The two big contenders...

Reactive - ADJECTIVE

Showing a response to a stimulus.

Proactive - ADJECTIVE

Creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

In the ring today we have two massive contenders for how I manage my day – Reactive Behaviour vs Proactive Behaviour and I thought I’d take some time to look at them and how they affect me… and how best to deal with them both.

As anyone would tell you, I am organised and efficient. That means that I try to ensure I am Proactive in everything I do – every week there’s a collection of reoccurring tasks that need doing, I do these first on a Monday morning (and get them ticked off of course!) and then there are the pre-planned tasks that came in the previous week or were diarised for future dates – basically my list is everything I KNOW I have to achieve and I use a number of different tactics and techniques to ensure that I am getting all of those things done. If that were everything that happened in a week then I would be the most ‘on top of everything’ person ever. However, as anyone who works will tell you – that’s not always how things pan out.

Introducing to the ring – Reactive Tasks… otherwise known as fire-fighting, dealing with emergencies or potentially running around like a headless chicken! I know it’s not exclusive to the VA space but sometimes it does feel like we are more susceptible to client needs and therefore more of need of a way to not only be reactive but also to find a way to stop it derailing our days. For the sake of argument, a reactive task is one that you weren’t aware of when you woke up that morning, it’s the one you scribble on your list, the one where you mentally reshuffle everything you know you need to get done.

So, assuming that you’re never going to eradicate the reactive stuff how do you ensure that it doesn’t ruin your day, your plans and your list ticking?

These are the top techniques, they’re all different but you could try them to see which one is right for you because they won’t all work in your business/working life:

·       Time Blocking/Pomodoro – This allows you to control and fence off the reactive tasks to an area of your day, you chunk up your time into segments and allocate each segment to a different task, for VA work it could be allocating hour sections of the day to different clients. This would mean setting aside a chunk (or two) to reactive tasks – picking up emails and dealing with those last-minute things. It’s great for keeping things separate and the general list on track but it does mean that if something is time sensitive it might throw out your whole plan.

·       Flex Allowance – This is very similar to time blocking where you build in time for reactive tasks but instead of that being all in one place you ensure that your aims for the day only take up a % off your time, leaving the remainder of the day for picking up the important things that pop up ad hoc. It means that you’re not losing out on ticking off your list but making sure there’s time for everything. The only challenge can come where there are more ad hoc tasks than you have allowed time for.

·       Do Not Disturb – This is less about finding time for the reactive tasks but more about making sure you have time for the things that you know you need to achieve. This could mean that you only check your emails first thing in the morning or at set times through out the day or you don’t answer calls that aren’t pre-scheduled. This takes a lot of focus and control to ensure you are sticking to your do not disturb times.

·       Setting Boundaries – Setting boundaries is about ensuring that your clients understand when and where you will be available and, conversely, when you won’t. Perhaps you could make it clear that you don’t accept calls outside of a set time period or unless they’ve been planned ahead of time; or you could clarify when tasks are given what the deadline is and manage expectations about when you’ll be able to fulfil requirements. This is about understanding what your boundaries are and how you want your day to run then you should be able to communicate these to your clients.

So, what are you feelings about reactive vs proactive time and how do you manage those little things that pop up and, potentially, drive you crazy?