Performance Under Pressure - The Right Attitude

It's almost certain that you'll have to deal with high pressure situations during your career. Some professionals, such as airline pilots or firefighters, deal with very high levels of pressure. Regardless of the scale of pressure – whether you're trying to land a plane suffering engine failure or trying to meet a production target – it's important that you manage the pressure effectively.

Often, people say that they perform well under pressure. Or that they can't reach optimum performance without some element of pressure. It's true that pressure can be both energizing and invigorating. However, pressure can have a seriously negative impact when it isn't properly managed.

The Science of Better Learning

Everyone reacts differently to pressure. And everyone's pressure trigger is different. There are four work-related factors that can trigger pressure: time pressure, work overload, relationship strain, and a necessity of balancing competing interests.

Pressure can cause you to react in different ways. Sometimes pressure can be an invigorating force that helps you achieve excellent results. But, on the other hand, pressure can be debilitating and hinder your ability to perform. It can be an opportunity for you to thrive, or a threat because it may lead to excessive stress.

Factors to consider in relation to your response to stress.

To complete your understanding of your response to stress, you should be aware of the different ways stress affects you. Stress can manifest itself in physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral ways. These symptoms may have other origins than stress, but they are potential indicators of stress that should be considered nonetheless.

Experiencing excessive stress triggers different emotions in a person that cause an imbalance to occur. Instead of being calm, a person becomes worried or begins to act in an uncharacteristic manner. To restore the balance and neutralize the impact of stress, the human body releases endorphins.

Access the follow-on activity to review your response to pressure.

Work-related pressure can occur in any profession or industry. In some situations, it can lead to stress and this can cause suboptimal performance. Maybe you know a colleague who is very competent and efficient. But in pressurized situations, that person's ability and judgment becomes seriously impaired.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you'll find that you can't control all the external factors that cause you to experience pressure. However, you can control your reaction to pressure. This will help you avoid wasting energy on negative emotions that can impede your performance at work.

The second principle when managing your attitude is to cultivate a "success mentality." This involves using your emotions to your advantage, boosting self-confidence, having a "go to" statement prepared, focusing on what you can achieve, and cultivating an attitude for success.

Access the job aid to review the two main principles you should consider when you want to control your reaction to pressure.

This course aims to help you to develop the mental and emotional strength for performing in high pressure situations. If you're able to identify what causes you to experience pressure, react appropriately, and develop the right attitude, you should be able to thrive in pressurized situations.

You think knowing stuff changes the game? You think sitting in a library, stacking up facts like you’re building a Jenga tower, is gonna make you a winner? Man, that’s cute. But life ain't a trivia night. Information alone? It’s worthless. It’s like having a Lamborghini in your garage but you never learned how to drive. You just sit in it, making engine noises. Vroom vroom. People walk by, they see the car, but they also see you ain't going nowhere. You got all this knowledge, all these textbooks, but when life throws a punch, you’re still looking up the definition of "duck." It’s what you *do* with that information that actually matters. Don't be the person with the shiny car and no keys.