The proactive mindset is the human ability to engage the more evolved circuits of our brain, and perform a sort of due process to improve the quality of the information that we get through the reactive mindset - – our more primitive processing capabilities.

I am not talking about ignoring these more primitive reactions, far from that. I am talking about building up on these primitive reactions. Instead of reacting impulsively, we use the reactive impulse as a starting point for a more sophisticated process that helps us respond more effectively to a given situation.

The proactive mindset I describe can also be seen as mindfulness.Given how some people think of mindfulness as an esoteric practice, it is important to state that what I am describing here is a natural human ability: The ability to function more effectively, by discriminating more clearly what is a manageable threat from what is not, and adopting more appropriate responses.

See more about how to develop a proactive mindset.