De-escalate your emotions in stressful situations by imagining you are observing the situation from another vantage point. Watch as David explains the value of getting out from behind your own eyeballs.
If you’re going into a stressful event (maybe it’s an evaluation or feedback for you) and you anticipate you might get kind of your ego might get activated and you might get a little bit defensive, or you’re just feeling nervous about the stress or anxiety of something that’s happening, one of the tricks is to get out from behind your own eyeballs. And I would say to myself, “David, get out from behind your own eyeballs.”
We know that distancing from yourself tends to mitigate those feelings of stress and anxiety. And you’ll be better, you’ll be calmer, your prefrontal cortex will be more open, and you’ll be better at what it is, and you’ll have less stress. And “get out from behind your own eyeballs” also leads to an idea that I heard from Bill Ury where he talks about being on the balcony. Famous negotiator, Bill Ury. And be on the balcony looking at yourself.
So in other words, I’m getting out from behind, my perspective of the world is back here, out through my own eyeballs. And getting away from that and say, “Well, I can be over here – (and humans have the ability to imagine ourselves spatially in different places) – looking at myself.” Don’t have an extreme in-body experience, have an out-of-body experience. And you can activate that by just imagining I’m over here looking at me and I said, “Well, what would . . . what’s the right thing for David to do?” It’s a de-passionate way to de-escalate your own emotions.
I’m David Marquet. That’s your Leadership Nudge.
