Have you ever made a decision you knew was wrong while you were making it? You felt it in your gut, and you did it anyway, because you were angry, frustrated, or just done. Poker players have a name for that state. We call it tilt. And emotional decision making while on tilt has cost me more money at the poker table and in business than any bad luck ever has.
I’ve built a whole talk around this called On Tilt, because once you learn to recognize it, you start seeing it everywhere: in yourself, in your team, and in businesses making expensive mistakes for no good reason.
What Tilt Actually Means
In poker, tilt is when your emotions take over your decisions. Usually it happens after a bad beat, when you play a hand perfectly and lose anyway to someone who got lucky. The smart move is to shake it off and keep playing well. The tilted move is to start playing angry: chasing losses, making reckless bets, trying to win it all back in one hand.
Every poker player knows tilt is a problem. Almost every poker player still goes on tilt. Knowing about it doesn’t make you immune. It just gives you a chance to catch it sooner.
My Week on Tilt at the World Series of Poker
Playing the World Series of Poker was a bucket list item for me. I’d wanted to do it for years. And I’ll be honest, it didn’t go the way I wanted.
I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. And when things started going wrong, I didn’t handle it well. I let frustration into my decisions. I made plays I knew, in the moment, weren’t right. I was on tilt, at the biggest event of my poker life.
It was disappointing. It was also one of the best lessons I’ve had in years, because I recognized exactly the same pattern in how I’ve made some of my worst business decisions.
How Emotional Decision Making Shows Up in Business
Business tilt looks different from poker tilt, but the mechanics are identical. Something bad happens, emotion floods in, and the next decision gets made by the emotion instead of by you.
- A client leaves, so you panic and slash your prices to land the next one.
- A competitor wins a deal, so you rush out a half-baked offer to compete.
- A bad month hits, so you make a big, expensive move to feel like you’re doing something.
- Someone criticizes you, so you fire back an email you’ll regret.
- A project fails, so you throw more money at it to prove it wasn’t a mistake.
Every one of those feels justified in the moment. That’s what makes tilt so dangerous. It doesn’t feel like emotion. It feels like decisiveness.
I’ve done versions of almost every one of those. I’ve lowered prices out of fear after losing a client. I’ve said yes to work I shouldn’t have because a slow month made me nervous. I’ve made big moves to feel like I was taking control when what I really needed was to sit still and think. None of those decisions felt emotional at the time. They felt urgent and smart. Looking back, every one of them had the same fingerprint: a bad moment, followed immediately by a decision I wouldn’t have made a week earlier.
Signs of Emotional Decision Making
- You feel an urgent need to act right now.
- You’re trying to win something back rather than make a good decision.
- You keep replaying what just happened.
- You’d be embarrassed to explain your reasoning out loud.
- A calm version of you would make a different choice.
That last one is my favourite test. If calm-you would do something different, you’re probably on tilt.
How to Stop Emotional Decision Making Before It Costs You
Name It
Simply saying "I’m on tilt right now" takes away a lot of its power. It separates you from the emotion long enough to think.
Create a Gap
Put time between the trigger and the decision. Sleep on it. Take a walk. Write the angry email and don’t send it. Most bad decisions die if you just wait a day.
This is harder than it sounds, because tilt makes waiting feel like losing. Your brain screams that you need to fix it right now. But almost nothing in business truly needs a decision in the next hour. Give yourself permission to pause. The pause is a decision too, and usually a good one.
Set Rules in Advance
Good poker players decide ahead of time when they’ll stop playing for the day. In business, decide your rules before you’re emotional. How low will you go on price? What triggers a pivot? When will you cut a project? Rules made calm protect you from decisions made angry.
I keep a few of these written down now. Minimum prices I won’t go below. The kinds of clients I won’t take on. How long I’ll give a new idea before I judge it. When I feel tilt creeping in, I check the list. It’s amazing how often it stops me.
Talk to Someone Who Isn’t Tilted
A business partner, a mentor, a friend who’ll tell you the truth. Outside eyes spot tilt faster than you can.
Focus on the Next Good Decision
You can’t undo the bad beat. You can only make the next decision well. That’s the whole game.
Win or Learn: The Antidote to Emotional Decision Making
The mindset that’s helped me most with tilt is simple. In poker, in business, and in life, you either win or you learn. You don’t lose.
When you look at a setback as a lesson instead of a loss, there’s less to be angry about and less urge to win it back immediately. My week at the World Series stung. But it taught me more about discipline and preparation than any winning week ever could.
Why Emotional Decision Making Matters for Leaders
If you lead a team, your tilt doesn’t just affect you. It spreads. Teams pick up on panic, frustration, and rash decisions instantly. A leader who can stay steady after a bad week gives everyone else permission to stay steady too.
That’s one of the reasons I love talking about this with groups. Everybody recognizes tilt, in themselves and in the people around them, the moment they hear it described.
FAQ: Emotional Decision Making
Is it bad to use emotion when making business decisions?
Emotion isn’t the enemy. Gut feel can be valuable. The problem is when strong emotion like anger or panic makes the decision instead of informing it.
How long should I wait before making a big decision?
For anything major, at least a day. If the decision still feels right after you’ve calmed down, it probably is.
Can you train yourself to avoid tilt?
You can get much better at noticing it and recovering faster. Nobody avoids it completely.
Bring On Tilt to Your Event
On Tilt is one of my favourite talks to give. It’s personal, practical, and it lands with any room that makes decisions under pressure. See my speaking topics or get in touch to bring it to your stage, team, or podcast.
