Have you ever felt like you spend time reacting to what OTHERS are doing or saying more than moving towards the thing YOU really want to create?

• For example, you wonder if you should lower your prices because someone tells you “it’s too expensive.”

• Or perhaps you consider a whole new way of doing business because of what a competitor is up to.

• Maybe you end up prioritizing part of your business that isn’t as lucrative simply because an opportunity popped into your inbox.

Sound familiar?

Getting distracted by what others are doing, saying, or asking can happen to any business owner. Whether you’ve been in business for years or you’re just getting started, being overly reactive can quickly become a major source of frustration.

You can get spend hours trying to solve a problem you didn’t really need to solve in the first place. Or you can burn precious energy wondering about whether or not you should take an opportunity that wasn’t even on your radar, to begin with.

If you’ve been in this position before here are a few things that can help you be less reactive and more proactive.

Saying “Yes” Means Saying “No” To Something Else

One of the simplest questions to ask yourself if you start to get sucked into being reactive to someone else’s requests (or actions or ideas) is to pause and ask yourself “if I say yes to this request, what am I saying no to?”

We only have so many hours in the day so if you want to entertain the thing that popped up out of the blue, (like that customer asking you for custom work or a competitor doing a special workshop so maybe you think you should too) inevitably something will have to get pushed to the backburner.

It might be another work project or it might be something like time with your kids or your daily trip to the gym.

Get clear on what saying yes to this new opportunity or idea will mean for the other things going on in your business and life.

Pitch It To The Boss

If you’re feeling conflicted because either the opportunity seems really exciting or you’re worried about upsetting someone else, it’s time to “pitch it to the boss.”

Of course, you are the boss…But it’s time to pretend that your “employee self,” the one who is eager to please and excited about new ideas, is pitching this opportunity to your “boss self,” meaning the one whose main job is to ensure the success and longevity of the company.

What would the “boss” say about that great idea that will take at least 25% of your time and might not actually increase sales?

What about that opportunity that will actually take away time from your main revenue driver?

What about asking the boss to lower prices because one person said they couldn’t afford it?

Basically, with this exercise, you want to get a bit more objective to make sure what you’re considering is a worthwhile pursuit from a business perspective, not just an emotional one.

Step Into Your Leadership Energy

If you’re constantly reacting to all of the noise out there, whether it be from social media or your uncle telling you “what you really ought to do,” you’re going to be frazzled in no time. It’s like being in the back seat of a car with an 8-year-old at the wheel. In the dark.

You’re going to be afraid, gripped, and in for a really bumpy ride.

Your job is to step into your leadership energy and take the wheel.

That’s where you get to set the tone for what happens in your business. You get to make the rules.

When a request or opportunity pops up, you get to say with confidence what you do and don’t do.

When someone asks for custom work that you know you don’t want to do you can say “oh, thanks for thinking of me. I don’t do X but perhaps Y will work for you. Here are the details if you’re interested.”

Or when someone tells you it’s too expensive, you calmly reply “Thanks for sharing that with me. I understand how it feels to see something you want but it feels too expensive. Do you have any other questions?” (*This is a line that works wonders that I learned from Kendrick Shope)

Or when the most amazing opportunity drops into your lap but saying yes too quickly has taken you to distraction land in the past, you simply reply “This sounds right up my alley, but I want to make sure I’d be able to do my best work here. I’ll need to think about it and crunch some numbers to make sure I have the capacity to do a great job. Can I get back to you in a few days?”

All of these sorts of responses come from a place of calm instead of worry. They signal that you’re leading your business on a clear path instead of getting jerked around by every little thing that pops up.

With all three of these tools, the main theme here is to press pause.

Before you start considering a whole new pricing structure or dive into creating a workshop that wasn’t even on your radar 20 seconds ago, slow down and ask yourself a few questions so you can be sure that what you do next keeps you on track.