Most of you have just completed your first full week back in working mode.
If you pause for a moment this weekend, you may notice how quickly you rushed back in: full speed, full inbox, full cognitive load.
Science explains why.
On average, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐จ 50% ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐.
At senior leadership level, this intensifies: executives spend up to 70% of their working time in reactive mode: responding, deciding, managing signals.
Neuroscience calls this the ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ.
In real life, itโs ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ.
Highly functional.
Highly repetitive.
And largely unconscious.
Many top executives I work with perform at a high cognitive level while their nervous system runs permanently โonโ. Fast decisions, dense agendas, constant responsibility. Sharp on the outside. Often absent on the inside.
I know this state well. From the inside.
You can live like this for years.
But something subtle happens:
๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ .
Science is clear about the cost. Under sustained stress, complex decision-making capacity can drop by up to 30%, even in highly intelligent people. Emotional regulation decreases. Reactivity increases.
At board level, this matters.
Because without awareness, experience does not turn into wisdom.
It merely reinforces existing patterns.
Real development requires the ability to ๐จ๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.
Without this inner vantage point, there is no real change.
No upgrade of your internal operating system.
You may gain experience, power, influence -
but under pressure, the same reflexes run the show.
This is not about indulgence.
Not about slowing down.
Not about stepping out of the world.
The real challenge is tougher:
Can you stay fully in the game
without being fully identified with it?
Being in the world, but not of it means deciding without being hijacked by urgency, acting without exporting your nervous system into the room, leading from awareness rather than momentum.
So hereโs the reflection Iโll leave you with:
Where in your leadership are you actually ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ -
and where are you simply executing well-trained patterns?
Because the quality of your awareness
sets the ceiling for the quality of your decisions.
And yes, ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐.
Practices like meditation, understood correctly, are not about calm.
They train the capacity to notice yourself while you are in action.
Without awareness, there is performance.
๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ข๐๐.
And choice is where real leadership begins.