- Viktor E. Frankl

Welcome to this week’s Prime Performance – though not quite the one I planned.

This edition is coming to you later than normal. It also doesn’t contain the content I’d carefully prepared. Why? Because I’m currently writing this from Dubai, where I’m still waiting to hear from Emirates Lost Property about the fate of my laptop – the one I left on my flight from London yesterday.

Yes, you read that correctly. For the first time in countless flights, I managed to walk off the plane without my Mac. You can imagine that sinking feeling I experienced when I was in my taxi and went to get my laptop out of my rucksack to resume my work.

I’m sharing this not to garner sympathy, but to extract the lessons that emerged from what initially felt like a small disaster.

This particular curveball was entirely self-inflicted – a moment of human error as I gathered my belongings in the rush to disembark. I could have spent hours mentally replaying the mistake, berating myself for the carelessness, amplifying the frustration.

Instead, I made a conscious choice to practice what I preach and moved swiftly to acceptance. Because dwelling on what I couldn’t change would have been wasted time and energy. It wasn’t going to help me prepare for this week’s client sessions, business meetings, or working out how to get this newsletter done (currently writing this on my wife’s iPad and reminding myself that growth comes from discomfort!).

The shift from frustration to problem-solving didn’t just reduce my stress levels, it was a great reminder to focus on what you can control and accept that there are variables you can’t.

Rumination, which is the mental replay of our mistakes, activates the same stress responses as the original event. I was acutely aware that if I kept replaying leaving the laptop, my brain would treat it as if I was losing it again.

Every mental replay drains cognitive resources you could be using to solve the actual problem. Your prefrontal cortex, responsible for planning and decision-making, gets hijacked by the emotional centres of your brain. The result? You’re simultaneously exhausted and no closer to a solution.

This is why swift acceptance isn’t about being soft on yourself—it’s about protecting the mental bandwidth you need to actually fix things.

Once I’d come to terms with that initial shock and accepted the circumstances, I could get stuck into problem-solving mode. By concentrating on small practical steps - whether that was liaising with Emirates Lost and Found or accessing my Google Docs from another device - that initial sense of psychological overwhelm started to dissipate quickly.

Each small action reduced the psychological burden and restored a sense of agency. This isn’t just about having a philosophical outlook, it’s neuroscience at work. Our brains are wired to feel threat when we perceive loss of control. Taking action, any action, signals to our nervous system that we’re not helpless. Stress hormones begin to recede. Cognitive clarity improves. In simple terms, the path becomes clearer.

I could have given myself a pass on this week’s newsletter. Given the circumstances, most of you would have understood. But that’s precisely why I didn’t.

The discipline of consistency isn’t tested when things go smoothly. It’s tested when obstacles appear, when plans fall apart, when the easier path presents itself. Showing up despite the challenges is what defines you far more than showing up when it’s easy.

The little things truly matter. How you respond when no one would blame you for not responding – that’s where character gets built.

So here’s your Prime Perspective for this week, written not from my usual setup, but from a borrowed iPad in a Dubai hotel room. On which note, excuse any typos - progress over perfection!