During my consulting days, whenever we felt unclear about what to do next, my panic would start rising. And my instinct would always be to push harder and churn out a few more slides.
But thankfully, we would pause, go to the whiteboard, and do a problem-solving session.
And invariably, 1-2 hours later, we would have enough clarity to save us days of wasted work.
When we panic, our body’s fight-or-flight system takes over and our prefrontal cortex (our thinking brain) goes offline. So we can’t think and respond rationally — typically, our instinct is to just ‘do something’ despite having no clarity.
That is a blunder — don’t do it.
When in panic, forcefully override your instincts, and take a pause. Every nerve in your body will scream in protest, but you have to ignore it.
Then, think, problem-solve, and plan out your next move.
Every hour spent problem-solving and clarifying things saves you days of random work.
When in panic, taking a pause is not laziness — it is the only path to survival.
– Rajan