Measure your composure every day.

Let's break this down.

There are two important components here:

1.) The distinction of composure , and

2.) Measurement as an improvement mechanism.

Composure is straightforward enough: it’s the extent to which someone is in control of their behavior.

If we get swept away by our emotions or impulses, we have low composure; if, despite what’s going on in our lives, we retain our ability to think through our actions and respond appropriately, then our composure is high.

Everyone’s composure will go up and down over time. If you’re under a prolonged period of high stress, you may find your composure in decline. If you take care of yourself, rest, and build your internal resources, you will find your level of composure going up.

Now that we’ve distinguished composure as a part of our life, we can start measuring it daily.

Measuring something every day has a strange effect: the thing we’re measuring often starts to improve, seemingly all on its own. In the same way, taking a second or two to measure your composure each day will lead to your level of composure improving. In fact, tracking something regularly is one of my go-to "hacks" for improving anything.

Why? The simple act of continuously bringing your attention to something causes you to change your behavior regarding that thing. You become “the kind of person who pays attention to your composure,” and the kind of person who pays attention to composure is also the kind of person who has higher than average composure.

The combination of distinguishing composure as a part of your life and repeatedly bringing your attention back to it iwill help improve your level of composure.

The best part? You don’t need to consciously try to change anythin g; you don’t need to put an improvement plan in place. Just track it and see what happens.

That’s my secret: I’ve been tracking my composure (on a simple Likert scale of 1-5) for months. As a result, when things get stressful, composure is the first thing on my mind and helps to guide me towards a more measured response to whatever is going on.

I’ve never liked stressful environments. I’ve never liked doing anything under pressure. I’ve never liked tight deadlines. Yet, by keeping track of my composure day to day, my resilience and adaptability in stressful situations has improved significantly.

Try it out. See what happens. You might be surprised.

On Composure