A crisis arises. After the dust clears, you receive status reports from members of your team and from a couple of experts that your team pulled in. It looks bad. There’s no immediate fix. All options seem problematic, and the group is far from consensus. You thank the group, cancel your remaining appointments for that day, and head for the woods, where you spend hours hiking in silence.

The first hour, you are mostly focused on calming down. You let the cortisol clear from your body and stop berating how bad the timing is and how this is going to mess up your quarter and maybe year.

The second hour, you let your mind drift. You focus on your breathing, then pick up the pace of your hiking. You release all constraints, from how long you will spend hiking to how fast you “have to” find a solution.

You reach an overlook, and sit for a while. Possibilities start to form in your mind. You think of a few non-obvious people you might call, who each have very different skills and perspectives than anyone on your team.

You get up and start hiking back. You are getting excited, and you are suddenly in the zone, physically as well as mentally. This isn’t a disaster, you realize. It might even be an opportunity to accelerate big changes that you’ve long known would be necessary.

***

In many corners of American society, stillness is underrated. “Do something!” people urge. “Act now!”

But, as we all know in our calmer moments, running in the wrong direction is counter productive. So is spending time and money on the wrong solution. As is letting stress run rampant, because your body will keep kicking you harder and harder (or start failing) until it gets your attention.

There are times when being still is the most productive thing you can do. Next time the you-know-what hits the fan, remember this often-forgotten truism.