High pressure moments in our lives cause us to lose our cool. They just do. It could be at the poker table when you are involved in a big hand. Or the moment could be caused from a random guy hitting on your girl (or guy) at the bar, with too much aggression. There are virtually countless scenarios in our lives that have the potential to cause rapid increases in blood pressure, accompanied by feelings of rage. Our demeanor after we get in a traffic accident is hardly cool and calm. Therefore, our thought processes is not in top form.  Our vision is blurred when we are anxious and in moments laced with thick stress. Consequently, people who are able to remain cool during times of relative chaos, succeed at home and at work, better than those of us who go full tilt during an unstable, dangerous, or foreign situation. So what's the trick? How do we train ourselves to cope with intense situations? The key is to be prepared. How do we prepare for unforeseen events? Interval training. Our resting pulse will go from 70 BPM (beats per minute) during calm moments, to over 100 BPM rather quickly, following mentally emotional or physically difficult times of stress. When the intensity in our life ratchets up, so do our stress levels. Your mood and vibe can be altered at the blink of an eye. But once again, the key is to recover quickly. If our transition back to a calm mental state is fast, then we can be comfortable and logically dissect the basis for our heightened heart rate. If your mind and heart are racing, your decision making process will be sub-optimal and your personal and business relationships and successes will suffer as a result. So how do we recover quickly? Incremental physical fitness, specifically interval training, will help us keep our cool, during moments under pressure. "Cardiovascular interval training can have a profound effect on your ability to quickly release tension and recover from mental exhaustion. In every discipline, the ability to be clearheaded, present and cool under fire is much of what separates the best from the mediocre."¹ Working out on an exercise bike, running on a treadmill, weight lifting and other workouts, help us create a rhythm of intervals where our pulse rises and then comes back to normal. After we become accustomed to regular fluctuations of our breathing patterns, we can control our emotions better during intense situations. For example, develop an exercise routine on a stationary bike and create a rhythm of intervals through going very fast for a minute, followed by a cool-down period, so that your pulse increases and decreases, as it would in your everyday life when an obstacle comes in your way in business or at home and you have to hurdle it without letting the instability of the situation conquer your mental fortitude to make optimal decisions. With progression, increase the fierceness of your fast paced riding, or if you're on the treadmill, the intensity of your sprints and gradually condense your rest (cool-down with minimal speed) periods. Interval work is the cornerstone to becoming a consistent long-term performer in all aspects of your life. Transitioning back and forth between being stress and concentration will be like second nature. Once we master the art of recovery and it is embedded in our blood, we can access it during extreme, strained circumstances, leading to virtually instantaneous recovery time. ¹Waitzkin, Josh. "The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance" 2007.