Responding Versus Reacting

I’m moving through a meditation series on prioritization. We prioritize in our life all the time. Sometimes it’s less intentional, sometimes it’s incredibly deliberate. I’m looking at you, fellow listmakers!

Setting priorities are good. But what happens when something comes up that you need to address? Do you react or do you respond? The difference is in the timing. Reacting might be stopping what you’re doing to reply to an email or text you just received. Responding would be continuing with the task at hand and addressing the email at a more appropriate time.

When I think of those two scenarios, I know I’m very reactionary about clearing the decks in my work email. I pride myself in being a quick responder. If it’s quick, it doesn’t really hurt to send it quick and move on, right? But waiting might be a better course. Batch checking my email might be an even better course because presumably, I was working on something when I paused to check the incoming emails.

There’s lots of info out there on productivity that argues for limiting multi-tasking. What I’d like to focus on is the reaction versus the response. I feel like a key difference is the energy level. Reacting is usually fast paced, maybe knee-jerk, even chaotic feeling. While responding seems much calmer, on my own time, thought out, and deliberate. I can easily say my best decisions are responses, not reactions. There are untold interpersonal situations where having a chance to respond rather than react has served me well.

Nutritionally, a little bit of meal planning helps me avoid reactions to hunger that might result in overeating or bad food choices. Instead, I can respond by checking the time and my meal plan. And this reminds me of another life lesson I’ve gathered called “Inserting a Pause”. If you can insert a pause before reacting to hunger (or an emotional eating trigger), you give yourself an opportunity to respond. The feeling may or may not subside, but the brief pause allows you to consider your options. Responding versus reacting.

That’s my morning rumination for the day. What do you think? Can you find ways to swap reactions with responses throughout your day?