In this episode, I reverse each one and walk through four tactics for low-confidence first aid: reframing catastrophic thoughts, checking your track record against your worst predictions, breaking a big task into steps you can actually take, and using combat breathing to calm your body before you try to calm your mind. One assignment to carry into the week.

The Huddle is a short weekly briefing on being ready. One idea, one move to make this week. Mondays.

Goran Lozo is a combat and counterterrorism veteran, a 7th-degree black belt in traditional karate, and the creator of the Pressure Performance Protocol™. More at goranlozo.com

This week on The Huddle, I break down the visualization method I trained in as a soldier and used every day in executive protection: not visualizing the outcome, but visualizing the process. Four moves: walk yourself through the entire situation step by step, rehearse the moment everything goes wrong, put your body and your breathing through the motions in advance, and practice recovering when something does go sideways.

None of this is limited to protection work. It applies to layoffs, restructuring, a job interview, a health scare, or any moment where the pressure could take over before you do.

Your assignment before next Monday: pick one situation you are bracing for, and rehearse it.

The Huddle is a short weekly briefing on being ready. One idea, one move to make this week. Mondays.

Goran Lozo is a combat and counterterrorism veteran, a 7th-degree black belt in traditional karate, and the creator of the Pressure Performance Protocol™. More at goranlozo.com

None of that means something is wrong with you. It means your nervous system can't predict what's coming, so it prepares you for everything at once. Which points at the fix: if the problem is that the situation is unfamiliar, make it familiar before you get there.

In this episode, Goran walks through the visualization method a Special Operations captain taught him after Basic Training — the one he carried into combat and counterterrorism operations and has used in competition and coaching ever since. He also covers the mistake that makes most visualizations worthless: picturing the victory and skipping everything in between.

Your work this week: Pick one situation you're dreading in the next thirty days. Ten minutes, three times before Monday. Move through it step by step and give yourself the hard version — the hostile question, the slide that won't load, the moment your voice catches. Arrive at the outcome you want by going through the difficulty, not around it.

Next Monday: advanced visualization.

The Huddle is a short weekly briefing on being ready. One idea, one move to make this week. Mondays.

Goran Lozo is a combat and counterterrorism veteran, a 7th-degree black belt in traditional karate, and the creator of the Pressure Performance Protocol™. More at goranlozo.com

1. Talent becomes useless the moment it has to be used under pressure. At twenty-one, I beat a world vice champion in his own city, in overtime, where the first score ends it. He was the more talented fighter. That wasn't the deciding factor.

2. Certainty is built, not issued at birth. When I walked on the mat, I felt it belonged to me and everyone else was an intruder. That came from years of training two and three times a day, not from temperament.

3. Your opponent's ability is outside your control. I never spent a second on how good the other man was. I worked only on what I could control: composure, breathing, body language, timing, distance, execution.

4. Preparation and pressure training are two different things. A director I worked with knew his board material better than anyone in the room — he built the model himself. One unexpected question three minutes in and he lost the thread. He wasn't underprepared. He had never trained for the moment things stop going to plan.

5. This week's assignment: don't avoid tough situations. Walk into them. Then notice your breathing, your composure, your body language, how you speak to your family and colleagues, and how you decide when the going gets hard.

When you see how pressure affects you, you'll know where you have the most room to improve.