Regulate More. Grind Less.

Estimated read time: 4 min

Hi, I'm Chris — former doctor, investment bank trader, and dad building systems for high-output humans with limited margins.

🔻 Hidden Bottleneck: Your Nervous System

Most high performers misdiagnose burnout.

They think it’s a mindset problem. A discipline issue. Something to push through.

I used to believe the same.

• Thought calm was something I could “think” my way into

• Thought sleep and clean food were enough for recovery

• Thought more control meant more stability

I was wrong.

What I needed wasn’t more grit.

It was regulation.

👇 The uncomfortable truth:

If your nervous system is overloaded, your performance OS crashes in quiet ways:

• Your focus fragments

• Your decisions lose edge

• Your presence with family dissolves

High stress without regulation doesn’t build resilience.
It builds fragility.

🧠 The Shift: Regulate First. Execute Second.

This hit hardest after I became a dad.

Suddenly, I had less of everything:
Sleep. Time. Space to recalibrate.

I kept trying to "optimise" my days.
But even the best systems buckled when I was running hot inside.

Then I saw it clearly:

When that’s maxed out — everything else is compromised.

🔧 The Micro-Regulation Protocol

A daily system to increase regulation capacity under pressure

1. Baseline Awareness

Every operating system needs a dashboard. These are mine:

• HRV trend (Oura, Apple Watch)

• Sleep debt

• Time-to-irritation (especially with kids/team)

• Thought looping or mental fog

⚠️ Awareness isn't self-judgment.
It's early detection — so you don’t wait until you’re cooked.

2. Default Reset Tools (2–5 mins)

These are quick interventions — not long meditations.

• Box breathing (4-4-4-4)

• Parasympathetic cues: long exhale, humming, cold splash

• Grounding movement: barefoot walk, pushups, deep squat

• Environmental shift: open window, move space, change posture

I plug these in during transitions or intensity spikes.

3. Scheduled Regulation Blocks

Nervous system care isn’t a luxury. It’s infrastructure.

• 🧭 Midweek nature walk (45 min)

• 🔥 Sauna or cold exposure

• 📵 90 min screenless Sunday AM

• 🧠 Recovery block post-high-stakes deliverables

Pre-book it. Protect it. Because high performance starts with high regulation.

🔬 Why This Works (The Science)

Performance isn’t about effort alone — it’s about nervous system adaptability.

• HRV (Heart Rate Variability) is one of the strongest predictors of executive function under pressure. (Harvard Health, 2022)

• High vagal tone is associated with faster emotional recovery and better decision-making. (Journal of Neuroscience, 2013)

• Chronic sympathetic activation (fight/flight) reduces working memory, creativity, and connection. (Neurobiology of Stress, 2018)

This isn’t “wellness.”

It’s your edge.

🧠 Thought I’m Sitting With:

💬 Quick Check-In:

What area do you feel most dysregulated in right now?

A) Focus
B) Energy
C) Emotional bandwidth
D) Sleep / Recovery

(Just reply with your letter. I read every one.)

💬 Know Someone Burning Out Quietly?

Forward this email — or share with one click here.

Until then —
Stay calm. Stay strategic.

-Chris

Ex-doctor, trader, dad — writing about sustainable performance systems @ The Quiet Edge