How to walk into any meeting calm in 5 minutes (full routine)
By Yogesh Pandey · 26 October 2026 · 2 min read
Five minutes is enough. Minute 1: check your breath, jaw and shoulders and let them drop. Minute 2: name the feeling (“I notice fear”). Minute 3: call it excitement (“I’m excited”). Minute 4: talk to yourself by name. Minute 5: pick one face and make sure that person understands you.
Minutes 1 and 2: check, then name
Is your breath high in your chest or low in your belly? Is your jaw tight? Are your shoulders up? Do not fix anything. Notice, then let all three drop. Then say “I notice fear.” Research suggests that putting a feeling into words can take some of the heat out of it.
Minutes 3 and 4: excited, then your name
Say “I’m excited.” In one study, people who said it performed better than people who were told to calm down. Then talk to yourself by name: “Priya, you’ve done this before.” In one study, talking to yourself by name before a stressful speech lowered anxiety.
Minute 5: one face
Pick one person in the room. Your only job is to make sure that person understands. Nothing in this routine adds a skill. Every step removes something that is in the way. That is the Throne Zone: the calm you already have, with less on top of it.
- Tomorrow, try it in the lift before a meeting.
- Do the five steps in order.
- Keep the one that helps most.
Source: Lieberman et al. (2007), Psychological Science 18(5); Brooks (2014), Journal of Experimental Psychology: General; Kross et al. (2014), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106(2).
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