Secret to Success: Proactivity

I think what many people are lacking these days is the spirit of proactivity.

Definitions:
Activity - To do something.
Pro - In anticipation of something, without being told or requested, with the knowledge that it would be required or needed in the near future. In this case, it does not mean Professional.

So the problem we have now is a culture of being reactive (I checked and reactivism has a different meaning) or even neglectful.

A reactive person only carries out a task when something else happens (e.g. being asked or something fails or breaks down) which is still better than a neglectful (bo-chap? act blur?) one who just ignores everything that happens, obvious or imperceptible.

But if you are willing to put in a little extra effort, or even just appear to do so, you can easily improve the perception that others have of you. Be proactive.

There are a few levels of proactivity you can exhibit.
  1. Questioning - Occasionally, you can get by with just some simple questions which could start with "why is it ..." or "wouldn't it be better ...". Asking these in itself is a form of proactivity because many often do not bother to ask the obvious for fear that they might sound silly or worse, get assigned to do something extra.
  2. Suggestions - When you ask a question, it might be good if you are prepared with some suggestions on implementation or improvements. If you think they are silly then you can either say "I'm still thinking about it" or even "This might not work but ..." At least it sounds like you're using some of your brain juice into tackling the item.
  3. Getting it done - The ultimate level is if you've already gotten the work done ahead of time, at the risk that you might be wasting your efforts. But either way, in terms of impression-building, I would still consider it an effort well spent. Your narrative could flow like "What do we do it that way. Perhaps we could try this. I've already worked on a prototype."
I'm not saying any of this would get you a promotion or a pay-raise (which have been harder to get these few years) but in terms of perception building and respect amongst your peers and managers, I think you can't really go wrong with that!