The other situation that I envisaged was where you are having a heated discussion with someone. In this instance you are likely to spew out something that is incorrect, hurtful and surely something that you will regret? You are not thinking clearly.
This is really where the slogan is relevant. Just listen and consider before responding. Rather than saying the wrong thing at the wrong time when you are reacting to the emotion of the situation. All this will do is escalate the disagreement to a full blown argument.
Try and restrain yourself until you can think of a reasonable response rather than an unreasonable reaction. In this way you will stop the discussion from escalating and you will be saving your time (and the other persons) in the future when you will have to apologise and build new bridges.
This slogan has reminded me that the words “React” and “Respond” are only close to each other in the dictionary and in getting the best out of your working life you need to know the difference between the two, and when to use these actions. In most instances you need to RESPOND (and not react).
Here are couple of dictionary definitions for you:
React: to act in a particular way as a direct result of something else
She slapped him and called him names, but he didn’t react.
The judge reacted angrily to the suggestion that it hadn’t been a fair trial.
