Handling Pressure

[R. Palan Ph.D.]

“Before getting into how to handle pressure, let's first talk about
what it is.
What exactly is pressure and how does it play a part in whether or not
you will achieve your goals? Pressure, in terms of accomplishing
goals, is the feeling you get the moment you set a deadline on your
goals. As you may already know, a goal is a dream with a deadline.
A dream without a deadline is just that, a dream, it'll never happen.
So why is putting pressure on yourself a good thing? It's good because
it forces you to act now, rather than later.
Think about those situations where you had to perform under pressure.
The only reason you felt that pressure was because you had to do
something within a certain amount of time. The basketball player who
is under pressure because the time is running down and he has to make
the final basket in order to win the game feels the pressure because
he has to act right now, not later. If he had all day to take the
shot, there wouldn't be any pressure. Pressure causes us to move.
Of course, pressure could also cause people to freeze up. Some people
are not able to deal with pressure. When it comes down to it, they
just don't have what it takes. Or do they? Pressure is something that
you can handle if you know what to do. If you think about it, when you
freeze up under pressure, it usually means that you don't have
confidence in performing the task at hand in the amount of time that
you're given to perform it. In order to deal with pressure, there is
one thing you need to do. You need to get confident.
The way you have confidence is simply by being prepared. When you have
done something over and over again, your level of belief in yourself
rises. As your confidence rises, your ability to deal with pressure
will also rise. Now, this doesn't mean you won't feel any pressure. It
just means you'll be able to act despite of the pressure. Once you get
use to working under pressure, you may start to actually like it
because it helps you take immediate action.
I put myself under pressure every time I set a goal because I know if
I don't, I will tend to delay taking the necessary actions in order to
accomplish the goal. Usually setting a deadline is enough to put
enough pressure on me to make it work. Sometimes though, I find that I
need to "up the ante", meaning put more at risk in order to increase
the pressure, which causes me to take immediate action. The reason I
am able to do this is because I am used to working under these
conditions, and the reason for that is because I've done this so many
times.
So dealing with pressure comes down to building confidence in yourself
and your abilities through lots of practice performing under pressure.
Put pressure on yourself to perform at a high level because when the
time comes to perform on the public stage, you'll be able to feed from
it instead of freeze from it.”
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
http://www.motivational-well-being.com/how-to-handle-pressure.html