How to perform well under pressure
- ‘Mental toughness’ is the wrong approach. It’s a popular coping style but it can backfire by causing you to see challenges as threats.
- Develop your ‘mental flexibility’ instead. This way, you’ll be better able to think on your feet and cope with the unexpected.
- Separate yourself from your thoughts. We all have difficult thoughts, but when you learn to notice and accept but not respond, you stay more in control.
- Practice labeling your feelings more accurately. To avoid becoming overwhelmed by negative emotions, focus on improving your emotional literacy and you’ll see this opens the way to more creative solutions.
- Replace forms of self-talk that increase the pressure. Avoid telling yourself that you should do this or you must do that, and instead adopt more gentle and open language that is about opportunity and noticing.
- Break some of your own rules. Switch things up in everyday life so that you find it easier to be flexible when you’re under pressure.
- Identify and remember your values. Understanding your values and what truly matters to you means that, whatever life throws your way, you can become adept at moving in the direction you choose.