At my recent leadership workshop, I asked a simple question:
“Think of the last time you did something you regretted later.
What caused it?”
As the results appeared on the screen, the answer was, what it's always been, aligned with research - Emotion.
It wasn’t poor logic or bad decision-making process.
It wasn't lack of data.
It was emotion.
Just like Marc Brackett writes in his book “Dealing with Feeling”:
“Nearly every time something went wrong—whenever an outcome wasn’t the one you wished for—it was because you had an unwise reaction to what you felt.”
Our underdeveloped ability to deal with feeling costs us more than we think.
A sharp email reply.
A poor hiring decision.
An unnecessary argument.
Multiply that over a lifetime, and emotion can change the trajectory of where we end up 180 degrees.
For better. Or, more often, for worse.
Think of it too, dear reader, the last time you did something you consider dumb, wasn’t it because of some emotion you didn't manage well intervened in your better judgement?
But that isn't what surprises me these days.
What surprises me is that most people still miss this: managing emotions isn’t just about mindset.
It’s first, about your body budget.
Marc Brackett cites a meta-analysis of over 1,000 studies and 128,000 participants:
“Exercise was found to be 1.5 times more effective than counseling or medication in reducing depression, anxiety, and distress.”
And the benefits kick in fast:
“After just 5–10 minutes of movement, unpleasant emotions decrease, pleasant ones rise, and our ability to handle stress improves—for up to 24 hours.”
Then there’s diet:
“People following Mediterranean or Japanese-style diets — rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and unsaturated fats — show far lower rates of anxiety and depression than those eating processed, Western-style diets.”
And sleep:
“People who are sleep-deprived are about 60% more reactive to their emotions than those who get sufficient sleep.”
So before we start overhauling our mindsets or creating new self-improvement plans, maybe we need to start with the body basics.
Do you sleep well — 7–9 hours, consistently?
Do you move your body every day, sufficiently?
Do you eat in ways that nourish, not drain your brain?
That’s where emotional regulation begins.
That’s where good decisions are made before you start thinking.
And good decision-making, decisions that don’t end in regret, become the life you end up living.
Over to you dear reader, before you tune up your mindset, have you worked on your body?
Your mind lives there.
Is it a good home?