The CIA method for making quick decisions under stress

CIA teaches us that there's only three resources that matter in life

There's energy, time, and money. You can always create more energy, and you can always create more money

but you cannot create more time. So you are literally always working against a clock

a clock that is ticking, a clock that is counting down, a clock that is rolling forward, and you really start to feel the pressure of time

Instead, what you need to understand is the very same time that's making you anxious is actually your most valuable asset

How to multitask like a spy. Current research shows that the average person has to make more than 1600 decisions a day

They have to decide when to pick up the kids, what to feed them for dinner, what to say to their spouse, when to call their mom

They're keeping track of when the next time is to put out the trash and they're keeping track of when the next time is to mow the lawn

There are an overwhelming amount of tasks that you have to carry out every single day

And the same thing happens to us when we are operating in the foreign field

It's something that we call task saturation. When there's more tasks that need to be done, then you feel comfortable carrying out with

any sort of effective capacity. And task saturation is a very dangerous thing because it can result in decreased cognitive

ability, increased stress, increased anxiety, and an overall sense of unproductive success

You can learn to identify and manage your own threshold for tasks so that you never enter a

position of task saturation. We have a very simple rule of thumb at CIA that says that however many

tasks you think you can confidently carry out simultaneously, subtract two. So if you think you

can do seven tasks simultaneously, just do five. If you think you can only do three tasks simultaneously

cut down by two so you just do one. What happens when you take this simple rule of thumb and you

reduce the number of tasks that you're trying to accomplish by two, you are essentially increasing

your resources for fewer tasks, which increases your productivity with each of those tasks. And as

you become more productive, you gain momentum with the other tasks. And above all, you have this very

positive mindset and this very positive attitude that allows you to continue being productive

In contrast, when you allow yourself to reach a place of task saturation, the opposite effect

happens. You start to feel like you're not being productive. You start to feel like you're

overwhelmed and you develop a negative mindset that actually starts to create more problems that

keep you from being productive. Once you are task saturated, you have to start working to resolve or

reverse your level of task saturation. The first step is one where you have to accept that you are

actively in a position of task saturation, which means you will not accomplish all of the tasks

that you trying to carry out Once you accept that you will not be able to do all the tasks you trying to do the next step is to prioritize the remaining tasks that you have At CIA we call this operational prioritization

which means that to continue the operation and to achieve success, we must prioritize in a very specific way

This is where time becomes your most valuable asset and your best friend

Because time is something that you can't argue with. Time is something that you can't debate

So when the time comes that you need to operationally prioritize your tasks, you want to use time to help you put those tasks in order

So you ask yourself the question, what is the next task that I can carry out in the shortest amount of time

Yes, I know it sounds simple and it sounds basic and it may even sound silly or stupid to you

But it's the very fact that that question is so elementary in nature that makes it so reliable when your whole body is working against you

because you can't deny the simple truth that some tasks can be done faster than others

And as you start to complete tasks in that lens of operational prioritization

you start to gain momentum. You start to reduce your total number of tasks

and you start to gain back confidence as you get back to the place

where you are able to manage the remaining tasks that you have. Imagine that you and I are meeting

with a terrorist asset in the foreign field. Maybe that's somewhere in the Middle East

Maybe that's somewhere in Southeast Asia. and we don't know that we can trust this person

Maybe they are carrying a bomb strapped to their chest. Maybe they're carrying a gun. Maybe they have a group of people

that are waiting just outside the door to attack us as soon as we sit down

But the secrets that this person has are so valuable that it's worth the risk

of trying to have the conversation. We are gonna go into that meeting

and right away we will be task saturated. But you have to focus on the next simplest task

which really is just saying hello to this terrorist target. That is a simple, stupid, basic thing

but it is something that only takes a few seconds before you start making progress

Now imagine in this situation, when we sit down to meet with this terrorist asset

that the worst really does happen and that this terrorist stands up

and pulls guns out of his pockets and points these guns at you and me

and we have to immediately flip ourselves into some kind of defensive or survival mode

Again, you realize that we will be in an immediate position of task saturation

What do we do next? Here's a person in the room with us

actively trying to do us harm. Do we help each other? Do we help ourselves

Do we scream for help? Do we make a phone call? Do we try to radio in the military to save us

The answer is you have to do the next fastest thing. We're trained in that situation

that the first thing you have to do is protect yourself. So you take cover, you hide behind a piece of furniture or you fall on the

floor and you hide behind a large chair or a desk or a table. You try to do something to keep

yourself safe It fast It does not take a lot of time but it gives you the space and the momentum that you need to make the next decision So from your position of cover now you know you have one less task

You are now physically protected from the person with the gun. But what do you do next? The answer

is you have to assess the room to decide what your next step will be. So you use your ears

you use your eyes, you use your mouth to speak out and find out whether or not the other person

that you're in the room with is safe, whether they're protected, whether or not you know where the shooter is

whether or not you're counting how many times they fired their gun. You're making all of these decisions in real time

choosing the next fastest decision because that's what will keep you alive

You're not trying to do the next most complicated decision. You're not trying to solve all the problems at one time

You're not trying to play a hero. You are literally just trying to make

the next fastest decision that you need so that you can have one less decision to make

so that you can be one step closer to survival. We don't often deal with life and death situations

in the real world. We don't have to worry about whether or not someone's strapping a bomb to their chest

or whether they're coming in to try to hurt us. But we do have to deal with surprises

and unexpected events all the time. Surprises from our children at school

surprises from our bosses at work, surprises from our spouse at bedtime

We never know when the next surprise will happen. But no matter when you find that surprise present itself

no matter when you find yourself in that moment of task saturation, your path to survival is literally as simple

as doing the next fastest thing. Because as you accomplish those tasks

you will build momentum, you will build confidence, you will build a sense of productive activity

that gets you back to the place where you feel confident with the level of tasks that you have left

and you will overcome that feeling of task saturation. One of the biggest challenges we face

when we find ourselves in a moment of task saturation is that emotionally

we start to say very negative things to ourselves in our own head

because we have given up on rational thought. So now our brain has all this extra capacity

to start using emotional thoughts. So instead of trying to focus on a productive outcome

our brain starts to self-criticize. We actually start telling ourselves, oh, I should have never done this thing in the past

or I'll never do that thing again. You start to have all these negative thoughts that pile on with the brain's additional capacity

by letting go of rational thought. This is something we call head trash

It's all the junk that comes into your mind where you start to self-criticize and self-demean

and self-ridicule because your brain has this additional capacity that it's not using on

rational thoughts. Head trash and negative thinking can become a real problem

because it actually convinces you to stop trying. It convinces you to give up

It convinces you that you are not capable of things that you actually are capable of doing

Because as soon as you start to think you can't do something that you actually have the capacity to accomplish you end up right back in that very same place of sense where you try to avoid and escape instead of face a problem head and accomplish what you know you can

accomplish when you have rational thought. We are literally wired to doubt everything around us

because that's how we survive. But we live in a world where we're trying to thrive and lean into

and sometimes even trust the world around us. But we have not evolved biologically

to the place where we can do that yet. Overcoming task saturation through the simple process

of being able to do the next fastest task kept us alive when we were living in caves

and running from predators. It will also keep us alive and help us to thrive in today's modern world

because at the end of the day, we still view the world around us

as something that is either a threat or not a threat. Sometimes your children coming home

and throwing a fit is a threat. It's a threat to your sleep. It's a threat to your stress

Sometimes the boss calling you at eight o'clock at night is a threat. It's a threat to your worry

It's a threat to your career. It's a threat to your job prospects. Sometimes when you get a bill in the mail, it's a threat

And we constantly find ourselves living in a world surrounded by threats

that make us feel overwhelmed, just like we did when we were living in a cave

and we were threatened by all the predators that surrounded us. We have to understand that the simplest solution

is oftentimes the best solution. And that has proven true for us countless times

and that will prove true for you with operational prioritization. So here's my challenge to you

You will feel overwhelmed tomorrow and the day after and multiple times this week

Task saturation is virtually guaranteed if you're in any kind of professional workplace environment

because the demands are always going to outweigh your confidence in carrying out certain tasks

So when you identify that moment where you are carrying more tasks

than you have confidence that you can execute, try to do the next simplest thing

Maybe that means you have to stop to make yourself lunch. Maybe that means you have to stop

to pour a new cup of coffee. Maybe that means you just need to sit and take a few deep breaths for yourself

But you will find that if you accomplish that simplest task first, you will find motivation, energy, momentum, and positive thinking that

allows you to continue moving forward. When you practice operational prioritization just one time

you will immediately feel the benefits, but that won't make it a habit, that won't make it a

reliable tool in your tool belt. You have to drill this. You have to practice it over and over again

You have to practice it at home. You have to practice it at work. You have to make it part

of your routine that every time you reach that point of task saturation, you will literally

stop and do the next simplest thing. And when you see the benefits of that over and over and over again, you will be behaving

like a trained operator, like the best in the world who can travel anywhere to accomplish

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