CEOs Share Their Secrets: Unwinding After Tough Decisions

One habit that helps me release tension after a difficult meeting is a short strength routine in a quiet room. I set a fifteen minute timer and rotate through push ups, air squats, and a plank. I keep the pace steady and focus on rhythm and breathing instead of chasing intensity. This simple movement helps the body settle and gives my mind space to reset after a stressful conversation.

When the timer ends, I sit quietly for two minutes and replay the meeting in reverse order. I try to notice the first moment when the room started to feel tense. Then I write one short sentence about what I could have asked instead. That single sentence becomes a better prompt for the next conversation and helps turn stress into a useful lesson.

As CEO of Software House, my go-to activity after a tough meeting or decision is a 30-minute walk with no phone. It sounds almost too simple, but the science behind it changed how I approach mental recovery.

I discovered this accidentally during a particularly brutal week where we had to let go of a client that represented 25% of our revenue. After the call, I was too wound up to sit at my desk, so I walked to a park near our office. Within 20 minutes, I went from replaying the conversation in my head to actually mapping out our recovery plan. The movement shifted my brain from reactive mode to creative mode.

Now it’s a deliberate practice. After any meeting where I feel tension building, whether it’s a difficult performance review, a pricing negotiation, or a strategic pivot discussion, I step outside immediately. No Slack, no email, no podcasts. Just walking and letting my thoughts settle naturally.

What makes this work better than meditation or gym sessions for me is the lack of structure. I’m not trying to achieve anything during the walk. There’s no timer, no app tracking steps, no goal. That absence of optimization is exactly what a CEO brain needs when it’s been in decision-making overdrive.

I’ve tracked this informally: decisions I make after a walk are consistently better than ones I make while still sitting in the residual stress of a hard conversation. The 30 minutes I invest saves hours of course-correcting reactive decisions.

After a difficult meeting, I don’t rush into the next thing. That’s where leaders make sloppy decisions.

My go-to reset is simple: door closed. Silence. Just me.

No phone. No email. No interruptions. Ten to twenty minutes on my own.

In my experience, the real issue after a tough decision isn’t the decision itself — it’s the emotional residue. Frustration. Doubt. Adrenaline. If you carry that into the next conversation, you contaminate it.

So I shut the door and sit with it.

I’ll replay what happened, but clinically — not emotionally. What was fact? What was ego? What actually matters in a week’s time? It’s amazing how quickly the noise fades when you remove the audience.

Leadership can feel loud. Everyone wants a piece of you. Everyone has an opinion. Closing the door is my way of reclaiming perspective.

Because clarity doesn’t come from more input.

It comes from quiet.

And sometimes the most powerful move a CEO can make… is shutting the door and thinking.

My go-to is pretty simple, honestly. I’ll cook something that requires focus. Not like throwing together a sandwich. I mean actually cooking something with multiple steps where I have to pay attention or I’ll screw it up. Could be a stir fry, could be pasta from scratch, whatever requires enough mental bandwidth that I can’t be thinking about work while I’m doing it.

There’s something about the process of chopping, timing everything, tasting as you go, that completely pulls me out of whatever tension I was carrying from the meeting or decision. You can’t ruminate on a difficult conversation when you’re trying to get the heat right on a pan or make sure you don’t overcook something. It forces you into the present, which is exactly what I need after spending an hour in my head debating options or dealing with conflict.

The clarity comes naturally while I’m eating. By the time I sit down with whatever I made, my brain’s had enough time to process things in the background without me forcing it. I’ll have a clearer perspective or at least I’m not as wound up about it anymore. Plus you get a decent meal out of it, which beats stress-eating takeout!

Being the Partner at spectup and spending most days around complex founder situations and investor conversations, I have learned that the fastest way for me to reset after a difficult meeting is physical movement, usually a run. After intense decision making sessions, especially those involving fundraising strategy or difficult trade offs for a startup team, my mind tends to keep replaying the conversation. Sitting longer rarely improves the thinking.

Running helps because it forces a mental shift. During the first few minutes I am still thinking about the meeting, but after a while the focus moves to rhythm and breathing. That change often clears the mental noise that builds up during long strategy discussions. I have noticed that by the time I finish, the problem I was stressing about usually feels simpler and easier to approach again.

There was one moment during a particularly complex capital raising process where a founder and their investors strongly disagreed on valuation strategy. The discussion ended with more questions than answers, and tension was high. I stepped away for a run later that evening, and somewhere halfway through it became obvious that the real issue was not valuation but misaligned expectations about timing.

When I came back the next day, the follow up conversation was far more constructive because the framing had changed. For me, that is the real benefit of stepping away physically. It creates enough distance for clearer thinking to return.

Forced detachment from the business

A walk in the park or a quiet dinner probably isn’t going to get my mind off work because it doesn’t require enough effort to displace the thoughts of a problem. I need to be training to be an Ironman cyclist or running or swimming to really switch off.

Because it’s a serious hobby, it forces me to leave the mental landscape of running a business. When I’m mid-workout and watching my pace, there is really no room to also worry about an employee or board disagreement. It’s a survival skill because without that hour or so of pure focus on something other than the office, you risk cracking under the pressure. The fact that this second life tries so hard to drag me away is often the only thing that can get a CEO to quiet their mind.

Additional effects

Most hobbies or experiences can provide it, but in these situations, it creates a strong emotional connection in your mind. Hobbies like these form what I call psychological capital, which is a reservoir of optimism and emotional strength you can tap into when you’re facing tough boardroom challenges. I’ve managed a lot of projects over my 25 years in business. When one of them tanks, I’ve got another passion to focus on.

If I make a mistake on a deal or fail to meet a target, my self-esteem doesn’t take a hit because I am a person who can finish an Ironman. This side hobby is my refuge where I am not a CEO. The discipline it requires always keeps my mind sharp and alert. I end up showing up for my next meeting with a sense of vigor and grace under pressure you can’t get from just relaxing.

My go-to way to clear my head after a difficult meeting is a short, repeatable ritual built around a priority trio. I step away for a five to ten minute reset, do a two-minute prep to review the three high-impact tasks I will focus on next, and close unnecessary tabs and mute notifications. That brief break releases tension and helps me move from reactive to deliberate thinking. I finish with a five-minute wrap-up writing quick notes on progress and planning the first block for tomorrow, which restores clarity and reduces mental load.

My go-to way to reset after a tough meeting is a full unplug, no phone, no emails, and no business books. I protect that time from Friday night to Saturday night, and it gives me the space to let the noise settle. Being fully present with family and friends helps the tension drop and puts decisions back into perspective. When I come back, I am calmer, more objective, and ready to move forward with clarity.

I’ve spent years building in the nonprofit fundraising space, and the toughest moments aren’t the long hours. They’re the calls that require your full attention with no clear playbook. After those meetings, I don’t try to shut my brain off. I redirect it toward something I can actually build.

My go-to is diving into technical work. Exploring a new tool, experimenting with how AI can solve a problem we’re facing, or just tinkering with something that has a clear output. There’s something about hands-on problem solving that releases the pressure. I’m still engaged, but the mental loop breaks because I’m focused on creating instead of replaying.

I’m a technical founder at heart, and that curiosity never turned off. The creative side of technology genuinely energizes me. It’s not about escaping the hard stuff. It’s about channeling that restless energy somewhere productive. When I’m building, I’m not stuck in what just happened. I’m already moving toward what’s next.

The clarity doesn’t come from stepping away. It comes from stepping toward something I care about. For me, that’s always been making things work better. By the time I look up, the weight of that difficult meeting has loosened its grip. I’m thinking clearly again, and I’m ready to lead.

After 14 years as an Intel engineer and now performing micro-soldering where a 0.1 mm slip can destroy a client’s irreplaceable photos, I’ve learned that a mental reset requires shifting from high-pressure precision to low-pressure logic.

My go-to activity is assembling LEGO Technic sets, specifically the complex vehicle models that mirror the intricate mechanical and electrical schematics I diagnose daily at my shop.

This tactile process provides the “flow state” needed to decompress, replacing the high stakes of data recovery with the simple satisfaction of following a clear, structured blueprint.

Spending an hour with gears and pins resets my focus, ensuring I return to the bench with the steady hands and clarity required for high-precision repairs that most shops won’t even attempt.

I take a quick nine-hole round at a par-3 golf course to unwind after a difficult meeting. Being outside and moving helps me release tension and stop replaying the conversation in my head. The short format gives a clear break without taking too much of the day. That small reset helps me return with a fresher perspective and a clearer sense of next steps.

Reflecting to Regain Clarity as a CEO

Journaling is one way for relaxing and clearing my mind after a challenging meeting or a big decision. Writing enables me to sort out my ideas. It only takes 15 to 20 good minutes to pen down what has happened. Usually, I list the things that went well, the things that seemed difficult, and the things I would do differently the next time. This easy and innovative habit helps me re-energize by letting go of built-up anxiety, and prevents rash decision making. After writing, my ideas become clearer, I can focus better on my long-term goals, and return to my team members with a more calm demeanor.

After a difficult meeting, I don’t try to “power through clarity.” I switch modes.

First, I move into something quiet and contained for 10-15 minutes – a small, practical task that doesn’t require more debate: tightening a one-pager, cleaning up priorities for the week, or turning scattered notes into a clear action list. It’s boring in the best way: it gives my brain a clean edge to hold onto.

Then I deliberately change the type of work. If we’ve been deep in product features, I’ll switch to a marketing task – positioning a message, rewriting a paragraph, sanity-checking how we explain value. Different muscle group, different pace, less emotional residue.

Location matters too. I’ll physically move: home to office, desk to a different corner. And yes – I do have a standing spot in the office. I’m not pretending it’s some wellness ritual; it just stops me from sitting in the same “meeting posture” while replaying the conversation in my head. Standing up makes it harder to spiral and easier to reset. I probably look slightly too serious for someone who’s basically just… standing there to think, but it works.

As CEO of a fast-paced startup where things often dont go according to plan, my go-to reset after a difficult meeting is deceptively simple: 15 minutes outside in nature or a park, no screens, no agenda. Just me and a patch of greenery. I sit, breathe deeply, and let my senses explore the surroundings. Helps me get the sense of the bigger picture in life back, and resets my mood and energy.

For my weekly reset, I swear by 20 minutes in the sauna, eyes closed, breathing slowly. The key is to still your thoughts so it doesn’t turn into an overthinking session. I step out feeling genuinely recharged and clear. What I’ve found is that clarity isn’t something you think your way into, it’s something you create space and ritual for.

My go-to way to clear my head is to replay the conversation through a single focused question I use in discovery calls: “What kind of marketing have you tried that did not work out like you thought it would, and what do you think was the problem?” Focusing on what was tried, where the budget went and what expectations were in place helps me strip away emotion and see the core issue. Reflecting on those elements reduces tension and gives me the clarity I need to decide the next steps with the team.

After a difficult meeting or a decision that carries weight, the worst thing I can do is move straight to the next item. That’s what most leaders do, bury tension under more activity and call it productivity. But the residue of hard decisions doesn’t dissolve with busyness. It accumulates. And it compromises your ability to be fully present for whatever comes next.

My go-to reset is a two-part practice: box breathing followed by what I call a “gratitude walk.” Together they take less than ten minutes.

Box breathing first, four seconds in, four seconds hold, six seconds out. At my desk, door closed, immediately after the meeting ends. Three to four rounds is enough. It interrupts the stress response. Heart rate settles, mental noise drops, and I move from reactive to present. Not meditation. A reset switch.

Then I walk, three to four minutes, no phone, no destination. During the walk, I focus on specific gratitudes from that day. A team member who showed up with clarity. A decision that moved something forward. The fact that I get to do work that matters. That shift from pressure to gratitude reframes my relationship to what just happened. I return seeing things clearly because I’m no longer carrying the last meeting into the next one.

That’s the part most leaders miss. The cost of skipping a reset isn’t just stress; it’s contamination. You walk into your next meeting still processing the last one. Physically present but mentally split. Your team gets half of you, and decisions made from that place are never as clean as they should be. This practice clears the residue so I walk into the next room genuinely focused, not performing focus while running on the fumes of what just happened.

What surprises people is how little time this takes. Not a twenty-minute meditation or a trip to the gym. A few minutes of breathing and a short walk with intention. Most leaders can find that window. The ones who say they can’t are usually the ones who need it most.

The leaders I coach discover the same thing, the reset isn’t just recovery. It becomes better leadership on the front end. When you have a reliable system for processing pressure, you stop trying to resolve everything in the room. You listen more carefully. You lead from steadiness instead of managing your own stress in real time.

Clarity isn’t something you find at the bottom of a packed calendar. It’s something you protect by building small recoveries into how you lead.

After high pressure meetings, we prefer a short deep work block focused on a completely different problem. Switching from people management to structured analysis resets cognitive tension. Concentrating on a contained task restores a sense of progress and control. That shift often surfaces better decisions about the original issue.

We avoid venting or over discussing immediately after conflict. Instead, we give ourselves time to reframe the situation privately. Once the emotional charge lowers, communication improves. Mental clarity strengthens when response replaces reaction.

It helps me to talk to people. I’ll either talk to a colleague or maybe a family member if I go home right after. It doesn’t help me to just bottle things up, because I’ll just think about it over and over again. Actually talking about it grounds me more, because I’m able to get more clarity through having another person respond to me with questions or affirmations.

My go-to thing to do in situations like these or during times when I just feel extra stressed is to do something creative. Creativity gets me out of my own head. It uses different parts of my brain and also gives me a chance to unwind. I often find that after doing something creative, I have a newfound sense of clarity about the other things I am working on.

As a Clinical Psychologist and founder of MVS Psychology Group, I manage both complex trauma cases and the operational pressures of leading a major Melbourne healthcare practice. My perspective is informed by my PhD research into resilience and my experience supervising clinical registrars in high-stakes environments.

To clear my head, I engage in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity movement to physically reverse the “slowing down” symptoms caused by intense cortisol spikes. I monitor my physiological threshold using a Garmin Forerunner to ensure I stay in the optimal zone for emotional regulation and cognitive clarity.

This activity facilitates “Flow,” where stretching my mind to its limits through physical exertion proves far more rewarding than passive relaxation. It serves as the “glue” that restores my sense of internal control when external decision-making feels overwhelming or uncertain.

I’m nine years sober and run The Freedom Room, so after hard CEO calls I’m very deliberate about “downshifting” my nervous system before I think again—otherwise stress makes me impulsive (I learned that the hard way in addiction).

My go-to is a 10-minute candle + deep-breath reset with a timer: 4 seconds in through the nose, 6 seconds out, shoulders dropped, eyes soft. I’ll write one line on a sticky note at the end: “What am I afraid of?” and answer it in blunt words.

Concrete example: after a tense staffing decision, my first urge was to over-explain and people-please in follow-up messages. The breathing + that one prompt usually reveals the real fear (e.g., “I’m scared they’ll think I’m unfair”), and then I can send a clearer, shorter message based on values, not anxiety.

If I’m still wired, I add one tiny declutter task (clear my desk surface or inbox triage for 5 minutes). Order outside my head creates order inside my head, fast.