Recently, I was listening to Brené Brown’s podcast on AI, with futurist Amy Webb [“What’s Coming, and What’s Here” https://brenebrown.com/podcast/whats-coming-and-whats-here/]

What struck me most about their discussion was a comment Amy made about the huge changes barreling our way:

“Where I grew up, we had terrible wind, terrible cold. And when you learn how to drive, you have to learn how to drive on ice.

So what you learn how to do is to do the opposite of what it feels like you should do…if you’re driving along and you hit an icy patch, everything in your body is telling you, slam on the brake!

That is your instinct. And if you break down why, what’s happening is you’re instinctively drawn to, if A, then B. If I slam my foot on the brake right now, I will stop.

And this sensation of spinning out of control will cease. But physics, of course, tells us that that is not what you can do.

Because when you slam your foot on the brake, you don’t stop the car.

In order for that equation, if A, then B, to work out, you would somehow have to know the exact gradient of the road, the tread on your tires. You would have to know exactly how much ice there is. You would have to have an omniscient viewpoint on every single data point around you.

So what you learn how to do is steer into the slide, which is another way of saying like, embrace the uncertainty. So you whip your steering wheel into the direction that you’re sliding, and then as you start to move in a different direction, you whip it again. And basically you are slowing down time and you are reducing uncertainty by making a ton of tiny decisions while remaining as calm as you possibly can.

That’s what everybody needs to be doing right now…“

I could not agree more.

The question is…HOW?

And the answer is: by learning how to self-regulate one’s nervous system. This means recognizing when you have become hyper-aroused by a situation, conversation, mysterious text message, WHATEVER—and then skillfully intervening to keep yourself calm.

For people who are successful at this, they often take two tacks:

1. They have a regular daily practice, for example, meditation, yoga, martial arts
2. They cultivate real-time self awareness and inner course-correction throughout the day

These interventions help them to become masters of nervous system self-regulation. Which in turn helps them lead better, problem-solve better, innovate better, and relate better.

Through personal and professional experience, I have become convinced that regulating one’s nervous system is the single most important skill any of us can learn, to cope when life up-ends us. Perhaps it sounds impossible, but you can (and MUST!) learn how to “steer into the slide.”

Unfortunately, this vital skill isn’t usually taught to us in school, and it’s not available simply by knowing about it—-like many things worth doing, mastery requires intention and effort.

Not everyone wants to take on a daily practice right now, but virtually everyone wants tips for settling the nervous system in real-time, in the business setting.

The foundational tip is this: In the same way that reading about diets doesn’t make you thinner, reading about nervous system regulation doesn’t make you calmer and more steady. If you want the “sensation of spinning out of control” to cease, you’ve got to find out what that means for you, and practice it consistently, preferably with support.

This is why I have expanded my coaching practice to include the whys and hows of nervous system regulation, that can be tailored to you, your work setting and your leadership demands. If you might benefit from executive coaching focused on “steering into the slide”, please contact me for an exploratory session, at danamgallagher@gmail.com.