If you look back on your life, there are probably a few key moments that shaped your destiny. Where you are today, is in great part due to how you handled these situations. Many famous fighters have always said, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.
When you are faced with pressure, an obstacle in your life, how do you handle it? Do you crumble under the pressure and the feeling being down for the count? Or do you get back up and win the fight. This article is all about teaching you to excel under pressure, and not succumb to stress!
8 Things You Must Do Right Now to Not Choke Under Pressure
- Avoid Negative People
As soon you are faced with a challenge, be it in life, or in software development, there will be those people ready to kick you, and tell you how complicated the problem is, and how grim the situation is. Avoid them at all costs. They will only get you down. Try instead to surround yourself with winning personalities. That is people that thrive on success and positive re-enforcement. The sad reality is chances are, by succeeding, you will be setting the bar that much higher, and possibly making the “negative” people look bad. Get rid of them! If you simply can’t get rid of the negative personalities, ignore them completely!
- Assess the Situation
What happened to get you into this situation? What went wrong with your game plan? Take a piece of paper (yes go old school) and draw a line through the middle of the paper. On the left side write down everything that was done incorrectly. Along the right side, write down everything that you did very well. What is the point of doing this? Your brain is going to learn exactly what to not do again, and what it should do more of.
- Do Not Get Caught Up On What You Do Well
A lot of times people will fall into the trap of only doing what they do well, and not focusing on the things they do poorly. Take the list you just wrote down, and for each thing that went badly, write down what you can do to change that behaviour. See the problem is, it’s in your human nature to focus on what you do well, and ignore everything else, until it’s too late.A lot of managers can get into this habit of always pushing what they are best at, and avoiding everything else as things someone else will worry about. This is actually an untold story in management, where a lot of times, managers will stay on one area of the project, because they are most comfortable in this area, and never allow the project to move on, thus, slowing things to a crawl. Anyway I digress, this is another story.
- Remove Distractions and Stay Focused
Its crunch time, and there are distractions everywhere! Other projects going on, lunch gatherings, after work events. Just as a golfer is trained to focus on the hole, and not on the water hazards and sand traps, you must do the same. If you have an office, close the door. If you don’t, make sure you have a good pair of noise isolating headphones. Make sure the music you listen to does not have words if possible. Words will only distract you.
- Remain Relaxed
This is quite possibly one of the most important things to ensure you crush the competition, succeed in your journey, or finish that software project on time. I personally love to watch UFC, love playing chess, and studied martial arts for many years. One thing you could always see in the winner prior to the fight, and during the fight, is a relaxed demeanour. Remaining relaxed when you are on the 18th hole, one chip away, is the secret of champions.
- Create a Plan
Once the pressure starts mounting, you will need a plan to fall back on when you are in dire straits. A plan doesn’t have to be all encompassing either, just enough to serve as a guide. You would be surprised how many people never bother to create a plan simply because they think it will take too long to do it, so they never start. You can create a plan right now in fact, in the next 5 minutes, and then build on it. You will be amazed how easy it is to do, and how much it helps. Stop reading this article in fact, and take out another sheet of paper and write
- Be Prepared
If you know the pressure is building up, make sure you take the time to get prepared. Being prepared can actually reduce the feeling of stress under pressure, and help move you into the final stage of being confident and believing in yourself. If you know you will need to implement some new technology, a new function to the application, etc. Make sure you get ready! Adding a new function to the application for accounting? Go sit with them and learn their jobs as best as you can and figure out what they want to do!
- Be Confident and Believe in Yourself!
You are in the position you are in because some believed in you. Be confident in your abilities. If you lose confidence, you as might as well pack it in.
Remember, times of pressure are a great time to shine and rise to the occasion. This is the times when champions are made! Will you rise to the occasion, or stay down for the count.
Is there anything else you do to ensure you succeed when you are under the gun? Share with us!