“There are decisions that ruin businesses because they were made under pressure.”
This is not a metaphor. It is pure physiology.
When you are under financial, emotional, or strategic pressure, your body activates survival mechanisms. The amygdala takes center stage, and the prefrontal cortex—which is responsible for analysis and planning—reduces its influence.
Translated into plain English: when we experience moments of tension (supposedly when we need to think the most), we have less biological capacity to do so clearly.
Honestly… I think no one escapes this.
Accepting a client who is a bad fit, bending rules on conditions that are barely or not at all sustainable, rushing launches without enough validation just out of a need to generate revenue… An endless loop of decisions made under pressure that end up costing a fortune.
That "rite of passage" we all go through is a trial by fire to assess the quality of those of us who lead teams and projects. Because most of the time, we don't get to choose from a comfortable place.
After Women, the charity festival I organized in Havana that highlights the role of women in culture, I realized the sheer number of decisions I’ve made in just a few days. And I also realized, given how well it went and how much praise we received, that I constantly sabotaged myself by being harder on myself than those who actually enjoyed it.
Events are a "hard drug." You only get one shot. They are either memorable, or they are a complete mess.
In companies, we have more opportunities to make mistakes, but also to get used to them. Be careful not to build the bad habit of making decisions based on the weight of pressure.
You know what? Feeling calm is key. Calm is fundamental in adverse situations, not only because of what you project to your team, but also because of what you create within yourself.
No matter how important a decision seems, it usually isn't that important.
Either it has a solution, or it doesn't.
Whichever path it is, you must act by visualizing your multiple options. And do so by thinking "in the medium-to-long term" in order to act decisively in the short term.
My recommendation for managing pressure is to design filters and stick to them. Here are mine:
Before making a decision under pressure, apply the "Tunnel of Truths":
✓ Am I trying to alleviate or to build?
✓ Will the decision I am making right now still make sense a year from now?
✓ Am I reacting or analyzing?
If the answers make you uncomfortable, you might have a problem. But don't worry—having detected it now, you are definitely in time to visualize the different options to solve it.
Judgment doesn't eliminate pressure, but it organizes it
And organizing pressure is pure magic, because you stop being a reactive person and become a strategic one. You go from having to wing it, to setting the pressure points of your business.
And when you plan for pressure in some way and give it meaning, you stop working under pressure and start working under passion. In other words, you stop focusing so much on "what I must do" to understand "why I choose to do it now."
And that pressure—the pressure of doing things with passion—is the best kind you and your team can possibly have.
