It’s usually prompted by something terrible.

• Maybe a client is going ballistic about a mistake we made.
• Maybe we’ve just received a grievance from the State Bar.
• Maybe we’ve overdrawn the checking account.
• Maybe it’s 24 hours from payroll being due and we’re $100,000 short. 

Sometimes I panic.

My breathing gets shallow. My armpits get sweaty. My chest feels tight.

Just writing about it gives me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Can the Effects of the Panic Button Be Reversed?

I’ve tried a variety of approaches to getting myself off the ledge:

• I’ve tried deep breathing.
• I’ve tried exercise.
• I’ve tried having these little conversations with myself where I say positive things.

None of that works for me. It’s like I’m drowning and can’t pull myself out of the water.

It’s tricky when you start to panic. It’s difficult to keep your thoughts straight. It’s difficult to come up with a plan for getting yourself out of the panic and back on track.

Action Has an Equal and Similar Reaction

Over the years, the only solution that I’ve found personally effective—the solution that has worked for me over and over again—is action.

I need to stop thinking about the problem, whatever it may be, and start acting. Action is what calms me down. I’ve got to do something. It doesn’t really matter what I do as long as it’s a doing thing and not a thinking thing.

I’ve found that once I take some action to solve the problem, the panic begins to subside. It’s the only thing that works for me.

I’ve got to find the space in my head, if only for a second, to decide what I can do to move forward. I only need the first step. I only need the slightest little bit of action to cause the panic to begin to subside. Once I come up with a single step, no matter how small, the panic eases. As I continue to act, the panic continues to lessen.

Sometimes, the action I take might be incredibly small. It might be simply sitting down to develop an action plan. I might do nothing more than start drawing the steps out on a blank piece of paper. The movement can be trivial.

The key for me is to take some action to solve the problem. I need to stop thinking and start doing. Until I take action, I’m stuck in a state of mental paralysis.

The minute I start to move forward, I begin to feel better. Solutions come into focus. The next thing you know, I’m headed in the right direction, and the panic is a faint and distant memory.