ABCDE (Retaining Composure under Pressure)
Emotional responses to frustrating or challenging situations and people can undermine peak performance. Don’t fall victim to over-emotional impulses. Learn to channel emotional energy in constructive directions.
The ABCDE technique helps people to retain composure while also being present and open in the face of uncertainty. It is a sequence of five actions that helps to keep the mind calm and the imagination firing. Once the five actions are understood, they can be practiced and ultimately employed in the space of a breath.
They are:
- Accept
- Breathe
- Centre
- Decide
- Engage
The five ABCDE actions need to be experienced to be understood. Often we provide some acting games and exercises to highlight to participants their individual response to pressure – fight, flight, withdrawal, demotivation, hyperactivity, etc. Each of the steps in the ABCDE process will be experienced in isolation and then we’ll work at putting them together, as one would in a typical business situation.
A preview of the ABCDE workshop is viewable in the Video Room.
