If decisions feel harder, second-guessing is creeping in, or your confidence feels quieter than it used to, this episode is for you. Leadership doesn’t fail because you’re burnt out—it fails when decision quality silently declines.

In this episode of Longevity Unlocked, Nurse Sherrie explains why decision quality is a leadership asset too often overlooked, especially for high-performing women balancing work, home, and community responsibilities. This isn’t about motivation or grit—it’s about capacity. Capacity can be depleted or restored, and it’s directly tied to recovery, sleep, and cognitive management.

Sherrie shares real-world examples of leaders who looked successful on paper but were cognitively depleted behind the scenes—and how structured strategies restored clarity, confidence, and high-stakes decision-making.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why slow or poor decisions cost more than visible burnout
• How nervous system regulation impacts executive judgment and impulse control
• Five practical strategies to protect and restore decision quality:

1. Protect Decision Windows – Ring-fence high-stakes decisions
2. Redefine Recovery – Restore cognitive and physiological capacity, not just comfort
3. Prioritize Sleep Depth Over Hours – Protect REM and deep sleep for mental clarity
4. Stabilize Blood Sugar – Steady energy for better judgment
5. Weekly Cognitive Reset – Clear mental clutter, restore attention, and regulate arousal

• How high-performing leaders can maintain sustained cognitive capacity under pressure
• Why recovery must be scheduled and operationalized, not left to chance

Key Takeaways

• Decision quality declines silently—often unnoticed until it affects results
• Recovery is leadership infrastructure, not optional self-care
• Slow leadership is expensive; protecting capacity is a governance issue.
• Cognitive capacity can be engineered and measured with structured systems
• High-performing women often mislabel capacity erosion as personal failure

Connect With Nurse Sherrie
Follow for executive longevity, leadership performance, and evidence-based strategies:

LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok: @AskNurseSherrie

X (Twitter): @AskSherrieRN

Most leaders treat recovery as something that happens after performance. Elite leaders know better: recovery is infrastructure.

In this episode of Longevity Unlocked, Nurse Sherrie breaks down why recovery isn’t softness, self-care, or optional—it’s a strategic system that protects decision quality, emotional regulation, and long-term leadership capacity.

Drawing from neuroscience, executive case studies, and leadership performance research, this episode explains why leaders often experience cognitive decline without realizing it—and how structured recovery restores clarity, judgment, and innovation without stepping away from responsibility.

In This Episode:

• Why leaders “feel fine” while judgment is already impaired
• How chronic stress shifts leadership from strategy to survival
• The hidden cost of sleep loss, inflammation, and decision fatigue
• Why emotional volatility is physiology, not personality
• How recovery systems improve risk detection, trust, and performance

Key Takeaway:

Recovery is not a reward for leadership.
It’s the system that makes leadership sustainable.

Connect with Nurse Sherrie:
LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok: @AskNurseSherrie
X (Twitter): @AskSherrieRN

What if taking time off—the vacations, weekends, and executive retreats—wasn’t actually helping you recover at all?

In this episode of Longevity Unlocked, Nurse Sherri Austin reveals why time off doesn’t equal recovery and what leaders can do to restore their energy, clarity, and emotional bandwidth without stepping away from their roles.

Drawing from neuroscience, executive case studies, and her personal leadership journey, Sherri reframes recovery as a biological system, not a calendar event. This isn’t about “rest more” or self-care clichés—it’s about executive performance, sustainable decision-making, and leading at your full capacity.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why vacations and breaks often fail to restore leaders
• How chronic cognitive and emotional strain keeps your nervous system in “threat mode”
• The metabolic cost of decision fatigue and impaired judgment
• Real-world executive case studies showing what works—and what doesn’t—for high-capacity leaders
• Five actionable strategies for daily and weekly recovery that actually work

Key Takeaways

• Recovery is state change, not absence—your nervous system needs reset, not a calendar day off
• Micro-recovery throughout the day outperforms occasional long breaks
• Optimization (biohacks, supplements, fitness) without systemic recovery fails
• Proper recovery protects judgment, emotional regulation, and long-term leadership capacity
• Leaders who implement recovery systems outperform longer, lead wiser, and endure

Resources & Next Steps

• Download the Executive Capacity Audit to identify where recovery debt may be eroding your performance
• Book a Corporate Wellness Strategy Call if you lead teams, agencies, or organizations and want sustainable high performance

📌 Connect with Nurse Sherrie

Follow Nurse Sherrie across platforms for executive longevity insights:

• LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok: @AskNurseSherrie
• X (Twitter): @asksherriern