Proactivity: Definition, Examples, & Skills

By Charlie Huntington, M.A., Ph. D. Candidate
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
Proactivity is looking for things you can improve in your environment without anybody asking you to do it. This article provides examples of proactivity and tips for being more proactive.
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I have a strange tendency to think of the world as more fixed, unchanging, and unchangeable than it really is. I have bumped into the same piece of furniture many times over before it occurred to me that I could move it, and I have left scheduling conflicts unresolved because I often forget that I can ask people to change things on my behalf. This tendency causes me some stress, as you might imagine.​
I imagine I’m not alone in this. We can all get stuck in a place of inaction, forgetting our own capacity to step out into the world and change it. Especially, we can lose sight of our ability to get out ahead of issues or even to troubleshoot ahead of time in areas where no issues have yet arisen.

But sometimes, inspiration strikes and I take decisive action, all on my own, to fix something that I know will become a problem. In these moments of proactivity, I feel great – powerful, purposeful, and self-confident. What brings us these moments of proactivity? How do we become proactive? Let’s explore proactivity together and see what the science has to say.

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What Is Proactivity? (A Definition)

Proactivity is defined as the act of intentionally looking for ways to change one’s environment, rather than waiting to be forced to act (Bateman & Crant, 1993). Being proactive means seeing one’s environment as something that can change, and seeing oneself as a person who can change that environment. And importantly, proactivity is something that comes from within us, from an internal source of motivation or inspiration.

Opposite of Proactivity (Antonyms)

The opposite of proactivity can be thought of as procrastination or reactivity (see below). When we are being proactive, we are consciously looking for things to change, and we are aware of the changes that are possible. In this sense, procrastination is very much the opposite of proactivity, because a person who is procrastinating also knows what needs to be done and is not taking action. But a reactive person may not even be aware of what can be changed, and in this sense, reactivity might be a more complete opposite of proactivity.

Benefits of Proactivity

The clearest benefit of being proactive is that proactive people experience more success in their professional and personal lives (Fuller & Marler, 2009). This may be because proactivity leads to getting one’s needs met. The satisfaction that comes with this not only makes us feel better about ourselves, but also increases our interest in continuing to be proactive. In other words, over time a person can become more automatically proactive through building a positive feedback loop between proactive behaviors and positive emotions and thoughts about oneself (Strauss & Parker, 2014).

Perhaps it is no wonder, then, that people who are proactive show higher levels of healthy independence, feel more vital and confident, and see themselves as competent and able to determine their own fates (Cangiano & Parker, 2015). It is likely that these personality traits and proactivity positively reinforce each other, too.

Examples of Proactivity

What does a proactive person do? Imagine you have a very useful uncle who loves to work with his hands – a do-it-yourself type of guy. Whenever he comes over to your house for a holiday meal, he might engage in a number of proactive behaviors (Thomas et al., 2010): He might ask you how your house is doing, ask to take a walk around the property, give a visual inspection to each room he enters, and then offer to address both what he sees needs fixing and what might eventually need fixing.
 
If your uncle is a proactive person, he’s doing all of this because he is naturally driven to help others and improve the world around him. You’ve probably made it clear to him, several times over, that you don’t expect him to take care of your house – his place at the holiday dinner table is not contingent on his efforts to take care of your house. Each time, he has probably smiled and said something like, “I just like making sure everything is in order.”

Another proactivity example
​Another example of proactivity comes from the finding that proactive people engage more than other people do in what is called organizational citizenship behavior (Bergeron et al., 2014). What does that term mean? It means proactive people see themselves as involved citizens with a responsibility to keep things organized and running smoothly. So it should come as no surprise that people who are more proactive spend more time volunteering and engaged in other extracurricular activities, start more businesses, and offer more suggestions than people who are less proactive (Thomas et al., 2010).
 
For proactive people, all of this comes in addition to taking on more tasks at work and working longer hours (Bergeron et al., 2014). This can be a source of frustration for the more proactive among us. After all, they see what needs to get done and go out of their way to do it, while everybody else seems content to wait until the need becomes more urgent or somebody tells them to do it.

What Leads To Proactivity?

As we saw above, proactive behaviors lead to more proactivity because they generally get positive, desired results. But certain personality traits seem to be associated with being more proactive, too. For example, people who are more proactive are generally more extroverted, more open to experience, more conscientious, and less neurotic (Fuller & Marler, 2009; Wanberg & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2000). People who take an active interest in learning and see themselves as capable in their career also tend to be more proactive (Fuller & Marler, 2009).

It also appears that people who actively seek feedback about their own behavior, and who seek to build connections with others, are more proactive (Wanberg & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2000). Seeing as these tend to be proactive behaviors in and of themselves, this makes a lot of sense.

Proactivity at Work

People who are more proactive at work put more effort into both the tasks that were directly assigned to them and into aspects of their job that are not strictly their responsibility (Fuller & Marler, 2009). For example, proactivity at work can look both like sending reminders to colleagues about upcoming meetings and suggesting additional meetings that don’t exist yet but could be helpful.

Proactivity has been studied a lot in the context of work, perhaps because being proactive is more strongly associated with high job performance ratings from supervisors than are any of the traditional personality traits (Fuller & Marler, 2009). Not only that, but people who are naturally proactive achieve better outcomes for themselves as individuals, for the teams they work on, and for the organizations that employ them (Thomas et al., 2010). They help new employees adapt to the organization, are creative problem-solvers, and suffuse the work environment with a positive energy.

Proactivity vs Reactivity

Since we’ve just discussed what a proactive employee does, what does a reactive employee look like? What does it mean to be reactive instead of proactive? Reactivity means responding to things changing in the environment around you. Instead of taking the impetus to change the environment, a reactive person waits until they are forced to act on their environment.
​
Here’s an example from my own life. I often pair up with a housemate to cook dinner for everyone in my house. We schedule the night at least several days in advance. If I’m being purely reactive to my responsibility to cook dinner, I show up in the kitchen that day at 5pm with no plan for what we’re going to cook. I have simply waited until the situation demanded action of me, and now I’ve shown up.

By contrast, proactive me has done all of the following at some point in the days leading up to the meal: reviewed what’s in our pantry and fridge; discussed the meal ahead of time with that housemate; gone shopping for key ingredients; and done early meal prep, such as soaking beans in water overnight.

Tips on Proactivity

By now, you might be saying, okay, I get it, proactivity is good. So how do I become more proactive?
​
One way is to find and use tools of planning ahead (Presbitero, 2015). This is particularly effective for career success, as people who plan for their careers are more likely to take proactive steps toward their career goals (Presbitero, 2015). Some examples of planning ahead in a career context can include researching career trajectories online, seeking out informational interviews with people in your field, and using goal-setting apps or planners to build a vision for yourself.

More generally, you might be able to increase your proactivity by changing your mindset about the different environments you inhabit. For example, we can make a deliberate effort to see ourselves as leaders in our homes, schools, and workplaces (do Nascimento et al., 2018). We can ask ourselves, “How would somebody who is responsible for everything here look at this room? This project proposal? What would they say?” It can be helpful in this context to articulate what your own values are, too, because these can also be a lens for seeing the world that motivates proactive behaviors (do Nascimento et al., 2018).

Finally, you can walk through the world with a loving and critical eye. What do I mean by this? Look around the room you’re sitting in. If you were somebody who wanted the very best for this room, what would you change? Would you clean the windowsills or buy new screens? Redo the paint in the corner? Add a piece of artwork to an empty stretch of wall?
 
If this sounds like a lot of effort, I get it – it is more effort. But it will sustain itself and you: people who are proactive are more connected to their reasons for working and caring, and that motivates them to keep helping others (Lebel & Patil, 2018).
 
For more tips on proactivity, I recommend watching the following video:

Video: How to be Proactive

Quotes on Proactivity

  • “Proactive people carry their own weather with them.” – Stephen Covey
  • “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” – Barack Obama
  • “Be a creator of circumstances rather than just a creature of circumstances. Be proactive rather than reactive.” – Brian Tracy
  • “If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want to become in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape your journey by default. Your silence makes you reactive vs. proactive.” – Shannon L. Alder
  • “People who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary to get the job done.” – Stephen Covey
  • “I believe that everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” – John C. Maxwell
  • “Recast your current problems into proactive goals.” – Suze Orman
  • “Folks who never do any more than they get paid for, never get paid for any more than they do.” – Elbert Hubbard

Articles Related to Proactivity​

Want to learn more? Here are some related articles that might be helpful.

Books Related to Proactivity​

To keep learning, here are some books to explore:​​

Final Thoughts on Proactivity

If you are reading this article, you probably aspire to be more proactive, just like I do. I encourage you to start in a place where you are already passionate. Whether you want more intimacy in your romantic relationship, more cohesion in your team at work, or more time to spend on a beloved hobby, you can ask yourself: what things are in my power to change? What might be in my power to change that I’ve been ignoring or denying? Where do I stand to make the most change? You and the people around you will all be grateful for the effort you proactively put in to improve the world.

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