Staying Calm under Pressures

While working in the highly competitive corporate environments of today's world, it is not easy to stay calm under pressure. Instead of ripping your hair out in your daily work, it is important to keep your professionalism by maintaining your cool. Adaptation of a few basic measures in your life and making a few changes in your working style can make a big difference. In the following lines I have tried to throw some light on these measures.

Eliminate Negative Thoughts

Always focus on positive thoughts. Keep in view the positivity in your life and try to overlook the negative or stressful aspects of life.

Avoid Negative People

Do your best to keep away from pessimistic colleagues, especially before a big deadline.

Focus On One Thing at a Time

You should focus on one task at a time. It will translate into higher performance (versus a bunch of unfinished, imperfect tasks). You should also silence phone and email notifications when you need to focus.

Break Big Problems Down into Smaller Chunks

Reduce feelings of overwhelm and the urge to procrastinate by taking large problems and breaking them down into smaller bits. In this way you can come up with a solution more easily than trying to tackle the entire thing at once.

Avoid Unhelpful Thinking Habits

Examples of unhelpful thoughts include blaming yourself, blaming other people, or blaming your circumstances. Unhelpful thoughts can also include over-analysing the situation and getting lost in too many details; magnifying the negatives of the situation; and/or over-dramatizing events and circumstances in unhelpful ways.

Instead, focus on things you can control. And that control comes from within yourself. You can control the language you use and the questions you ask yourself. Once you have these things under your control, you will likewise gain control over your emotional responses and thoughts. And this will naturally lead to a greater sense of calmness and emotional stability, which is exactly what you need to help you get through this pressure situation successfully.

Consider Seeking Support

When you are facing a pressure situation, you are left with two choices. You can either try or work through the situation by yourself, or you can seek the support of people who have had experience in this area and will, therefore, be able to help you work through this successfully.

Build a Calming Daily Routine

There may very well be moments of your day that are frantic and hectic. These moments are simply a part of your working life, and it can certainly be difficult to work around them. Don’t resist these moments. Let them be. It sometimes might not be possible to change part of your routine or schedule, however, what’s important is that you balance your routine and make time for yourself, for relaxation and for self-reflection. You can do this by taking nature walks in the local park. You can also do this by taking a warm bath at the end of the day, or maybe a massage during the middle of the day can help extinguish stress, anxiety and worry from your body.

Consider also taking time to nourish your spirit throughout the day with prayer, meditation, Yoga, and other practices that will help you keep your emotions calm, relaxed and cantered. It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as for short periods of time throughout your day you can find the time to unwind a little to help you gain some perspective about your life and circumstances.

Use the Power of Visualization

Visualization is a fantastic method for grounding yourself during times of intense emotional turmoil and uncertainty.

Find a quiet place without distractions where you can lie down or at the very least sit down comfortably. If that’s not possible, then sit where you are or lie down on the floor while listening to tranquil music. Initially, allow your mind to wander and just find its place in the moment. However, after a few minutes take control of the images forming in your imagination and imagine a tranquil place — a sanctuary of sorts that you can escape to. This is a place filled with all the things that make you feel comfortable, at peace and relaxed.

Spend five to ten minutes at a time exploring this place, relaxing within this imaginary world, and allowing all your stresses and worries to melt away. In fact, use the time you have within this sanctuary to think about your life, circumstances, and problems. Just maybe within this place, you will find the necessary perspective and the answers you need to help you get through the pressures of life.

Later, whenever you feel stressed or overwhelmed, take some time to come back to this place to help ground yourself during moments of uncertainty.

Learn About Breath Control

While visualizing and/or meditating, it’s important that you breathe correctly in ways that will help you to relax and centre yourself emotionally. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is one method used that can help you maintain your composure and relax your body.

Diaphragmatic breathing requires that you breathe-in through your diaphragm for four seconds, then hold your breath for another four seconds, and then breathe out for the final four seconds, and then begin again. Doing this for up to five minutes at a time can help you feel more cantered and relaxed. With more emotional composure, you will find the strength you need to move through your problems successfully.

Build Your Emotional Coping Skills

Building your emotional coping skills means you are learning to manage to proactively handle your emotional responses. This often begins with developing a deeper understanding of the meaning of each of your emotions, and of your emotional tendencies.

Succeeding here means that you will no longer be at the mercy of your emotions. You will instead be in control of your emotional destiny. No longer will life’s pressure situations or problems overwhelm you because you have finally become a fully aware and present individual who understands and appreciates the value that every emotion has to offer.

Building your emotional coping skills will, of course, take some time and effort. However, everything worthwhile takes time. It is after all only within each experience that you will find the lessons you need to help build your emotional intelligence.

Get Good Quality Sleep and Exercise

Good quality sleep and exercise is absolutely paramount. Getting good quality sleep will help you become much more emotionally resilient. Likewise, regular exercise will provide you with the energy you need to consciously and physically work through difficulties far more effectively.

When you’re well rested and when your body is feeling fit, you will naturally have a more calming energy about you. It will be much easier for you to stay relaxed during uncertain times and difficult moments. You will find yourself feeling more centred, focused and in control. This will provide you with the clarity of mind you need to work through emotional issues far more successfully.

Eat a Well-Balanced Diet

Moving on from the previous point, it’s also very important to eat well. Eating a well-balanced and healthy diet, keeping yourself hydrated with water throughout the day, and avoiding the habit of indulging in addictions will help you to manage your emotions, and your responses to the events and circumstances of your life far more effectively.

In particular avoid drugs, alcohol, sugar and caffeine addictions. These addictions will put you on edge, making it very difficult to stay calm and centred throughout the day.

Physically Slow Down

Living at a frantic pace can work quite well for some people. In fact, there are people who thrive on urgency, while still maintaining a calm and centred energy. However, this kind of lifestyle isn’t for everyone because it can lead to high levels of stress and anxiety.

If you typically suffer from stress and anxiety throughout your day, then it’s a clear indication that you are living too frantically. There’s just too much going on in your life, and at the moment you’re just unable to handle yourself or your circumstances. In such instances, it’s important to begin slowing things down. This, of course, isn’t easy. There’s just so much to do and so little time. However, what you must do is re-prioritize things in order to help create the space and time you need to slow down.

Slowing down doesn’t necessarily mean that you do everything more slowly. It does, however, mean that you do things more consciously. Therefore, instead of rushing through a task, think through the task and take a little time to consider how to best work on this task in the most effective and time-efficient way.

Slowing down also means finding time for periods of relaxation. It means taking regular thought-breaks. Thought breaks are times throughout the day when you take several minutes to separate yourself from your tasks and activities to just sit down and think about your decisions and actions. These moments of self-reflection could very well provide you with some interesting insights that will help you work much more productively moving forward.

Consistently Build Your Support Network

During moments of great emotional upheaval, it’s important to have people whom you can talk to and reach out to. These people are part of your support network. They are there to assist you during difficult moments of your life, and you are also there to assist them in their emotional and physical struggles.

Your support network will provide you with an anchor you can use during difficult emotional moments of your life. They will instil within you the calmness you need when there are emotional storms brewing around you.

Think and Prepare for Difficulties in Advance

One of the best ways to stay calm, focused and centred at all times, is to think and prepare for seemingly unexpected setbacks, difficulties, and problems in advance. Of course, you might be thinking that if something is unexpected, then there’s absolutely no way to prepare for it. Therefore, let’s look at it another way: Taking time to think about and preparing for possible future scenarios brings them from the realm of the “unknown” into your conscious awareness. Therefore, what was unexpected before, is now something you are ready to tackle in the moment or in the future.

Build Your Support Network

During moments of great emotional upheaval, it’s important to have people whom you can talk to and reach out to. These people are part of your support network. They are there to assist you during difficult moments of your life, and you are also there to assist them in their emotional and physical struggles.

Prepare for Difficulties in Advance

One of the best ways to stay calm, focused and centred at all times, is to prepare for seemingly unexpected setbacks, difficulties, and problems in advance.

Keep a Role Model in View

You need to keep in view that there are people who have lot more responsibilities and they manage them properly. Look up to them, motivate yourself and try to expand your endurance limits.

Delegate the Responsibilities

Don’t keep too much on your plate. Delegating the responsibilities to the staff and focusing only on monitoring and coordinating on some of the less critical issues relieve you from lot of work and free you from lot of stress.

Thinking about the Worst

You should imagine that there are people who are under more pressures, who are more over worked than yourself. You are not the only one who is under pressure. Don’t be afraid of facing difficult situations. Every difficult situation provides you grooming and learning experience.

Take the Things Not Too Seriously

Last but the not the least, you should not take the things too much seriously. Job is meant for you; you are not meant for the job. Don’t overstretch yourself too much. Don’t spend too much extra time at your workplace. It will impact your health adversely. Keep work life balance. Spare enough time to relax with your family and friends on regular basis.

The people who remain calm in the over demanding environments can deliver better and progress well in their career.