My work in the business world, that has included helping companies survive crises of all sorts, has revealed eight dimensions that distinguish those who respond well to a crisis from those who don’t. Your ability to reject the crisis mentality and cultivate an opportunity psychology depends on your developing these essential capabilities. Emotions. Emotions are the most primitive and visceral part of human functioning, emanating from the lower brain long before the higher-order cerebral cortex ever began to assert itself into our lives. Making the transition from the crisis instinct to an opportunity psychology begins with emotions. In other words, when faced with fear, frustration, anger, or despair, you have to keep from being overwhelmed by these negative emotions before you can do anything positive. Easier said than done, of course. Do you feel threatened or challenged by the crisis? Are you stressed or calm? And do you feel like a victim or a master in the face of the crisis? Mindset. Once you have your emotions under control, your mindset is the next step in changing a crisis mentality into an opportunity psychology. Unfortunately, a crisis, and activation of the primitive brain, tends to turn a mindset immediately and powerfully negative, which can then create a destructive self-fulfilling torrent. Do you interpret the situation as a crisis or an opportunity? Are you despairing or do you have hope? Is your thinking rigid or agile?