Gain a Competitive Edge: Five Tips for Rapid Recovery

The cardio kickboxing classes at my gym are popular and crowded ' which means the floors quickly become covered with sweat. Last week, midway through class, the instructor's foot unexpectedly slid out from under her and she slipped. Despite the fact that a few weeks earlier she had gotten injured when the same thing happened, she maintained her composure without a change in expression and literally didn't miss a beat.

Whether in the physical or mental arena, the ability to recover quickly after a misstep or setback not only helps minimize chronic stress but is also the mark of a true professional.

Let's say you're at the office and a client calls to let you know they can't go through with an important deal you've been working (and counting) on for months. Or you have a heated argument with a colleague. Unpleasant events to be sure, but they don't necessarily have to derail your productivity and morale for the rest of the day.

Instead of endless venting and rehashing the scene over and over, here's how you can hit your internal "restart" button and start to process what happened as quickly as possible:

- Use your body as an anchor. When we're "in our head," we're often ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. Your physical body, however, is always in the present ' use it to reground yourself. As soon as you experience a shock or disappointment, stop what you're doing and go into your body: take a few deep breaths, feel your feet on the floor, your fingers on the computer keyboard.

- Stick to the facts. Whenever an event triggers an emotional response, our egos hijack the facts and spin them into a familiar story using as many of our limiting beliefs and negative experiences as possible. See if you can parse out the facts ' "this particular deal did not go through" or "I lost the point" (instead of "why can't I ever do anything right?") -- to gain some perspective.

- Set boundaries. Yeah, I know, separating fact from your own firmly entrenched fiction is hard. Egos love drama and they will try to convince you that, if only you ruminate long enough, you will find an answer. This is an illusion. You're not going to "solve" an emotional response by thinking alone. So set a finite amount of time ' ten minutes, say ' to focus your attention solely on what's bothering you. Write down some stream-of-consciousness thoughts and then put it aside until the emotional heat has subsided and you can revisit the situation with a more balanced viewpoint.

- Coach yourself in the third person. Instead of the negative, critical voice that many of us use to speak to ourselves, try taking a step back and adopting a kinder voice, as if comforting a child. I calm myself down with phrases like: "You did your best," or "Everything happens for a reason."

- Don't broadcast your blunders. During a piano performance, it's easy to get thrown when a particular passage doesn't come off the way I practiced it. But the audience doesn't know exactly what I intended, and fixating on what went "wrong" will only lead to more bobbles and loss of confidence. Remember, whether you're making a presentation or cooking for a dinner party, people don't hear the critical voices in your head ' they only see your outward behavior and results.

The bottom line is once something has happened, the only thing you can control is your subsequent reaction. As champions in the worlds of both business and sports know, the ability to remain poised and quickly regain your balance is a competitive edge more valuable than never making a mistake at all.