There’s a moment when you’re leading transformational change—when you’re standing at the crossroads of what is and what could be—that happens so quickly most leaders don’t even notice it.
It’s the split second your system unconsciously redirects your energy back toward what feels safe and familiar, away from the vision you’re meant to bring to life.
I’m not talking about conscious thoughts of doubt, like “What if this doesn’t work?” or “What if I’m not ready?”
I’m talking about what happens far beneath thought—at the unconscious, energetic level. A nanosecond shift where your field contracts. Where your presence retreats. Where your nervous system quietly chooses safety over possibility, and your mind hasn’t even caught up yet.
And just like that, without realizing it, you’ve redirected your power toward creating exactly what you don’t want.
Pause for a moment.
Can you recall a recent experience where something subtle in your system shifted—before your mind even registered it—and later you realized you’d pulled back or played smaller than your truth? That’s the split second we’re talking about here.
Subliminal sabotage at its finest, and it happens to the best of us.
Our natural inclination to believe the negative more easily
Our brains are wired with a negative bias. It’s evolutionary, designed to keep us alive. But in modern leadership, this wiring often sabotages us. It makes the worst-case scenario feel more real than the best-case one.
This internal misalignment doesn’t just exist in your thoughts. It lives in your energy. In your breath. In your nervous system’s quiet decisions about what’s safe and what’s possible.
Your internal world creates your external reality
Here’s what most leaders miss: Everything you experience externally is being shaped—moment by moment—by your internal energetic state. Long before your thoughts catch up, your body is leading.
You can recite a thousand affirmations, but if your inner field is holding doubt, contraction, or unworthiness, that field will override your words every time.
Unfortunately, most leadership frameworks only address the mind. They stop at mindset. They bypass the body. They skip over energy and frequency altogether.
This is exactly the kind of deep inner-to-outer shift we guide our Visionary Leaders to master inside the Crisis Ready® Certification—not just as theory, but as embodied energetic leadership. Because when you shift at this level, everything changes.
The pivotal moment of conscious creation
So how do you catch something that’s happening before your conscious mind notices?
You learn to feel for it. To attune. To become so intimately connected to your internal state that even the smallest redirection becomes visible.
This isn’t about positive thinking, nor is it about toxic optimism.
It’s about developing a depth of energetic awareness that allows you to lead from within—before your conditioning hijacks the moment.
This kind of mastery can feel elusive at first. Like you’re missing it entirely. But then. all of a sudden, something clicks. You catch it. You feel the subtle contraction. You make a different choice.
That moment is powerful and it’s yours to reclaim.
The transformation that changes everything
When you become aware of this unconscious pivot point, you stop reacting from programming and start creating from intention.
Instead of course-correcting after you’ve veered off track, you adjust in the moment, making powerful micro-choices that ripple into major transformations.
You no longer spend energy recovering from spirals you didn’t mean to enter. Instead, you direct that energy from the start, toward the vision you’re working to bring to life.
You become the kind of leader whose presence reshapes rooms. Whose energy creates coherence. Whose clarity magnetizes trust.
The question that changes everything
Recently, a prospective Certification student shared something her wise son said to her:
“Mom, if you can so easily believe the negative outcome, why can’t you believe the positive one just as powerfully?”
Both possibilities exist. The question is: Where are you directing your energy? Both consciously and unconsciously?
How to practice this level of mastery
Start by feeling into the energy of what you do want to create.
Really feel it—like you’re already there.
What does success feel like in your body? What are the sensations? The colors? The joy? The sound of it? The smell? The texture? The emotional tone?
Let it come alive within you.
Then, while holding that energetic frequency, shift into the observer.
Notice any subtle changes.
A sudden holding of breath.
A slight contraction.
A whisper of unworthiness.
A doubt that tiptoes in.
These are your unconscious redirections happening in real time.
Don’t judge them. Simply observe.
Follow the thread of what shifted. Feel it, without feeding the narrative.
And then: choose to return.
Take three heart-centered breaths, and reclaim the energy of your vision.
Let those high-frequency sensations anchor you back into your truth—the truth that you are the visionary leader meant to lead this transformation.
This is the practice that builds mastery.
When you choose to attune to these subtle inner shifts—moment by moment—you begin to fully embody your highest leadership potential.
It’s also the kind of mastery we cultivate and embody inside the Crisis Ready® Certification, where leaders learn to guide from alignment, vision, and energetic sovereignty.
Are you ready to transform that microsecond of choice into your greatest leadership superpower?
👉 Learn more about the Certification and Schedule your Discovery Conversation here.
During this conversation, we’ll explore your current leadership challenges and discover whether the Certification is your pathway to becoming the visionary leader you’re meant to be.
The world needs leaders who can create from possibility. The question is: are you ready to become one of them?
Founder and CEO of the Crisis Ready Institute, Melissa Agnes is the author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, and a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
