It's TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. Our emotions are contagious, which means the smallest

changes in the mood of a room can affect the way we perform. And negative people can turn our

own moods sour. But there is a way around this. and business and sport coach Jessica Woods explains in her

talk from TED at PMI in 2020, how to regulate our own emotions so we can keep our heads

and wits about us when it matters the most. So I'm a sports and performance psychologist, which means I get to work with a lot of people,

like elite athletes, military professionals, and top government agencies, whose career and safety depend on peak performance.

And I'll never forget this one story. A soldier told me about his time serving in Iraq.

It was around the early 2000s when the United States

had military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And during this time, many locals were

encouraged to come forward and share information about potential threats. So one day, this Iraqi man

approaches the gain of a U.S. outpost to share intelligence about a possible threat. But instead of

being treated like an ally, he was met with hostility by the soldier who is debriefing him. But that's

likely because just days earlier, soldiers from another unit were killed in a surprise attack. And so as the

interview continued, so did the soldiers irritation. And as a result, the Iraqi man became frustrated.

In the end, tempers were flaring so high that the interview was cut short.

And the following day, two separate units were hit by roadside bombs.

Of course, we'll never know for sure if the attacks could have been stopped had the interview gone differently.

But the reason why I'm telling you this story is because it's an excellent example of a super common problem that keeps so many of us from performing at our best.

And it's how well we're able to regulate our emotions, which is one of the most common drivers of a good and bad performance. And it turns out

how well you're able to regulate your emotions depends on how susceptible you are to a principle

called emotional contagion. It's just like it sounds. It's how quickly you can catch the emotions of

other people and then take them on as your own.

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