I help people perform well under pressure and get better results with less stress.

Early in my career, I watched my boss being carried out on a stretcher, overwhelmed by stress. He recovered, but refused to come back. The job was handed to me, and the pressure came with it.

When I found a way to handle it, the job no longer felt stressful. From that calmer state, I saw my colleagues argue pointlessly, blame each other and make poor decisions. They all thought they were being reasonable, unaware that stress was clouding their thinking and distorting their perspective.

That sparked a question: What enables people under pressure to think clearly, perform well and fully enjoy their work?

For the following thirty years, I searched for answers, testing almost everything I came across. Much of it was helpful, but nothing worked for everyone, and the effects rarely lasted.

The turning point was a realization: our circumstances don’t determine how we experience life. Our thinking about them does.

What most often gets in our way is our own unhelpful thinking. The trouble is, we can feel certain we’re thinking straight when we’re not. In my work, I help people understand how this happens and recognize the signs for themselves. As they learn to take that thinking less seriously, their minds begin to settle.

When that happens, their natural intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness come through. Decision-making improves, pressure feels less personal and work becomes easier and more enjoyable.

I explore this in depth in A Handbook for Hoteliers (and other humans).