Before you walk in

The University of Glasgow found that the human brain reads another person’s emotional state in just 200 milliseconds, faster than a blink. Before you have introduced yourself, before you have made your case, before you have said a single word, everyone in that room already knows whether you are on or flat. Your energy does not wait for permission to speak. It arrives first, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Most directors know this instinctively. Almost none of them have a deliberate process to ensure they never walk in flat.

It is Bank Holiday Monday today, but tomorrow morning, you walk back in, and the week begins in earnest. The directors who consistently win rooms are not always the most prepared or the most polished. They are the ones who never walk in flat. They fix their mindset first, deliberately change their state, and then walk in. What you do with the rest of today determines the version of you that shows up tomorrow. Today’s episode is about the two minutes before you enter any room, and why those two minutes may be the most valuable in your entire week.