Sometimes it can feel like you’re constantly firefighting.

Especially when it comes to communicating with investors, the challenge seems endless.

One thing after another presents itself in your inbox asking to be dealt with as priority number one.

There’s the RNS that needs writing yesterday.

There’s the interview with the podcast that needs prepping for.

And there’s the investor deck that still desperately needs updating.

The list goes on.

And on.

And…you get the point.

It keeps evolving, too. Keeps growing, updating.

No doubt you probably feel like you’re constantly having to react to new problems.

And sure, in a busy, moving work environment, new problems do often present themselves.

But here’s the thing…

A lot of the current communication jobs you have on your to-do list are likely things that have been around for a while.

And though they feel timely and urgent now, they weren’t always so.

But the nature of running a business, and the nature of the 24-hour news stream world that we live in, means that we can very quickly lose sight of what is timely and urgent, and what isn’t.

Before we know it, lines are blurred. We think that everything on our to-do list needs to be done at the same exact time.

And that time is yesterday.

If this is all ringing bells and you’re filled with a sense of familiarity—and maybe a little anxiety too—don’t worry: that’s normal.

It’s how most people feel.

But it does need to be.

Overcoming ‘reactive mode’

The problem here is that the world around us has a habit of forcing us to lose track of our own plans and shift into what we call ‘reactive mode’.

This is when we forget about all the good thinking we once did, all the clear strategies and visions we laid out, and we go running around chucking leaking buckets of water on various fires that are breaking out all around us.

Reactive mode is doubly dangerous because once we’re in it, it becomes very difficult to get out of.

You can often tell you’re in reactive mode because when someone asks you about one thing that needs sorting, you answer with ‘yeah, but this…’ or ‘but what about that…’ and you start talking about something else that needs sorting too.

Both things need sorting. But because you’re in reactive mode, you can pretty much guarantee that neither are going to get sorted nearly as well as they deserve to be.

Question is: how do you get out of reactive mode?

And how do you get everything sorted?

Of course, it would be easy to just tell you to be more strategic in your approach.

To make plans, stick to them and don’t let the latest problem overtake things that still need sorting.

But that’s easier said than done.

Another easy fix would be to keep a two-column list of tasks: one column that details all the non-timely things that need sorting and another that details the timely ones.

Each week, scan the non-timely column for anything that has become timely and move it across to the other column.

You can delegate these jobs accordingly. Perhaps give the timely ones to more experienced staff and the non-timely ones to less experienced people so they can take more time.

Regular meetings…

Clear communication…

Using online organisers like Asana or Monday…

These all help you to prevent you falling into reactive mode.

But here’s the honest answer:

You need outside help.

Having worked in this industry several decades now and seen first-hand, in many different ways, how reactive mode can slow down and cripple businesses, the best thing you can do to prevent it is to have someone else come in and show you the problem honestly.

I know what you’re thinking…

This is consultants telling you to hire consultants.

Pretty self-serving, right?

But we’re not saying hire us right off the bat here.

Don’t get us wrong, we think that would be a good thing to do. But before you do, we advise trying a much cheaper option.

Remember we said:

“…have someone else come in and show you the problem honestly.”

The key word here is ‘honestly’.

The ‘someone else’ who you get to come in could be a friend, a fellow CEO, even a partner.

The key is that they are willing to look at your business without rose-tinted glasses and can be honest about it.

It’s only then that you can start to unpick what really is timely and urgent and what is in fact being blurred into that category.

It is only by having someone you can trust looking at your business in an honest and frank way that you can begin to get yourself out of reactive mode and back into a more sensible, strategic, and—more likely—successful place.

Sure, it helps if that person or those people coming in to look at your business and assess the way you’re communicating know about your industry and know about communication in general…

And that’s where we would advise you to think about speaking to us. We have the expertise you need, as well as the honesty.

But as I say, the key thing here is not just to hire some marketing company or PR team who will tell you what you want to hear…

It’s about finding people who you can trust to be honest—even if in doing so, they’ll tell you things you don’t want to hear.

It’s hard to do. And most businesses won’t seek such help. But that’s good news. It means if you do, you’ll set yourself apart from the crowd and give your business an edge like no other.