Is pressure a bad word?
In the words of David Bowie and Queen... "Pressure pushing down on me, pressing down on you, no man ask for.” 🎶
Great song right but pressure gets a bad wrap. It’s one of those feelings that quickly gets associated with negative emotions. We feel it and want to move through it as quickly as possible but let’s reframe that.
We’ve all been there, wondering when the work is going to come in or perhaps enjoying an unusually quieter pace and then all at once a ton of opportunities pop up. You panic and curse the job Gods for not spacing these must do’s out into neat, manageable chunks and then something clicks and you answer the call to action. Or do you?
I asked some friends and colleagues this question and I’d like to ask you too.
The overwhelming response from those I asked, was that pressure is helpful - necessary even. One friend went as far as saying, he will create pressure for himself if there isn’t any, to force himself into action. I think we all do or have done this, in one way or another. The most obvious way would be by leaving tasks to the very last minute to give yourself that adrenaline filled “no way out / has to be completed today” feeling. Pressure can often be exactly what we need for a successful outcome. We come face to face with who we are and how far we can push ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally. It builds resilience and strength and how good does it feel when you successfully rise to the challenge at hand.
Pushing yourself is important.
We do have the capacity to sit in this state and I’d agree that it’s healthy to do just that. “But what about overwhelm” I hear you say and I’d reply - “but that’s not the same as pressure.” It’s worth making this distinction before someone reports me to the wellness police. Whilst I am 100% an advocate for not pushing yourself to burnout, I do also feel like we are losing the tolerance to withstand pressures or at the very least, building up a fear of it.
As a self employed creative it is a state of emotion that I’m familiar with and I have learnt over the years, how much pressure I can take and when it is equally as important, to say I’ve had enough. The body keeps the score right?! Lack of support, lack of time and lack of cohesion in a team are all red flags and will often lead to the pressure getting the better of us. Recognising any of the above is helpful.
If pressure means you finally build that website, wrote the novel you’ve dreamt about, got your family of 4 packed up for a road trip the next morning , then should we be scared of it or should we in fact, embrace it?
Pressure is necessary and productive.
An article by Hendrie Weisinger PH.d makes the important distinction between stress (overwhelm) and pressure.
💎 Stress refers to the situation of too many demands and not enough resources - time, money, energy - to meet them.
💎 Pressure is a situation in which you perceive that something at stake is dependent on the outcome of your performance.
Think back to the last time you were in a pressure situation and whether you rose to its demands or failed underneath them. Whichever way the coin fell, I bet the pressure lit a fire inside you. You got the job done. How well, depends on how you personally deal with pressure in any given moment and how heavy the workload is and I think, dealing with pressure takes time and practise. Remember you’re in control of how much pressure you take on.
Research actually shows that we don’t necessarily perform better under pressure but that we can build the tools to decrease the stress around performing well in a pressure situation.
Now let’s discuss and share…
External pressures from work or home life are by their very nature, unpredictable and inevitable, so how do you manage them when they do arrive?
💎 Do you perform well under pressure?
If so, do you do anything specific in the moment to channel the pressure into successful performance? Please share in the comments below.
In your sharing, someone else might pick up a helpful tip for themselves and wouldn’t that be lovely.
Here are a few things I do to manage pressure in the hope of it not developing into stress. I hope its helpful.
Being as prepared as possible. This is not always possible if time or lack there of it, is the very thing causing you stress. Managing my time is high on my list of priorities. For me, starting my day by highlighting the things I’d like to achieve is helpful and physically writing the list down is also helpful for me. I’m quite good at not being too hard on myself if I fall short of completing this list but I find that defining a list in the first place keeps me accountable to me first and foremost.
Breaking jobs up into smaller chunks and having regular small breaks to do something else. If WFH especially, get up and move. 10 minutes of yoga, a walk or something menial like folding up the washing, can serve as a brain break and a job ticked off the list all at once. I try not to make these breaks social media focused. The death scroll is so easy to slip into and this is more often than not, an energy sapper and activates a different kind of pressure.
Asking for help. Its telling that I write this point last in my list - I know I don’t do this enough and it’s probably the number one contributor to my pressure barometer. The pressure I put on myself to do everything myself. This point is probably the biggest game changer when dealing with pressure. When’s the last time you asked her help?
In true pressure situations, we need to devote every ounce of energy into the task-at-hand. Knowing that you are in a pressure moment is your cue to focus on the performance that will meet the demands of the task.
Not asking for help because of fear of looking silly / vulnerable is a big thing. I know I struggle with this but I’m getting better.
I do perform well under pressure, I feel it has become the norm for me to leave things to very last minute . I tend to count the amount of free time I have to myself because when work comes in, my free time is very limited