What is the meaning of “Proactive” ? I never understand its meaning, some says “Taking action in advance. and the other says “To respond instead of react” What exactly does that mean?
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To add to the other explanations here, you might also see it used to mean “to act without being told what to do”, especially in a business context. It might not be completely in line with the standard meaning, but it is used this way quite a lot.
A stich in time saves nine.
If you fix a problem when you first notice it you will save yourself from a bigger problem later.
For me it has a sense of retaining control over the situation rather than allowing the situation to control you. This implies that you have some understanding of circumstances around you.
A classic example would be Preventative, scheduled or proactive Maintenance (say in a factory) where things are checked regularly, worn items replaced before they break and so on.
In your personal life or career, regular exercise might be considered proactive health maintenance ; while reading recent publications relating to your career, or attending conferences keep your career skills and knowledge up to date.
The literal meaning is to take action in advance. However this may be extended to things such as preparing for incidents before they happen. So if you are proactive you will rather respond rather then react. But in that case your proactive moves are to think through the possible scenarios, make decisions about them and prepare so that you can respond to the events instead of having to react to them where you need to make decisions on the fly.
I’ve always understood it as meaning “solving problems before they happen”
Google results are also along those lines
It basically means to act before something happens, rather than waiting for it to happen then acting afterwards.
Proactive also means to actively look for it problems instead of waiting for them to manifest themselves.
For example: check your car’s oil level often to make sure it doesn’t go low instead of waiting for the engine temperature to get too high because the oil is too low.
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