Between a stimulus and our action is a period of time. Sometimes that time period is very small and an unthinking “reaction.” Other times it can be long and is a thoughtful “response.” A reaction lacks conscious intention while a response is more conscious and thoughtful.
For example, if a bee stings your arm, the pain causes you to swat at it impulsively. That is a reaction as you were acting without thinking. By comparison, if someone cuts you off while driving, you can either react by blowing your horn or you can be more deliberate in your response by choosing not to react. Your reaction to immediately honk was once a conscious response, but over time the process became habitual, becoming a reaction.
Our brains were designed to take conscious responses and turn them into unconscious reactions to make our decisions fast and save valuable brain power. When you first learned to drive, you had watched the speedometer and consciously adjusting the gas peddle to control your speed as well as think about steering to stay in your lane. However, it soon became second nature and driving became an unconscious reaction to stimulus. While learning to react may be good in many situations, reactions can often produce bad results in business.
Recognizing when we react and instead choosing to make a deliberate effort to be less reactionary and applying more conscious thought to the situation will often allow you to see a better response. For example, a race car has all the same controls as our passenger cars. Rather than drive them in the same way we do, Nascar drivers took a conscious and deliberate look at the process. Instead of using their right foot to control both the gas and break and they are left for the clutch, Nascar drivers use their right foot on the gas and their left foot on the brake or clutch to achieve much faster lap times. We all have the choice to either react or respond to an event.
When it comes to business, how can you break your habitual, unconscious reactions and replace them with more deliberate and thoughtful responses?
