The Benefits of Being Reactive Instead of Proactive

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 | Author: Zeke Camusio

Mark Twain famously said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Psychologists call worry the “What If Disease” because people who suffer it are always wondering “What If…?”

“What if my flight gets cancelled?” “What if I get laid off?” “What if this sale doesn’t close?”

One day, in my meditations, I realized that there’s a lot of benefit in being reactive instead of proactive. What I mean is that you should do whatever you can to get the best possible outcome and then stop worrying about the problem. If it happens, you’ll do something about it. If it doesn’t, you saved a lot of precious time. Some examples:

Your flight might get cancelled. Accept this fact. All you can do is to show up on time for the flight. Thinking about all the things you’ll need to do if it gets cancelled is a waste of time. You could be using that time and energy doing something productive instead of worrying. IF the flight gets cancelled, THEN you’ll deal with the problem.
You might get laid off. Accept it. Work your butt off and show your company you’re a key resource. That’s all you can do. If they lay you off, find a new job. What good does it do you to worry for months?
The sale might not close. Accept it. Make other sales.

Why Being Reactive Is a Good Idea
Let’s say you worry about 100 things a week that could go wrong. Only 5 of them actually happen, which means that you wasted time worrying about 95 things that never happened. They’re not real. If you had been reactive you would’ve dealt only with the 5 things that went wrong, which would’ve saved you a lot of time and peace of mind.

Another important point: most people have a really hard time trusting others to do things right. If you’re a parent, let your kids make mistakes; that’s how they learn. If you have people in charge at work, let them figure things out on their own. Letting bad things happen at home and work is a good idea. Both your kids and employees will surprise you by solving difficult problems if you let them. And if they screw up, you can offer to help. But, if you never let them screw up, all your time will be spent babysitting them instead of empowering them and letting them grow.

When It’s a Good Idea to Be Proactive
Letting bad things happen and dealing with them after they happen is normally a good idea because of all the time, energy and peace of mind you save. However, there are cases where you need to be proactive. I’m talking about things that can’t be fixed. Examples:

You need to baby-proof your home because you can’t just replace your baby if something goes wrong.
You can’t go sky diving without an emergency parachute.

The Takeaway
Most things you worry about won’t ever happen. Do your best at everything you do. Some bad things will happen and most of them will have very easy fixes. Fixing 5 things takes a lot less time than worry about 95.

Author: Zeke Camusio

Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur, marketing speaker, author of The Internet Marketing Bible and CEO of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet marketing agency based out of Portland, Oregon.