How can I learn to stay calm under stress?

How can I learn to stay calm under stress? I love this TED talk by Daniel Levitin about how to stay calm in situations where you expect to be stressed.

Daniel likes to put systems in place to prevent bad things happening, or at least minimise the likelihood of catastrophe.

Gary Klein calls this prospective hindsight, also known as the pre-mortem. We try to look ahead to predict things that could go wrong, and work out how to prevent them. I love this idea!

Some of the examples are to have a set place for items we regularly lose, like keys, passport or glasses.

Under stress the brain releases cortisol, which clouds our thinking. Daniel suggests that when we are discussing a particular medical treatment, for example, we should always be in a fully informed position, and he recommends we find out the chance of it being effective, and the chance of side effects. Thinking about the questions we want to ask in advance is very helpful.

When we are stressed a lot of our systems shut down so we can focus on survival. We don’t waste energy on our digestive or immune systems, and our logical thinking shuts down too. This is why it is so important to train ourselves to think ahead, and get ourselves organised!

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 219 days to go!