This post is about the benefits that can be obtained from putting oneself under pressure and is designed to motivate people, not just to get the direct results, but to get the indirect results that occur upon reflection of the moment that contained pressure.

There are obvious times when I feel extreme pressure. These are easy to spot and I hope they do not occur at a time when I am learning to handle pressure under a type of situation. The key is to recognize what the feeling of pressure feels like and to develop an understanding of the feeling of pressure in small doses.

Once you are close enough to yourself to recognize that you are under the same type of pressure, just in a smaller dose, you are set to begin working on how to handle pressure. Although there are many types of pressure, I am going to focus on the pressure of confrontation.

The pressure of confrontation covers a vast range of interactions, from discussing an issue you want fixed at work, to opening a dialogue with a random girl, to discussing problems with people you interact regularly with.

Recognizing when I feel pressure

I wanted to increase my ability to maintain frame well under the pressure of talking to my work superiors about improvement. I knew this was an issue after a boss randomly discussed an idea I submitted to the suggestion box with me. As I was not prepared for the meeting and taken aback by actually being spoken to about an idea, I handled it badly and the idea was not used because I could not provide enough value to it in the moment of the meeting.

After reflection on these events, I made it my quest to gather experience in speaking with superiors about topics I had provided. I always maintained a high standard of work and sought to create ways to ensure these standards were extended across the company by trying to be creative and seeing new possibilities.

Over the following year I found plenty of opportunities to propose ideas and later discuss them with my superiors and it became second nature instead of being a big deal. While trying to conquer the pressure I felt, I would even sit with managers at lunch and try to find their opinions of things from outside of work to discuss, which helped by humanizing them and created my attitude of treating them as equals not superiors.

Abusing the Power of Habits

It is important to note that we are creatures of habit and will instinctively do anything that has proven to cause ‘perceived positive results’. There are two angles to take from this point.

Firstly, it must be acknowledged that once you have ingrained something into yourself enough times, it will become natural and easy to do and even thinking about the once ‘difficult’ task will become pleasurable because you will know the feeling of the perceived benefits.

The second angle to consider is the difficulty of getting to that stage. ‘Begin with an end in mind’. This is where you imagination must be exercised, but do not use this as a mental masturbation. You simply envision the rewards you believe you will get from this task instead of envisioning the difficulties and intricacies of the task itself. With a consciously planned summary of the ‘end in mind’ you wish to attain, the task itself will seem more important and valuable, therefore easier to do.

Tl;dr - Once you are able to recognize when you feel pressure and translate an understanding of that feeling of pressure into other less significant situations you open a roadmap to work on reducing the pressure during future situatons.

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