In the Middle of a Life Crisis, what can Priming do for You?

If you have obstacles that are holding you back from who you want to be, PRIMING is one of the most effective tools for bridging that gap. Tony Robbins

Introduction

When the storm hits—whether it’s a life-altering crisis or a seismic life transition— do you crumble? No, you adapt, rebuild, and rise higher. But let’s not sugarcoat it: that moment when everything feels completely out of control? That’s when even the most accomplished of us can feel the sting of uncertainty and self-doubt.

Here’s your game-changer: priming.

Not some woo-woo mantra or hack-du-jour, but a neuroscientific, high-performance tool that rewires your mental GPS to focus on clarity, resilience, and unstoppable forward motion. It’s what Olympians use before stepping into the starting blocks. What CEOs tap into before billion-dollar decisions. And now, it’s your secret weapon helping you to cope with a life crisis and thrive during a life transition—starting today.

Priming was one of my most significant discoveries last year, it is now a cornerstone of my Infinite Impact Mentoring Program.

What is Priming? (Spoiler: It’s Not Rocket Science)

Priming is when you nudge your brain in the right direction—kind of like a GPS recalculating your route after you’ve made a wrong turn (again). Basically, your brain is exposed to an idea, a smell, a word—and that idea, smell, or word influences how you think, feel, or act, often without you even noticing.

Scientifically speaking, priming is a psychological concept where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to a subsequent stimulus, often without conscious awareness. It occurs when information, ideas, or associations are subtly “activated” in your mind, affecting your perceptions, behaviours, or decisions.

Now, before you roll your eyes thinking this is another self-help buzzword destined for a cringe-worthy TED Talk, stick with me. Priming is a legit, science-backed mental hack that can turn your panic into purpose. Think Olympian-level focus and resilience—without needing to run a single lap.

Types of Priming and Why They Matter

Understanding how priming works can make it easier to use it effectively in daily life. Here are some common types:

• Semantic Priming: This involves related words or concepts. For example, seeing the word “doctor” might make you think of “nurse” more quickly because they are connected in meaning.
• Associative Priming: This taps into relationships between stimuli. Seeing the colour red might make you think of an apple—not because they are related in meaning but because they’re often linked in your mind. Your brain builds relationships—unlike your ex.
• Perceptual Priming: Based on similarities in structure or form, this type of priming makes recognising patterns or shapes easier.
• Repetition Priming: Familiarity boosts recognition. The more you see something—like a brand name—the faster you’ll recall it.
• Emotional Priming: This occurs when exposure to an emotionally charged stimulus influences your mood or reactions. For instance, watching an uplifting scene in a film can leave you feeling more optimistic.

Each type of priming influences your mental framework in subtle but impactful ways, shaping how you approach challenges and decisions.

Applications of Priming

Priming is widely used in:

• Marketing and Advertising: Subtle cues like logos or slogans prime consumers to think of specific brands or products.
• Education and Learning: Teachers might use specific words or phrases to prepare students to focus on a topic.
• Mental Health Therapy: Positive affirmations or visualisations can prime individuals for healthier emotional states.
• Everyday Interactions: People may prime others with compliments or suggestions to create a desired social outcome.

Priming For Stress Management

Priming can significantly improve your ability to handle stressful situations like life crises:

1. Stress reduction: Priming can help reduce stress responses in challenging environments. A study found that participants primed with information about successful athletes’ motivation strategies had lower cortisol levels (a stress hormone) when exposed to a negative sporting environment.
2. Performance enhancement: Priming has been shown to reduce skill failure under pressure. Skill failure is the inability to successfully execute a perfectly mastered task due to distraction, fatigue, or stress, such as a skilled typist making numerous errors while typing under time pressure.
3. Emotional regulation: Security priming can reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, helping you manage your emotions during stressful times. For example, security priming might involve showing you images of supportive relationships or having you recall memories of feeling safe and loved, which can then positively influence your mood, behaviour, and increase your ability to cope with stress.
4. Anxiety and depression reduction: Research has demonstrated that attachment security (feeling safe, supported, and confident in your relationships, enabling you to explore the world and seek comfort during times of distress) priming can lead to less anxiety and depressive symptoms, both immediately after priming and in the following days.
5. Resilience building: Regular priming exercises, such as Tony Robbins’ priming routine, can help prepare your mind to handle stress, anxiety, and fear more effectively throughout the day.

Integrating priming into your daily routine doesn’t require complicated rituals. Here are practical ways to get started:

• Use Positive Self-Talk: Remind yourself of your strengths and past successes. This primes your mind for resilience and can reinforce your ability to handle the crisis confidently.
• Create Pre-Stress Rituals: Deep breathing, visualization, or short meditative exercises can help prepare your mind to handle pressure.
• Surround Yourself with Visual Cues: Display objects, quotes, or images that evoke a sense of calm. This can unconsciously activate related concepts and guide your choices during the crisis.
• Seek Inspiration: Watch or read stories about overcoming adversity to prime your mind for perseverance.
• Focus on Your Environment: Keep your workspace clean and organised, as it primes your mind for clarity and focus.

Priming For Decision-making in a Crisis

Priming can be a powerful tool to improve decision-making during a life crisis, but it’s important to use it thoughtfully and deliberately. Here are some ways to leverage priming to enhance your crisis decision-making ability:

• All the above plus:
• Implement a structured decision-making framework that incorporates critical analysis and logical reasoning. This can help counteract the emotional influences often present in crisis situations.
• Be selective about the information you consume during the crisis. Limit exposure to potentially biasing or anxiety-inducing stimuli.
• Interact with calm, rational people before making important decisions. Their attitude can prime you for more level-headed thinking.
• Engage in activities that prime cooperation.
• Use sensory priming by incorporating calming scents or music that encourage focus and rational thought.

By implementing these strategies, you can harness the power of priming to enhance your decision-making skills during a life crisis. Becoming better at crisis decision-making is an ongoing process that requires practice. Stay aware of potential biases and regularly question your assumptions to ensure you’re making the most objective decisions possible.

Priming by Storytelling

A Decision in the Dark

Samantha tightened her grip on the steering wheel as the rain pounded against the windshield. The storm was relentless, mirroring the chaos inside her mind. She glanced at the glowing screen of her phone on the passenger seat—another missed call from her boss. Tomorrow’s deadline loomed, but her mother’s unexpected hospital admission had thrown her carefully managed life into disarray.

Her heart raced, the pressure mounting as she tried to think of a solution. Should she cancel her meetings and stay by her mother’s side? Or trust the nurses and focus on the project she had worked so hard to secure? The guilt and uncertainty were paralysing.

The Trigger

As Samantha pulled into the hospital parking lot, a memory surfaced—her father’s advice from years ago: “When you’re overwhelmed, take a breath and focus on one thing at a time. You’re stronger than you think.”

She had heard those words countless times growing up, especially during her high school tennis matches. Back then, her father would repeat them before every serve, priming her to stay calm under pressure. It worked then—could it work now?

A Deliberate Pause

Samantha turned off the car engine, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. She pictured herself as she was during those matches: steady, composed, and focused. The memory of her father’s voice, her calm breathing, and the rhythmic sound of the rain began to ease the tightness in her chest.

Instead of rushing inside or spiralling into panic, she decided to prime herself for clarity. She reached into her bag, pulling out a small journal she always kept with her. On the first blank page, she wrote:

1. What is the immediate priority?
2. What actions will have the greatest impact right now?
3. What resources or support can I tap into?

Just the act of writing these questions helped organize her thoughts. Her father’s words had planted a seed of focus, and now her intentional actions were watering it.

The Shift

After a few moments of reflection, Samantha walked into the hospital with renewed purpose. She greeted the nurse at the front desk and asked detailed questions about her mother’s condition. The nurse reassured her that while her mother needed monitoring, her situation wasn’t critical.

Relieved but still cautious, Samantha called her brother, who lived nearby, and asked if he could stay with their mother overnight. He agreed without hesitation, sensing Samantha’s need for support. With that arrangement in place, she felt a weight lift.

Before leaving, Samantha sat by her mother’s bedside for a while, holding her hand and whispering words of encouragement. Her mother smiled weakly but warmly, and Samantha felt a surge of reassurance.

The Decision

Back in the car, Samantha revisited her journal and the questions she had written down. With her mother’s immediate care in capable hands, she realized that focusing on her work deadline wasn’t abandoning her family—it was fulfilling another important responsibility.

Instead of returning home to work in isolation, Samantha called a trusted colleague and asked for help reviewing the final project details. She admitted she was feeling overwhelmed and needed a second pair of eyes. Her colleague readily agreed, offering both practical suggestions and emotional support.

The Outcome

By the time Samantha submitted the project the next day, she felt proud—not just of her work, but of the way she had handled the situation. What could have been a spiral of guilt and indecision had turned into a demonstration of focus and resilience, thanks to the power of priming.

Her father’s simple words, recalled at the right moment, had set off a chain reaction. By priming her mind to focus and act with intention, she had managed to reduce her stress, make clear decisions, and honour both her professional and personal responsibilities.

The Lesson

Samantha’s story is a testament to how priming can transform our approach to stress and decision-making. By deliberately activating memories, emotions, or routines associated with clarity and calm, we can train our minds to respond to chaos with focus.

In life’s toughest moments, a small shift in perspective can make all the difference. Sometimes, all it takes is a pause, a deep breath, and a reminder of your own strength to navigate the storm.

5 FAQs About Priming During a Life Crisis/Transition

1. What is priming, and how does it work in a life crisis?

Answer:
Priming is a psychological technique where exposure to specific stimuli influences your thoughts, feelings, and actions without your conscious awareness. During a life crisis, priming works by subtly shifting your focus to helpful ideas or emotions, such as resilience, clarity, or optimism. For example, listening to a motivational story can prime you to approach challenges with a problem-solving mindset instead of feeling overwhelmed.

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2. How can priming help reduce stress during a crisis?

Answer:
Priming can reduce stress by activating positive associations and calming mental cues. For instance, deep breathing paired with affirmations like “I am capable and calm” can prime your brain to lower cortisol levels, the stress hormone. This creates a sense of control, making it easier to think clearly even in high-pressure situations.

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3. Can priming really improve decision-making during a crisis?

Answer:
Yes, priming can enhance decision-making by focusing your mind on logical, solution-oriented thinking. By using techniques like pre-decision rituals (e.g., meditating or journaling) or surrounding yourself with visual cues of strength (e.g., inspiring quotes), you prime your brain to prioritize clarity and reduce emotional bias. This helps you make well-considered choices even when emotions run high.

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4. What are some practical examples of priming during a crisis?

Answer: Practical examples of priming during a crisis include:

• Reading or listening to success stories to activate a resilient mindset.
• Repeating affirmations like “I can handle this” before addressing a challenge.
• Creating a calm environment with soothing scents or music to prime focus.
• Watching a video of someone calmly solving a problem to inspire steady thinking.

These actions subtly program your brain to approach challenges constructively.

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5. What are the limitations of priming during a crisis?

Answer:
While priming is a powerful tool, it’s not a standalone solution. Its effectiveness depends on how consistently it’s applied and the intensity of the crisis. In deeply traumatic situations, priming might need to be combined with other strategies like therapy, support from loved ones, or structured decision-making frameworks. It’s also important to ensure the stimuli used for priming are truly positive and relevant to avoid unintended effects.

Conclusion

So. Not just another trendy life hack or fleeting wellness mantra, priming is a proven, science-backed tool used by high achievers—from Olympians to CEOs—to navigate challenges with clarity and resilience.

Priming isn’t about pretending challenges don’t exist. It’s about equipping your mind to face them with clarity, resilience, and intention. By adopting simple priming strategies, you can regain control in even the most chaotic moments and move forward with confidence.

And it’s accessible to anyone willing to harness it. With priming, you can shift your mindset, improve your decision-making, and emerge stronger from life’s inevitable storms.

With priming in your toolkit, you’re not only ready for life’s challenges but capable of transforming them into opportunities for growth.

Join successful professionals who’ve transformed their lives through the Infinite Impact mentoring program. In just one powerful discovery call, you’ll discover how the Infinite Impact program can help you design a meaningful and fulfilling life and equip you to make a purposeful impact. I have limited availability for new clients – send an email to openlockeddoors@gmail.com and book your call now.

Digging Deeper

This is for those of you who, like me, are interested in the science behind the concept. Priming is a well-studied phenomenon in psychology and research on priming has been extensive and diverse, covering various aspects of cognition and behaviour:

Key Findings

1. Priming effects can influence various psychological processes, including word recognition, semantic processing, attention, and unconscious processing.
2. The priming effect is most effective when stimuli are in the same modality (e.g., visual primes for visual cues), but cross-modal priming is also possible.
3. Response priming, where a prime stimulus affects reactions to a target stimulus, can account for up to 25% of overall response time in some experiments.
4. Priming can affect social perception, judgment, goal pursuit, and even overt behaviour.

Mechanism and Timing

Research has shown that priming effects can occur rapidly, with some studies demonstrating almost instantaneous effects. The time course of priming has been traced using various methods, including:

1. Reaction time measurements
2. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings
3. Eye movement tracking

Applications

Priming research has been applied to various fields, including:

1. Social psychology: Studying how subtle environmental cues can influence social behaviour and judgment.
2. Cognitive psychology: Investigating memory and information processing.
3. Consumer behaviour: Examining how priming can affect purchasing decisions and brand perceptions.

Recent research has focused on understanding the theoretical underpinnings and mechanisms of priming effects, moving beyond simply documenting their existence. While the science of priming has faced challenges in recent years, it remains an active area of research with implications for understanding human cognition, behaviour, and social interactions. Ongoing studies continue to refine our understanding of priming mechanisms and their real-world applications.

Citations:

Okoli, Justin & Watt, John. (2018). Crisis decision-making: the overlap between intuitive and analytical strategies. Management Decision. 56. 10.1108/MD-04-2017-0333.

Molden, Daniel. (2014). Understanding Priming Effects in Social Psychology: What is “Social Priming” and How does it Occur?. Social Cognition. 32. 1-11. 10.1521/soco.2014.32.supp.1.

Bermeitinger, Christina. (2014). Priming. 10.4018/978-1-4666-6599-6.ch002.

Weingarten E, Chen Q, McAdams M, Yi J, Hepler J, Albarracín D. From primed concepts to action: A meta-analysis of the behavioural effects of incidentally presented words. Psychol Bull. 2016 May;142(5):472-97.

Schmidt F, Haberkamp A, Schmidt T. Dos and don’ts in response priming research. Adv Cogn Psychol. 2011;7:120-31.

Bargh JA. What have we been priming all these years? On the development, mechanisms, and ecology of nonconscious social behaviour. Eur J Soc Psychol. 2006;36(2):147-168.