I’m sure you know what it’s like. You’re confronted with a situation you didn’t expect and don’t immediately know how to handle. Maybe you begin to stress for fear of making a mistake. Perhaps you think, “This is not in my wheelhouse.” You feel the pressure to make a quick decision because the issue appears urgent. A solution occurs to you, but you’re not sure it’s the right one.
Or maybe something gets dumped on your desk just as you’re wrapping up the week. Your immediate thought might be, “I don’t have time for this!” or “This is going to kill my weekend plans.” You might slide into searching for a solution, any solution, to just get this new task over with ASAP. As a result, you hustle through, not caring if it’s the best outcome. But when you do this, you end up doing it all over again because of the mistakes you made.
The unexpected, whether it’s a surprise call, a confrontation, an assignment, or even an auto accident, can flood our minds with stress, frustration or even panic. And in our desire to resolve the issue and relieve this stress, it’s easy to hyper-focus on the first solution that comes to mind, even if it’s not the best one.
The problem with feelings of panic and frustration is that they narrow our thinking during challenging times. So, why is this?
Well, it begins with the amygdala. The amygdala is sometimes referred to as the brain’s emotional sentinel. It plays a central role in processing emotions and detecting potential threats. When the amygdala perceives a threat, such as an unexpected call, a confrontation or an accident, it triggers the activation of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for regulating involuntary bodily functions, such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion.
The amygdala signals this system to activate the fight-or-flight response. This results in a surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, flooding your bloodstream. Your heart rate increases, blood vessels constrict, and blood is redirected away from non-essential functions, like digestion and more towards the muscles and brain.
When this happens your higher-ordered thinking, which is centered in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, can be hijacked by these emotional responses. This makes it difficult to think clearly and objectively. In other words, your brain prioritizes immediate survival over long-term, complex thinking. As a result, your critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making are impaired. Then you become more prone to impulsive decisions and have difficulty considering multiple perspectives or evaluating information clearly.
This “tunnel vision” leads to confirmation bias, meaning you seek out evidence that confirms your perceptions and you become less open to alternative viewpoints and less likely to engage in comprehensive critical thinking. This is when you make mistakes, go with the wrong choice or even shut down because you feel overwhelmed.
So, how do you prevent this panic and frustration from hijacking your thinking? Here’s what I’ve learned from interviewing and observing thousands of really good decision makers.
First, they take a deep breath, maybe even two or three. This accomplishes two things. It diminishes the impact of the stress hormones coursing through their body. It also buys them some time to consider how to best respond.
Second, they train themselves not to act or say anything for several seconds. This removes unwanted energy or urgency from the situation. For instance, if someone is yelling at you, your immediate response might be to yell back. But if you take few seconds after that person has stopped speaking to simply let the tension the stress resolve itself or diminish, you’re more likely to broaden your perspective and discover a way to express yourself calmly and consider the best option or response.
Third, they ask themselves, “How bad can this really be?” Now, they may not ask that exact question, but they certainly try to take a broader perspective. And as a result, they are apt to see options, rather than narrowing their thinking to the one impulsive thing that comes to mind at first.
So what’s your takeaway from all of this. What can you do next time to effectively manage feelings of panic or frustration? If the unexpected happens tomorrow, you’ll be better prepared to manage the stress and make the best decision.