Pressure with the right approach of mindset, actually can be incredibly helpful. Even unlocking levels of performance, otherwise appear unattainable.
By understanding how pressure affects your mind and the body, you can learn to to change your responses to a high-stake stressful situation in the future.
When you’re on the pressure, your body typically responds by speeding up breathing. As your heart rate increases, more blood gets redirect to your heart, reducing your peripheral temperature – the temperature of your hands and the feat and other extremities. Your might start sweating, in other words, it means performance suffers. Over long term, elevated cortisol levels from stress are linked to higher cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. All of which are associated with a lower life expectancy.
When your body ‘activates’ like this, your attention narrows too. Your brain continuesly decides which sensory information – that is, sounds, sights, smells and so on – to accept which to ignore. This is known as sensory gating, and without it, we’d all be overwhelmed by every tiny stimulus. But when under pressure, your sensory gating mechanism becomes much more restrictive. It creates a sort of tunnel vision, and your focus is narrowed so that even the most obvious information is missed.
Over the long term this attentional tunneling can even become your default state, impact your life satisfaction, social relationships and emotional health. So pressure might seem unbeatable. But while some circumstances may out of your control, but pressure itself is an internal experience. and because of that you can change how you respond to it.
Example of a nerve-racking job interview, the stakes are clear, if you perform well you’d get hired. But fixating on the stakes often counterproductive, only adding to the pressure, and making the importance of a result appear larger. The first step is it to do the exact opposite – focus on what’s not at stake. Zoom out, identify in your life what’s won’t change regardless of the outcome. Will you still have your partner, your children or the other relationships you with your family and friends? Thinking of the anchoring forces in your life, and use those as a counterweight to the pressure of the moment.
Block out the things that are not within your control. Focusing on things you can’t control often amplifies the uncertainty of the situation. Instead, remind yourself there are three things are within your control: routine,breathing, perspective. The routine provides you with a flexible structure to adapt to uncertain circumstances. Breathing, though, automatic, it’s also under your control. It quickens during peak pressure of moments, but you can consciously slow it down and deepen your breathing – your heart rate can have a chance to align with your breathing again. This is called coherence and helps your heart and your brain counteract the effects of immediate stressors. Finally – prospective, if you perceive something as a threat, it appears impenetrable. But you can reframe it – by asking yourself what you’re learning from the experience.
Dealing with the volume of the pressure
The most effective way is to eliminate the sauces of pressure that destract you and don’t help you grow. Think of organising the sources of your pressure like cleaning your room. By using Marie Kondo’s organising system – asking one simple question:”Does this spark joy?” You can use this philosophy by asking:”Will this helpe me grow?” If it is not getting you closer to one of your goals, what is the justification for keeping it around? The next question filters out the pressures that actively distract you:” Does it help or hurt my performance?”
Dealing with a long haul pressures
When pressure isn’t just a single event but a long period, you need another approach to stay motivated and focused. That requires finding meanings to carry you through.
Dealing with uncertainty
Motivation will keep you moving in the right direction but how do you keep up your energy in face of perpetual uncertainty. Some turn to unconditional optimism – having faith that future only holds the best-case scenario. But that too can create a brittle mindset ready to be broken. Because no matter what you do or who you are the future will remain uncertain. So rather than controlling uncertainty, aim to accept it – by accepting this fact, you can focus your energy inward.The best approach to uncertainty over the long haul requires holding two ideas in your mind. The first is coming to terms with the fact that you can’t know what future will bring. The second, somewhat contradictory attitude, is to trust that,in the end, everything will work out. A face of long-haul pressure, accepting uncertainty reframes future to contain one more possibility.
Rather than viewing one future outcome as make-or-break, you can consider whatever happens on its own merits. Perhaps it wasn’t what you’d hoped for, but you still learned something about yourself or can take value from the outcome for challenges.
Curb the volume of pressure over the long haul by sleeping enough, eating well and exercising
One study from Central Queensland University in Australia compared the effects of sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption. The results suggested, after being awake 17 hours or more, you have the same cognitive performance level as someone who is legally drunk. Prioritizing these three areas will help provide you with the energy and fitness you need to tackle the pressure over the long haul.
Conclusion
Pressure gets a bad rap for stopping people from reaching their potential. Plus, short-term and long-term effects can be harmful to your physical and mental health. But pressure doesn’t have to be negative. If you change your approach, can be helpful. When you approach peak pressure moments focus on what is not at stake or what’s in your control and simplify the volume of pressure you need to deal with. For long-haul pressure identify why this challenge is helping you grow. By reframing your challenges and taking care of your well-being through sufficient sleep,nutrition and exercise you’ll be prepared for whatever pressure comes your way.
Meandering leads to perfection 