You're not at your best when you're stressed. In fact, your brain has evolved over time to release a chemical called cortisol in stressful situations, taking away rational and logical thinking but potentially helping you survive, say, being attacked by a lion.
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin thinks there's a way to avoid making critical mistakes in stressful situations, when your thinking becomes clouded. "We all are going to fail now and then," he says. "The idea is to think ahead to what those failures might be."
Running time is approximately 12 minutes
