Ep 321 | Panic is Suicide - What We Can Learn from Famous Astronaut John Glenn

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Astronaut John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth during a historic mission in 1962. John Glenn was absolutely amazing, goes without saying. But specifically, why am I talking about John Glenn today? John was noted that during that mission, his heart rate, his actual heart rate remained insanely low, even during the most critical moments of the flight. And as we know, you know, whether you know space travel or not, you could imagine from takeoff to being in space to orbiting to come coming back to Earth, there are a lot of critical moments, there's a lot of stress. But John Glenn had an ability to keep his heart rate below 100 beats per minute. How in the world did John Glenn do that? Most of us have trouble keeping our heart rate below 100 just when we get to the office or during our day of work and the ups and downs that come along with that. But John Glenn goes to space and he keeps his heart rate below 100 beats per minute. Now, why would that be? John had an amazing ability to remain calm. He had incredible mental fortitude. His level of composure under extreme stress is a really good example, in my opinion, of how astronauts must be trained to handle high-pressure, situations without panicking. His performance during this mission highlighted the importance of maintaining control over one's psychological response, one's physiological response to, to, uh, response to stress specifically. And that is what NASA trained. It was a key aspect of NASA's astronaut training. So John's mission is oftentimes cited as an example of extraordinary calm and focus required for spaceflight. And it just reinforces the idea, this idea that, that I'm thinking a lot about as of late, that panic is suicide. Panic is suicide, specifically in high-stakes environments. Now, in John, John Glenn's case, yes, um, panic could mean death. As morbid as that may sound. I do not think most of us are facing scenarios like John Glenn, but we can learn a lot from this. Panic is suicide, just this thought, just this context. Now, this phrase, panic is suicide, underscores the critical importance of remaining calm. We've gotta be composed in high-pressure situations. So, in high-stakes environment, Space missions, they involve extremely complex and incredibly hazardous conditions where quick thinking and precision are paramount. So, the margin for error is very, very small. Panic can lead to mistakes and those mistakes could be catastrophic. Now, in our environment, whatever it is you do, I mean, if you're part of the No Days Off Nation, you're a hard-charging individual, an entrepreneur, someone who takes risks, somebody that works, pretty damn hard day in and day out. I would not describe the stakes of your environment to be the same as going to space, but in our own respective worlds, it's still high stakes. And while death may not be on the line, your panic can lead to significant mistakes, and those mistakes could have significant consequences, not, not positive ones. So we operate in a high-stakes environment. Now, we've got to maintain composure. Panic triggers a fight or flight response, and fight or flight can cloud judgment. It can impair decision-making. It could reduce your ability to think clearly and act rationally. So, by emphasizing that panic is suicide, NASA specifically instilled in astronauts the necessity of maintaining composure regardless of the situation. So, for you, It goes without saying that maintaining composure is critical to your success, specifically when there is something that could trigger, you know, some sort of fight or flight, some sort of panic. When faced with panic or stress, we've got to maintain composure. Now, in order to do that, one thing we can learn from NASA and John Glenn is we've got to be trained and ready for it. NASA trained for adversity. Their astronaut training program was designed to prepare their astronauts to handle all sorts of emergencies, all sorts of unexpected challenges. They would never put an astronaut up in space on a week or even month's notice. They always took a long time and still take a long time, not just NASA, but anybody going up in space, because you've got to simulate crisis. You've got to have your astronauts learn to manage stress and emotions during these, you know, crisis-like times so that they can remain focused and effective under pressure. So in your world, if you want to maintain your composure in a stressful situation, in a high-stakes environment, it begs the question, how are you training for this adversity? Maybe you've got to mentally train. Maybe you've got to get, you know, repetitions, whatever it may be. We've got to be trained up for this adversity. Last thing, staying calm enables re— astronauts to approach problems methodically and find solutions rather than reacting impulsively. So, there's this resilience that must be built. There's this problem-solving mentality that must be built. This mindset is crucial for overcoming obstacles and it ensures the safety of the mission and the crew for NASA. So, in your world, You've got to have resilience. You've got to have a problem-solving mindset. Again, your scenario is, you know, you're likely not facing personal death, but there are cases where you're facing death of a product or a service or a company. So you've got to be resilient. You've got to be quick to problem-solve versus, versus being reactive and being impulsive. You've gotta slow your heart rate and be objective rather than subjective. So in essence, the phrase, panic is suicide, is just a very powerful reminder of the need for mental fortitude and for emotional control, especially in extreme conditions. So I bring this about today because I think we can learn a lot from John Glenn. And I think that all of us are faced with some degree of stress and chaos in our world. And I just want to call attention to the fact that if you panic, if, if it's a knee-jerk reaction, if you're emotional, it clouds your judgment, it impairs your ability to perform. So this is a muscle I think we all have to develop. I know for me, I've absolutely had to develop this muscle. Now, I don't think I'm quick to panic, but I have been quick to emotion. I have been quick to action where, where if I had slowed down, slowed my heart rate, remained a bit more composed, be a bit more strategic, I may have ended up making a smarter or wiser decision. So, if you take your craft seriously, and I know that you do, this is something that as a leader, as a business person, as an entrepreneur, as an influencer, as someone responsible for others, this is something we've got to develop further. Our ability to be faced with stress yet maintain our composure and remain calm such that we are less emotional, and can make more, uh, clear and direct decisions that, that don't jeopardize the mission. So the focusing question for you today: when faced with stress, how do you react? Look back over history. Are there times where you recognize you were faced with some sort of stress and as a result maybe made an impulsive decision or one that was not you know, frankly, the right one? And was it due to your panic, right? Like, did you in fact panic? Now, we all have different definitions of panic, like in terms of degree of panic, but was it that emotional reaction that maybe caused you to make a less than stellar decision? Now that you're reflecting on that past, remember the focusing question, have you done this before? Okay, cool. Now, based on the fact that we've brought some awareness to it, What do you do differently moving forward? In the next day or couple days or a week or a couple weeks even, something is in fact going to happen. No doubt in my mind, if you're in business, there will be something that triggers you, your team, your business, I mean even your family. And I challenge you to immediately go to a state, you know, get to a state of calm. React differently than maybe you've historically reacted and just see, give it a shot. See if taking a little bit more time and remaining composed positively impacts the outcome. I, of course, I believe it, it will, and I'm sure you know that too, but I think you've got to be aware of this, that panic is in fact suicide, so that you can take action. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.