Those who Act Win; Those who React Lose
I just dropped my 4-year old son off at Montessori School and said to him, “Son, you’re going to have a great day.” Then, on my way home, I turned on the radio and before I knew it I was listening to the news. It talked about murders, traffic, and every negative thing in between. That’s when I realized I was breaking one of my most important rules; never listen or watch the news first thing in the morning.
Act vs. React
Morgan Wootten, one of the top high school basketball coaches ever, gave me perhaps the most important advice I ever heard about life. He said, “Those who act win, those who react lose.” He was talking about basketball but it applies just as effectively to life. In basketball, if you let your opponent dictate what you do, you will lose. If you force them to react to you, you will win. In life, if you let all your outside circumstances dictate what you should do, where you should go, and how you should feel, you will lose. However, if you take an inside-out approach and discover what you want to do, where you want to go, and how you want to feel, and then you let the world react to you, you will win.
Are you Reactive?
Remember the comedian Jeff Foxworthy? He used to give that routine that said “You might be a redneck.” Well, this blog is not about a redneck. Instead, I’m going to replace that phrase with, “You might be reactive.” If you identify with any of the following statements, you might be reactive.
- If you listen or watch the news first thing in the morning, you might be reactive. It’s important to know what’s going on in the world, but you don’t need to focus on it first thing in the morning. Check the news later in the day.
- If you check e-mail before you do the important proactive things in your day, you might be reactive
- If you check voicemail before you do the important proactive things in your day, you might be reactive
- If you look in the help-wanted ads before you write down your likes and dislikes about what you want out of your career, you might be reactive
- If you jump on your Social Media sites before you put yourself in a positive frame of mind, you might be reactive.
Are you Acting on Life?
Do you identify with any of the actions above? Let’s look at what you can do to act instead of react to life on a daily basis.
- Read something positive when you first arise in the morning. I read “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen or “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Whatever you read, make sure it puts you in a good frame of mind.
- Use affirmations. Once I started using affirmations first thing in the morning, the rest of my days became a positive reflection of those affirmations and good things were made manifest.
- Express your gratefulness first thing in the morning. Not everybody wakes up to another day. Be thankful that you have another opportunity to make a positive impact on the world today.
- Write down and focus on at least 3 things you will do today no matter what else happens. Doing this allows you to continue acting and moving forward rather than reacting and staying on your heels. Just because you’ve been busy doesn’t mean you’ve been productive. However, when you get the 3 things done that you proactively planned, you will act on life and you will win.
It’s interesting how I took my son to school but I was the one who got the lesson. “Those who act win, those who react lose.” Are you acting or reacting?
One Response to “Those who Act Win; Those who React Lose”
[...] Posted by Craig Valentine in Featured Articles, Living Your Dream on September 8th, 2009 | no responses. I just dropped my 4-year old son off at Montessori School and said to him, “Son, you’re going to have a great day. …Read More [...]