Proactivity: Stop Waiting, Start Leading
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
- Milton Berle
Too many leaders are reactors. They sit back, watch things unfold, and then scramble to respond once it’s already too late. They wait for someone else to move, for conditions to be perfect, for permission to be granted. That isn’t leadership. That’s survival.
The leaders who stand out—the ones who rise in business, in sports, and in life—don’t wait for a sign. They move first. They take initiative when others hesitate. They see change coming and prepare before it hits. They build solutions instead of excuses. Proactivity is the difference between being carried by the current and steering the ship.
In Management: Anticipation Wins, Excuses Kill
I’ve seen organizations built on reaction. They wait for a market downturn before they innovate. They wait for competitors to pass them before they pivot. They wait until customers have left before asking why. By then, it’s too late. Leaders like that spend their careers playing catch-up, and catch-up never wins.
Contrast that with leaders who anticipate. During my coaching career, the best coordinators built systems that identified problems in real-time. When issues surfaced, leaders didn’t say, “Let’s wait and see.” Instead, they had already put their plan into work, knowing how the opponent might react to their plan of attack for that week. And because they acted early, they gained ground while everyone else planned to make adjustments at halftime.
Proactive managers don’t need fires to get moving. They build firebreaks. They prepare their people for what’s next before it arrives. And most importantly, they take ownership. They don’t point at outside factors or blame the economy. They ask, “What can we do? What can we control?” That mindset builds resilience in the culture.
Remember
Excuses are free. Ownership costs something. That’s why it’s rare.
If you’re only acting once problems explode, you’re not leading—you’re reacting.
Anticipation separates the managers who survive from the leaders who build.
In Coaching: I Want To Know the Answer Before I Hear the Question
Sports punish hesitation. That’s why, when I build an offseason program, every risk–reward scenario has already been played out. My staff runs through the workouts a full cycle before the athletes ever touch them. I want to find the problems before the problems find us. I can’t afford to lose three players in a drill just to learn something should’ve been changed. The game rewards those who anticipate.
That takes work. You must know your program. You must know your coaches. You must know the ground you’ll be working on—and most of all, you must know your athletes. I want my program to look simple, but feel relentless to get through. Fundamentals create proactivity. Load your athletes through the process, and you remove many injury risks. Great teaching puts coaches on the right path, which in turn puts athletes on theirs.
When I’ve controlled every detail I can before the first athlete steps on the field, I’ve guaranteed one thing: they’ll walk off better than when they arrived.
Remember
Championships aren’t won reacting on Saturdays. They’re won by preparing every day of the week.
Proactive coaches need to understand their program and their players.
We can’t waste a day. Time is precious. Preparation is the key.
In Personal Life: Don’t Wait Until It’s Broken
At home, passivity is just as dangerous. Too many people wait until their marriage is in crisis to work on it. They wait until their health fails to take notice of it. They wait until their kids are grown to realize they should have been present. Waiting is easy. Regret is expensive.
Proactivity in personal life means you stop ignoring the warning signs. You stop brushing off the hard conversations. You stop blaming outside circumstances for what you know you’ve neglected. It means making the call now, not later. It means investing in your health before the doctor scares you into it. It means building trust with your family daily, not trying to repair it after years of silence.
I’ve met people who had incredible professional resumes but hollow personal lives. They were reactors. They told themselves they’d “get to it later.” But later never came. Proactive living means you don’t just drift—you decide. You build before you’re forced.
Remember
Most regrets come from what people delayed, not what they did.
If you wait until something is broken, you’ve already lost precious time.
Families, like teams, thrive when leadership acts early.
The Work: Training Proactivity
Proactivity isn’t personality—it’s practice. It’s the daily discipline of refusing to drift.
1) Scan Ahead.
Every morning, ask: “What could derail me today?” Don’t wait for it—prepare for it.
2) Own One Move.
Pick one area of your life that needs action and make a move before someone asks you to. Send the email. Start the project. Have the talk.
3) Eliminate Excuse Language.
Strike “They didn’t…” or “I couldn’t because…” from your vocabulary. Replace it with, “Here’s what I did.”
4) Seek Feedback First.
Don’t wait to fail before you ask for perspective. Find a trusted voice and invite input now.
5) Build Systems, Not Wishes.
Proactivity means putting habits in place that trigger action without waiting for motivation. Motivation fades. Systems stay.
Why It Wins Everywhere
Reactive leaders survive. Proactive leaders build. That’s the difference. Waiting makes you a victim of circumstance. Acting makes you an author of outcomes.
In business, proactive leaders see opportunities before the market shifts. In sports, proactive teams are conditioned and prepared before the whistle blows. In life, proactive families thrive because they don’t wait until love runs thin to show it.
The leaders who rise aren’t the ones with the best excuses. They’re the ones who move first, who act when others hesitate, who lead before they’re forced to. That’s what people remember. That’s what people follow.
