Earned, not given
What a person came from does not decide how he works in a room. What decides it is whether he can give an account of that history without going flat and without coming apart, and the account gets built later,
physiological reactivity
Meaning
Biological responses trigger a cascade of physical changes when an individual perceives a threat or an intense demand. The level of physiological reactivity determines how much the body is affected by the stress of the seat. If the load is too high, the autonomic nervous system enters a state of high arousal that can interfere with the ability to process information or make calm decisions.
Signal Load
Managing the internal sensations of stress requires a significant amount of attention. High physiological reactivity means that the person in the seat is constantly monitoring their own body for signs of fatigue or panic. This signal load competes with the technical requirements of the work, reducing the total capacity available for the task at hand.
Attention Cost
Focusing on the work becomes difficult when the body is in a state of high alarm. The cost of physiological reactivity is measured in the energy required to override the impulse to flee or freeze. A person may spend hours in a meeting appearing calm while the internal state is one of extreme agitation, a feat of discipline that leaves them exhausted for the rest of the day.
This constant suppression of physical signals consumes the same cognitive resources needed for complex problem solving and social navigation.
Recovery Limit
Sustaining high levels of arousal over a long period damages the ability to return to a baseline state. The record of this reactivity is found in the time it takes for the person to recover after a period of intense work. If the recovery limit is reached, the body no longer resets, and the state of alarm becomes the new normal for the person in the seat.