“React” or “Respond”?
May 25th, 2007 by Allen VoivodI had the pleasure of speaking with Melanie Benson Strick (The Entrepreneur’s Success Coach) yesterday, and she gave me a neat little gift – an alternative to “reacting.”
This has been an issue for me in business. Historically, I’ve just jumped at any work that was thrown my way, regardless of whether it fit into our lives, our goals, or our interests. It was classic “reacting,” and I had a heck of a time in 2006 trying to do something other than reacting.
For some reason, the word “respond” never entered my vocabulary. And that could have made a ton of difference for me. Whereas “reacting” is purely the result of an outside stimulus, “responding” comes from taking that stimulus, and processing it internally against something – goals, plans, strategies, etc. – before you act.
Melanie and I had been talking about a coaching decision Lani and I had made, and Melanie described that decision as a response, not a reaction. Which made me feel fantastic about the progress we’ve made over the last year, Lani and I, in redefining our lives and trying to do something different, more focused and powerful, with our knowledge, passion, and expertise.
If you feel like your own life and business are getting a bit out of control … if you feel like you’re just reacting to whatever comes your way, rather than defining what you want, going for it, and saying “No” to anything that doesn’t fit with what you want … then it’s never a bad time to sit back and lay that foundation.
Life and business have gotten easier for us as we’ve gotten better at defining what we want. We’re not perfect at it – not even close, really – but we’re improving, and seeing the difference in our business this year as a result.
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