Performing Under Pressure

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...Rudyard Kipling

Most people do not perform well under pressure but I believe its a skill that can be learned and developed. In the 80's and 90's I was a competitive full contact martial artist. I learned about pressure by getting in the ring with other highly trained martial artists who were completely focused on hurting me and trying to knock me out!

I was fascinated to see how some competitors performed better under pressure and others crumbled. I wanted to learn how I could get the best out of myself at the most important time, something I always admired in others. All of my sporting heroes were always capable of digging deep and finding something inside themselves when they most needed it.

We can all learn to perform under pressure.

How Pressure Affects Our Brains

The cerebral cortex is the area of the brain responsible for the higher functions such as reasoning and logic but an evolutionary older part of the brain, known as the limbic system is responsible for assessing danger. Stress, pressure and fear activates our limbic system, which shuts off power to our cerebral cortex. The limbic system is especially sensitive if previous similar situations have had poor outcomes such as pain, embarrassment, shame or rejection.

The Solution

There are a number of things that we can do to train ourselves to deal with pressure:

Embrace It

Change the way you think about stress and pressure. Realise that its a part of life and that its something you can learn to deal with. It lets you know that you care about what you're doing. Its OK to feel pressure and even fear, when you experience it, stop, breath and know that the sensations will pass. Enjoy working through the pressure and enjoy the fact that you are dealing with it.

Remember how stress feels and welcome it, even look forward to it. Changing the way that you think about it is very powerful.

Practise Dealing With Pressure

Recreate pressure situations and look forward to them. Practise presenting to groups of people. I'll often make junior team members present to their leaders, sometimes with limited preparation time with challenging subject matter. I want them to experience a degree of discomfort and pressure.

Knowing that you can deal with pressure is a very powerful thing to learn about yourself.

Practise Under Challenging Conditions

Its too easy to practise skills in clean and controlled environments. Seek out difficult environments where you don't have everything under control. That way you wont be thrown off your game when something changes or when you are confronted with the unexpected.

Its Like Training a Muscle

Exposing yourself to higher and higher levels of stress builds ability and confidence. It builds the ability to deal with stress, knowing that you can handle it. You might even get to the point where stress brings out the best of you.

In Summary

Learn that its OK to feel pressure and fear. Change the way that you think about pressure and practise dealing with it. You can and will get better at dealing with stress and you might even learn to enjoy it.