Here are some steps you can take if you’re ready to adopt the stance of the code leader.

1. Don’t let the twin thieves of time gang up on you. Understand that Urgency and Distraction are the thieves of time. These twin sisters work together to waste away your time and effort. Investing in high quality sleep will create a natural buffer between you and these thieves making you a much harder target.

2. If you don’t have one already, begin a regular meditation practice. Meditate for a minimum of 5 minutes every day. When you feel urgency taking over your life, meditation is even more important but Urgency will tell you that you just don’t have the time. Trust me, you have 5 minutes. You always have 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes are the difference between you making decisions based out of fear and distraction or making decisions that uniquely contribute. 

3. When you’re facing urgency at work, stare it in the face. Take a big breath or even three or ten… As many as you need to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Doing this uses your body to help your mind create the necessary pause between the stimulus and your reaction. This is how you defibrillate yourself first.

4.Once you are feeling calm and purposeful, address your team. You must have your team pause if you want them to start working together to address the issue at hand. Tell them “Everybody take a big breath.” Insist upon it. When you see the collective big breath - you can literally see everbody calming down. Let the pause happen. The power is in the pause. — One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mississippi. The pause allows us to choose a response. Then, Let professional training and experience take over from there.