1. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit #1: Be Proactive

2. Habit #1: Be Proactive
Each day you have many chances to choose whether to be proactive or reactive
Ask yourself this question: Are you in the habit of reacting to things, or are you proactive? The choice is always yours.
Proactive people make choices based on values, they think before they act, they recognize that they can control what they do about life’s situations
We cannot control who will win a sporting final, where we were born, who our parents are, and the cost of tuition next year
We can control how we respond to what happens to us.

3. Habit #1: Be Proactive continued…
Picture 2 circles:
The inner circle is our circle of control, which included things we have control over
Such as ourselves, our attitude, our choices and our responses to whatever happened to us
Surrounding the circle of control is the circle of no control, which included thousands of things we cannot do anything about

4. Habit #1: Be Proactive continued…
What happens when you spend your time and energy worrying about things out of the control circle is that you make yourself crazy and even more out of control, as if you were a victim; however you are not
When someone is rude to you and you have to decide how to handle the situation, step back and press pause and give yourself a moment to remain in control

5. 4 Tools to Remain in Control
Four tools that each of us possesses to help us remain in control of our lives are:
Self Awareness – standing apart from yourself and observing your own thoughts and actions
Conscience – listen to your inner voice telling you right from wrong
Imagination – envision new possibilities
Willpower – you have the power to choose

6. Habit #1 Assignment
Answer the following question on a separate sheet of paper.
Reflect on your day so far and carefully recall the words that you used. How many times did you use reactive language such as, “you make me…”, “I have to …”, Why can’t they…?”, “I can’t…” Which do you use the most and why?
Identify something in your circle of no control that you are always worrying about. Why are you worrying about this? How can you keep yourself from worrying about this?