Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Win With Paid Ads
Host: Ashley Brock
Episode: #91: Reacting v Responding
Date: October 23, 2025

Ashley Brock explores a transformative mindset shift for entrepreneurs and business owners: the crucial difference between reacting and responding. Drawing from neuroscience, business anecdotes, and personal experiences, Ashley unpacks how this shift can supercharge business outcomes, especially in paid advertising, but also across relationships and life. The episode’s purpose is to equip listeners with the understanding and practical steps to move from impulsive reactions to intentional, powerful responses.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Inspiring Origin: Church and Epiphanies

• (02:20) Ashley recounts a pivotal Sunday message by Andy Stanley. Andy’s teaching about “the response that has the potential to actually reverse the natural course of things is not natural” triggered an epiphany for Ashley, linking spiritual wisdom with business and neuroscience.

2. Reacting vs Responding – Definitions & Impacts

• Reacting:
  • Instinctive, immediate, emotional.
  • Driven by the amygdala (“the emotional center of your brain”—11:45).
• Responding:
  • Intentional, measured, strategic.
  • Engages the prefrontal cortex (“your logic, your strategy, the wisdom center”—12:10).

“My reaction was a distraction... they were not going to get me where I wanted to go.”
—Ashley Brock (09:30)

3. The Neuroscience Angle

• (13:00) Explains the brain’s dual roles:
  • Amygdala: quick, fear-driven, survival.
  • Prefrontal cortex: logic, problem-solving, reflection.
• Key Science Fact:
  • Pausing for just six seconds before action can reduce amygdala activation by up to 50%. (“Neural imaging shows… six seconds before acting”—15:55)

4. Real-Life Examples: Paid Ads, Business, and Competition

• Client Mistakes:
  • Turning off ads too quickly after a bad day/week—reactive habits that kill momentum. (14:05)
• Launch Your Ads Live Event:
  • Two approaches by participants:
    • Those who rushed (“wanted to be the first one in”) delivered mediocre ads.
    • Those who paused and responded thoughtfully produced the highest-performing ads. (20:40)

“The people that took the most time got the best result.”
—Ashley Brock (25:40)

5. Characteristics of “Rainmakers”

• Rainmakers are not just high performers but those who consistently choose intentional responses—study, pause, analyze, then act.
  • “It was not about talent, it was about tempo. The ones who responded won.” (28:19)

6. Practical Guidance for Listeners

• Ashley’s Three Magical Questions:
  1. What’s really happening here?
  2. What’s the best possible outcome when I stay consistent?
  3. Is this about my ads, or about my attention span and ability to implement? (31:05)
• Turning Responding Into a Habit:
  • “Respondability can become a muscle … your prefrontal cortex actually gets stronger with practice.” (36:40)

7. Empowerment Mantra: Pause Before Panic

• Repeat to yourself: “Pause before panic.”
• “That six seconds of silence and pause could be the difference between fear and faith.”
  (39:40)

8. Mindset for Ad Success

• Data is not an emergency—diagnose, don’t delete.
• Obsess over potential victories as much as possible failures.

“What if you decided that this was it for you? … Your respondability led to the possibility of opportunity for more profitability.”
(41:42)

9. Ownership of Results

• “It’s your responsibility to create your findability. … You can use your respondability to create that.” (43:24)

10. Final Takeaways

• Rainmakers don’t react. They respond, on purpose and for a purpose.
• “Your ad data is not an emergency. It’s just information.”
  (47:29)
• “The difference between fear and faith could just be that six seconds of silence and pause.”
  (48:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andy Stanley Influence:

  “The response that has the potential to actually reverse the natural course of things is not natural.”
  (as cited by Ashley 06:15)

• On Brain Training:

  “You can train your brain to create a habit where your default is not to react but to respond.”
  (16:18)

• Success Characteristics:

  “Honestly, it’s just the people that… immerse themselves. That takes responding. It’s not rushing, it’s not reacting.”
  (27:13)

• On Failure and Opportunity:

  “Don’t entertain the what if this doesn’t work too long, if you’re not entertaining for equally as long … what happens when I blow this out of the water?”
  (40:25)

• Ad Data Mindset:

  “Your ad data is not an emergency. It’s just information. Instead of deleting, diagnose.”
  (47:29)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Introduction, episode theme | | 06:15 | Andy Stanley’s influence and epiphany | | 09:30 | Ashley’s personal business evolution—reaction vs. response | | 11:45 | Brain science: amygdala, prefrontal cortex | | 15:55 | Science: Six-second pause reduces emotional reactions | | 14:05 | Client anecdotes: costly reactions vs. strategic responses | | 20:40 | “Launch Your Ads Live” event: competition, response wins | | 25:40 | Reflection: The best results come from thoughtful response | | 27:13 | Success characteristics—responders vs. reactors | | 31:05 | The three critical questions to reframe your mindset | | 36:40 | Respondability as a muscle, habit formation advice | | 39:40 | “Pause before panic” mantra | | 41:42 | What if you focused on possibility instead of fear? | | 43:24 | Taking ownership of ‘findability’ and profitability | | 47:29 | Ad data is just information; respond, don’t react | | 48:10 | Final wisdom: silence, pause, and success |

Conclusion

Ashley Brock eloquently demonstrates that the real business edge—and peace of mind—comes from cultivating the habit of responding rather than reacting. This shift not only delivers better results in advertising but fosters clearer decision-making, emotional resilience, and long-term business success. Practical tools like the “Pause Before Panic” mantra and the three-magic-questions empower listeners to implement these ideas today, setting themselves up for Rainmaker-level achievements.