The 60-Second Emergency Brake I’m Stealing From Dennis Berry

My head has felt like a browser with 47 tabs open lately. (If you know me, I’m a close out all browsers at the end of the day, zero red dots on my iPhone, kinda gal.)

Heavy client work, a couple of big opportunities, year-end planning, and then… holidays. Toddler Christmas. Family logistics. House stuff. You know the vibe.

When my brain gets like this, I usually default to “work harder and power through.” Shockingly, that tends to make things worse.

With clients, I’m actually pretty good at slowing things down. In this $3M ARR cleanup I wrote about, we literally started by pausing, breathing, and mapping the mess before touching a single tool or dashboard.

Doing that for myself in the middle of heavy client work and holiday chaos? Much harder.

So I’ve been looking for something that actually interrupts that spiral in the moment. Not a 30-minute meditation app I’ll forget to open. Something I can use between back-to-back calls when my nervous system is already fried.

That’s why I wanted to point you to this piece from my friend Dennis Berry:

“Your Brain’s Emergency Brake: The 60-Second Technique to Switch from Panic to Clarity.”

He breaks down what’s happening in your brain when you’re in “constant urgency” mode and then gives a ridiculously simple 60-second reset:

• notice and name what’s happening

• breathe in a way that tells your body the crisis is over

• anchor your attention on one concrete thing in front of you

It’s tactical, not fluffy. I’ve been trying it before I answer Slacks, emails, or make any decision that feels loaded, and it’s helping me step out of “reactive founder brain” and back into “actual operator.”

Given where we’re at in the year, Q4 numbers, renewals, planning 2026, and the emotional circus of the holidays, I am guessing a lot of you could use this, too.

Go read Dennis’s full post here.

And if you try his 60-second reset this week, I’d love to hear how it goes for you in the comments!

P.S. Dennis JUST launched Elite Leaders Premium with an 85% annual discount (Elite2026).

Access the offer here: https://eliteleadersnewsletter.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=822c1fb3