Six techniques to help you perform under pressure.

Here's six top tips on how to perform under pressure that are bound to help you in times of stress.

Whether we like it or not, we will all experience pressure at some point in our professional lives. Learning not just how to cope with it, but actually how to thrive under pressure, can be a huge step towards achieving success in business.

This article reveals some top tips on how to turn pressure from your worst enemy into your greatest ally:

From threat to fun challenge

People get overwhelmed and procrastinate when they perceive high-pressure moments as a threat. In these instances our instinctive ‘flight or fight’ response kicks in, often causing a lack of confidence, bad judgment, and as a result, the fear of failure.

A solution is to see these situations as fun projects instead. Doing this will help you relax and take control – let yourself be stimulated by the new opportunity, and activate creative thinking to stay focused on the task at hand.

Try not to overthink it

When working under pressure, more often than not, we worry about some imaginary catastrophe that never happens, and that tends to render us powerless.

Instead why not try and…

Focus on the task at hand, not the outcome

As mentioned above, you want to try and approach high-pressure situations as interesting challenges.

A great way to do this is by shifting focus from your ultimate (and sometimes overwhelming) goal to more immediate tasks, and concentrate on working out how you’re going to carry them out successfully.

Prioritise – try the Eisenhower Model

When facing multiple, competing, high-priority tasks it can be hard to determine which of them needs immediate attention.

Using the Eisenhower Model can help. Here’s how – divide all your tasks into 4 categories:

1. urgent and important;
2. important but not urgent;
3. urgent but not important;
4. neither urgent nor important.

(image by Entrepreneur.com)

Perform the urgent and immediate tasks first. Tasks that are not urgent with no priority fall off the list.

Take control

In a pressure moment, there are factors you have control over and factors you don't. When you focus on those "uncontrollables," you end up intensifying the pressure, increasing your anxiety, and ultimately undermining your confidence. What you want to do is focus on the factors you can control.

For example, if trying to do a new deal, don’t think about all the other potential companies the prospect could be exploring instead of yours. Instead, just concentrate on delivering the best possible pitch and establishing a strong bond with the person.

Share the pressure

Telling someone else about the pressure you're feeling has been proven to reduce anxiety and stress.

But there's another bonus: sharing your feelings allows you to examine them, challenge their reality, and view a pressure situation in a realistic manner. And it's likely the person you're sharing your feelings with will have some feedback, too — feedback you might never have gotten had you stewed solo.

After all, a problem shared is a problem halved!