Chefs set out everything before the first order. When the rush hits, organized beats talented.

Organization beats raw ability under pressure, because pressure takes away your room to think. When ten things arrive at once you can only act on what is already within reach and already decided, which means the useful work happened before the rush began. Talent at full speed with nothing laid out still loses to an ordinary person with everything in place.

Before your next busy stretch, spend ten minutes setting out what you will need: the sheets, the tabs, the tools, the order you will do things in. Decide the first three moves now. Then let the rush find you already standing in the right place.