Emotional Regulation Zones

A VP of Sales consistently schedules his most cognitively demanding work — strategic planning, complex negotiations — for Friday afternoons when he is depleted. He does emotional conversations and difficult feedback conversations first thing Monday morning when he is energized. He reports that his calendar is built around what is urgent, not what requires what kind of thinking. His performance reviews describe him as 'inconsistent' without specifying why. He attributes this to the demands of the role, not to the mismatch between state and task.

This is not a scheduling conversation — lead with state before calendar. 'Most executives plan their days around task pr...