Reactive vs. Proactive

I sat at Panera and did some work this morning for the first time this year. My schedule has been so frenetic in January with submitting papers for our national conference, 2 grant proposals, and a continuation request for a current project that today was the first time I took the time to stop at Panera, have breakfast, and catch-up on some things.

While sitting there I realized that due to the busyness of this month, most of my actions have been reactive rather than proactive. Well, actually they have been a combination of both, but more reactive than I like.

How much of our lives do we spend merely reacting to what is happening to us, rather than being proactive about our lives? How would our lives be different if we spent more time being proactive, rather than reactive?

I think beginning tomorrow I'll try to start being more proactive with my life, starting with my schedule. I will attempt to cluster meetings, to avoid interruptions in my productivity during the day. I think I'll also be more diligent about keeping my time for writing sacred and not allowing last minute meetings, interruptions, etc. to impinge upon it. I imagine not checking email as frequently would help with this too : ).

What strategies do you use to be more proactive in your life?