How to Think on Your Feet

Life is full of surprises. How you handle them can make or break a career. Here’s how to handle the unexpected with calm confidence.

You’ve got eight seconds.

Something unexpected pops up: a last-minute client request, a surprising question from your audience, a technical glitch with your presentation files… According to author Robin Rose, you have eight seconds before what startled you activates a complete descent into fight-or-flight and a shutdown of the thinking part of your brain.

Anything unexpected will trigger your “startle” reflex — that involuntary sharp reaction to sudden stimuli. You can’t avoid it (that’s the “involuntary” part). But in order to think on your feet, you can learn how to maneuver around it.

You already do this all the time. You hear a loud noise, or misunderstand a deadline, or walk in to a bunch of people yelling “Surprise!” and what happens? Gasp! Mini heart attack! But then, during your eight-second window, you decide you’re okay. The fight-or-flight response is averted. Oxygen returns to your prefrontal cortex. You laugh and get on with your life.

Any time you’re startled, you can redirect your energy from your limbs to your brain. And unless you actually need to fight or run, generally your head is way more useful in a crisis than your feet. Here’s how to interrupt…