פתחו לי פתח כחודה של מחט ואני אפתח לכם כפתחו של אולם
Yesterday we explained that one of the keys of Yosef’s success was his self-esteem. Yosef, despite having lived very traumatic experiences, always maintained a healthy dose of self-worth, which at the end helped Yosef to appear before Pharaoh and change his life. Self-esteem should not be confused with vanity and arrogance. In fact, as we shall see later on, Yosef was extremely humble. When he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Yosef could have attributed it to his own wisdom, his superpowers, etc. However, Yosef repeated again and again that it was HaShem who reveled the interpretation, not him.
There is another very important element that helped Yosef to succeed: his proactivity.
When Pharaoh tells Joseph his dream, Yosef immediately explains that cows represent Egypt and wheat represent food. Pharaoh’s dream announces that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine.
Now, once Yosef explained the dreams to Pharaoh, his mission was over. Yosef was called solely fro that. However, after Yosef explained to Pharaoh his dream, he went on, almost without pausing to breath, and out of his own initiative he presented Pharaoh with an ambitious action plan to save Egypt’s economy (Gen. 41:33-35) “And now Pharaoh should find an intelligent and experienced man, and put him in charge of Egypt. And Pharaoh should assign officials to take 20% of the crops of the years of plenty. And gather a grain supply for the years of hungry.”
Yosef was proactive.
There are two kinds of people: reactive and proactive individuals. Reactive people do nothing until something happens. They act by reaction. And when nothing happens, they stand still, passive waiting for something to happen. If Yosef had been reactive, after finishing the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams he should have gone. Most probably, he would have been taken back to the dungeon. But Yosef did not wait for an opportunity. Yosef created it. Being proactive means to actively take control of a situation and decide what to do, anticipating events. A reactive person is a “victim” of what happens to him and her. While a proactive person feels he is empower to change what happens, to make things happen.
Yosef did not wait for Pharaoh to ask him, “And in your opinion, young man, what should we do about this prophetic dream?” . Yosef knew that if he did not bring his proposal, Pharaoh would not have asked for his opinion. Yosef created the opportunity. And he was right.
Sometimes business is tough, for example, because customers do not come to buy. “Reactive” businessmen would continue waiting for customers, and would be ready to declare bankruptcy because no one comes to buy. “Proactive” businessmen, on the other hand, when there are no customers they would go and look for them. And if they do not find customers, as the book “Who Moved My Cheese” explains, they might change their line of business. Proactive people will never be passively waiting for opportunities to arise. The would be looking for opportunities. Or try to create them. Proactive people would develop new ideas and try new things. They are never idle. This applies to virtually all areas, our professional life, our family relationships, and even in the area of Shiddukhim (finding a spouse).
Also in spiritual matters it is expected of us to be proactive. For example, regarding Teshuba, when we seek to restore our relationship with God, we cannot be passive. Our Hakhamim told us that HaShem expects us to take the initiative. We should take a first step, even a small step. “If you open up for Me a small little door, even as small as the eye of a needle, I’ll open a huge gate for You.”
Do not wait for the gates of glory and success to be opened for you. Go and open every good door you can. Even if, at the beginning, these doors look insignificant. That is a Jewish definition of proactivity
