Why Smart Women Make Worse Choices Under Stress

Work Stress Anxiety | Burnout Prevention & Work Anxiety Help · Oct 28, 2026 · 20m · transcript

You can know exactly what matters most, swear you’ll handle it differently this time, and still watch yourself default to the quickest, most familiar choice. That gap between what we intend and what we do is where work stress and anxiety quietly take over, especially for high-achieving women who are used to powering through. Paula joins me to explain why that “bad decision under pressure” is often your brain trying to protect you, not proof that you’re weak or undisciplined.

We get specific about the neuroscience of decision-making under stress: how the prefrontal cortex (planning, strategy…