be there. So neurologically, your behavior will change. Super powerful. Highly recommend reading Being Proactive in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Reading the whole book, it's fantastic. And there's a reason why this is number one, the number one first action. Highly recommend this transformational for me, my clients, so many people in my life. Take responsibility for your life, for your actions, and live in an intentional and aligned way, and you will see it is literally miraculous, transformational, magical, the impact of such decisions. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode on Being Proactive. Please subscribe to my channel. Leave me a comment or review. Let me know how this has helped you and what other actions you have taken that are linked to this. This is a great example. Being Proactive. Writing it down, committing to it, whether it's in a comment or review or just to yourself, by writing it down, you're already taking action.

[12:20] Thank you so much for tuning in today. Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Focus Be show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback. So let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you. And feel free to share this episode with a friend or a family member. Wishing you a wonderful, magical and focused day ahead download.