What Does It Mean To Be Reactive?

In contrast to proactive behavior, reactive actions take place because you didn’t take anticipatory steps, which leaves you unnecessarily worse off. Examples of reactive decisions could be the dead tree limb falling on your car because you never got around to calling the tree guy, your child not getting into the elementary school you wanted because you filed the application too late, or there being no tables at your favorite restaurant because you waited too late to make a reservation.

We can compare reactive actions to the scientific notion of cause and effect – there has been an incident and a consequent effect. In this context, the reactive decision maker is only responding to the effect – having to pay for the car damages, looking at a second choice for middle school, or going to a lesser quality restaurant. He or she has waited for things to unfold before taking any action and they now have to suffer unnecessary consequences. The word unnecessary is key here because these outcomes could have been avoided with a little foresight and action. Of course, sometimes people are forced to make decisions reactively, for example, if a war breaks out or a hurricane strikes.