Habit 1: Be Proactive - Who makes things happen?

With the new year and new administration, I see a lot of people who assume that the new president will make a lot of changes happen. Question is, what are the underlying assumptions? That others are responsible for making things "better" than they currently are? What about our own actions? Why can't we do something ourselves instead of waiting on the perpetually slow government?

I started this blog because I was sick of hearing how this candidate or that candidate was going to be the answer to our troubles. It sounded like nobody wanted to take things into their own hands. Why not let many ideas be trotted out, and see what happens? Some solutions will make more sense for one area than another, so why limit ourselves to a one-size-fits-all package pushed on us by someone who can't possibly know the specifics of our local zone?

Studying proactivity in general fit with my tendencies toward libertarian ideals, and I had to consider what being proactive means as far as responsible liberty is concerned. If we are happiest by actively creating our destiny and making our own choices, then what about doing things bit-by-bit on a local level? I feel that assuming that voting for a candidate will make a difference seems a little too distant to make sure anything happens. It's actually out in the Circle of Concern, that which we cannot control or influence.

I worry about the state of homeschooling - how it gets treated legally, what the public knows about it, and what could be done to make things better. Yes, I can support national organizations and pay attention to legal proceedings, but what about helping on a local level? There are homeschool groups I could give time and money to, and I could directly help some families. I can - and I suspect I will - write about my own experiences with homeschooling and what I know about how people can make it happen. Getting that information out, and making sure that it's as polished as possible, is a proactive action, and withing my Circle of Influence - that which I can directly or indirectly work on.

If there's something we're passionate about, then why not look for something locally based to do to make a difference? Help one or two local families, and perhaps let the information get out if you know writers. Making the environment better? Volunteer for local clean-up efforts, and organize extra ones. If creating work experience for college students is important to you, organizing volunteer efforts that generate work/study opportunities may open all kinds of doors for students. It may also help get improvement projects done sooner, if you can get people to help with the work.

Being proactive means taking action to transform problems into opportunities to exercise creative muscle. If every citizen took some small action locally on a particular problem (say, education), what kind of effect would it have on the state or even national situation? Things happen faster and at lower cost than if the changes are directed from the top - from the government levels. All I'm suggesting is that we look outside of the box to make change possible, and make this year better than any year before. Waiting on our elected officials has been the M.O. of this country for decades, and we're all concerned about government messing our lives. How about a paradigm change?

Also, why let others - especially ones we're not comfortable with - dictate our feelings or actions? That's giving them power over us. It's not empowering. Instead, we're encouraged to be dependent on a "parent figure" who doesn't encourage us to become independent. It's a bigger, stronger state of mind and living. It does take courage to take on the responsibility of running our own lives, and not everyone can do it to the same extent. But I hate being made to pay for the mistakes of others - especially when they are the only ones hurt by their own actions.

Where is the fairness in that? How much is wasted by that situation? Think of a few situations, and make some estimates. And think of things that you could do to change that. If nothing else, you exercise your imagination. That's always worth an effort.