Mental Resilience | Stress Management

Bright lights and a noisy floor. My screen was jammed with dashboards, chats, and tickets, all demanding attention. People kept dropping quick questions at my desk, and I could feel my thinking degrade with each context switch. I was sweating in a room that is usually cold. My answers went short and blunt when I am normally more tactful.

I pushed back from the desk, took a deep breath, and said to myself, "All right, I am at work. What is the next thing I am supposed to do?" Because this was not life or death in the moment, I logged out and went downstairs to exercise. Music pumping in, hard sets, reset the system (both body and mind). When I came back, I opened a fresh tracker, sketched notes, created a simple checklist, and picked one task I needed to do right now.

That is how I manage the slow, cumulative kind of stress.

If you want the fitness framework I rely on, I wrote it up here: Fitness

When it is time critical

There are days and situations when you do not step away when stress picks up. Training kicks in. You take one breath and move. When I worked in healthcare as a first-line worker, I relied on training often.

In a patient crash, I ran the mental algorithm I had practiced for years. Assess the patient. Look at the objective data. Record vitals. Make a decision. Call for assistance.

I called the code and alerted my team. They rushed in and I took the lead. We intervened and cared for the patient until the code team arrived, took over, and moved the patient to a higher level of care. We saved a life that day because we managed our own internal stress, relied on our training, and took action. Mission accomplished.

How this supports cognitive stability. Stress management is the on‑ramp to a steady working mind. The pause‑and-set‑boundary routine drops stress arousal and clears interference so working memory stays online and the task in front of you does not slip. Exercise gives a clean state change that quiets noise, steadies breathing, and restores attention control. Coming back with a short plan protects decision quality, reduces switching costs, and keeps the day anchored to one clear next step. Over time these reps build a stable “task set” you can hold under load, shorten recovery after spikes, and make it easier to return to baseline when conditions shift. That steady, repeatable control is what I mean by mental resilience.

Two modes I train to manage stress

1) Cumulative stress management

This is the everyday overload. Too many inputs. Constant context switching. The goal is to lower arousal, widen attention, and regain control of priorities.

2) Acute stress management

This is the high stakes moment. The goal is to narrow to the next action, rely on training, make a decision, execute cleanly, and keep the loop moving.

What I do when stress accumulates

• Take a breath, then create a boundary (i.e., to "stop the bleeding" and eliminate new input). I log out of email and silence notifications. I decide what can wait for 30 to 60 minutes. It’s not always going to be email but keep it tailored to you.

• Move the body to reset the brain. My daily 12 to 1 exercise block is non-negotiable. I lift with music. The work is simple, hard, and short. Heart rate up, then down. I finish calm, not crushed (except leg day…those are hard).

• Return with a plan. I open a notepad page, outline a simple plan for the rest of the day, and choose one task that matters right now. I re-enter email during planned windows, not all day.

• Signals to watch. Sometimes it’s hard to know when you’re stressed. Watch for physical signals like breathing, posture (tight shoulders and traps), sleep patterns changing, eating habits different than normal, and feeling “low energy.” Keep an eye out for these, as they could be signs you’re building internal stress.

What I do with time-critical stressors

• Observe. Take one breath and gather what you can see, hear, and measure. Check monitors, vitals, logs, and the scene. Get objective facts fast.

• Orient. Put those facts in context with your training, SOPs, and current constraints. Ask what is most likely and what is most dangerous. Identify the immediate priority and available resources.

• Decide. Choose a simple course of action that you can execute now. Assign roles if you have a team. Say the plan out loud so everyone tracks.

• Act. Execute cleanly. Communicate as you move. Then loop back to Observe with the new data you just created.

Short version. OODA keeps you from freezing or flailing. It gives you a small next action and a way to update that action as reality changes. In high stakes moments, the loop is how you stay effective and buy time for a better position.

The principle is simple. Breathe once. Find the next action. Do it well. Then get the next piece of data.

Here’s a great quick reference for the OODA loop.

A short practice you can use

When the workload stacks up, my fastest reset takes fifteen minutes. I stand up and move for three minutes. Step ups if there is a stair. Air squats if there is not. Or I walk the hallway. Then I breathe on purpose for two minutes.

I use a few physiological sighs and settle into box breathing. This is actually a stress mitigation technique that they trained us to use in the military for high-stress situations.

The goal is to feel my shoulders drop and my vision widen. Then sit back down and do one small task for eight to ten minutes, making sure to complete that small task (e.g., sort and delete emails from my inbox).

The key with doing small tasks is to actually get something done. The act of finishing a task can help you to focus on one thing and move on to the next, rather than being overwhelmed with partially accomplished tasks.

I also practice the acute version as a rehearsal. It is only five minutes. I pick a realistic scenario, like a client outage or a home emergency. I visualize it mentally (sometimes called a thought experiment). Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. I name the first action and walk it through, sometimes with teammate or peer. Then I write one improvement for the checklist. These short rehearsals make the real thing feel familiar.

Tools that help

I keep it simple. A timer or Focus mode (on the phone) keeps the working blocks un-interrupted. A small notebook holds notes and daily to-dos. Headphones give me the option to add music when I exercise or to block noise when I need to control the environment. A basic tracker template helps me choose one task and see it through.

For acute events, a one-page checklist (or even note pasted to the wall) so roles and first actions are clear.

You can use whatever you have today and tighten it over time.

One small action today

Block three 15-minute resets on next week’s calendar. Title them “Calm.” When the time hits, run the reset. Then get back to work.

Stay safe out there.

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