Brady Wilson for inc.com

When you’re stressed, your creative, nuanced, higher-order thinking disappears. But you can return to 720 possibilities by restoring your higher-order thinking in a matter of seconds. Here are tips to practice.

Tap into gratitude.

Psychologists say that focusing on your “gratitude anchor” releases a cascade of potent feel-good hormones that flush out stress chemicals, giving you back your smarts.

Name your state.

When are you experiencing significant internal tension and anxiety, you can reduce stress by up to 50 percent by noticing and naming your state. When you name your state, you reduce the stress load and give yourself access to your social smarts.

Take three deep breaths.

When you making your breathing slow and deep, this signal to your limbic system that you are no longer in threat. When nothing is in your way, you’re tapping into all your latent capabilities. You’re equal to the task, functioning at your full ability to perform.”