Be Proactive, Not Reactive

There has been a few complications getting our things moved up from Dunedin. I've mentioned a few times that I'm living out of a suitcase at the moment, despite being in my new home already. Everything should have arrived after New Year's but actually, they won't get here for another 2 weeks. This means we've been living in our home, without our things, for 3 months. It's been a bit frustrating to say the least.

I've been reading Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; I'm only a few chapters in, but already I'm seeing a huge change in the way I think. The lesson that has stuck with me the most so far is be proactive, not reactive.

Reactive people are at the mercy of their conditions. If things are bad, they feel bad. If things are good, they feel good. 

Proactive people on the other hand recognise that their conditions don't control them - they can choose how to respond. 

I was getting very stressed trying to sort out what was happening with our moving company. I couldn't get hold of them and I had no idea what was going on. It would have been easy for me to completely lose it, but then I remembered what I'd been reading. Losing it wouldn't help me get our things back. Getting stressed wouldn't help me figure out what was happening.

So instead I focused on my Circle of Influence. Rather than becoming upset about all the unknowns, and the what ifs, and the I don't knows, I started thinking about what I could actually do to help this situation. I started thinking proactively.

Having that moment of calm and clarity helped me immensely. Because of it, I remembered that our original moving company had worked with another company on our job. 

I tracked down the other company, emailed them all our details, and they located our things. It turns out there had been a mix up with orders, and our things had been sitting in storage in Dunedin for the past few months. They then booked us a truck which should arrive in the next few weeks. That was a huge relief!

I can't imagine how much longer our things would have sat in storage if I hadn't tracked down the other company. If I had been reactive instead of proactive, it might have been ages before we got our things back.

Being proactive in that moment allowed me to think outside the box - and it made me realised that my Circle of Influence is much bigger than I give myself credit for!

I'm loving this book, and I have a feeling this won't be the last reflection I post about it.

Have you read Stephen Covey's Seven Habits? What did you think of it?