Jake Burhans explains how a dysregulated nervous system clouds your thinking and offers the PAUSE framework to fix it in real time. Pause and notice your state, regulate your body through breath and muscle relaxation, scan your desired response, then execute it. These physical cues work instantly, even in high-pressure meetings.
We are overwhelmed because we're trying to operate from a dysregulated nervous system state. It's impossible to think from that dysregulated state. There's no blood flow to your brain and everything feels like this difficult, chaotic tornado. So next time that you're overwhelmed, I want you to use the PAUSE framework. Okay, pause, acknowledge the state you're in. Are you regulated or dysregulated? Are you in survival and stress? Are you calm and clear? If you're in survival, I then want you to unwind. So that's regulate the body. Literally relax your muscles. Breathe slowly. These are things you can do in real time. You're going into a meeting. Oh my gosh, pause, acknowledge. I'm in survival mode. Relax the body. Slow the breath. Speak slower. Signal to your body that you are safe. Then you're gonna want to scan. Okay, how do I wanna act? And then execute. So that's the PAUSE framework. Pause, acknowledge what state you're in. Regulate the body, unwind and regulate. Then you scan, how do I wanna respond? And then you execute.
