Performance Under Pressure: The Right Attitude - When Pressure Becomes Stress

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Often, people say that they perform well under pressure. Or, that they can't reach optimum performance without some element of pressure. And, yes, I have to admit that it's true. I said it before, pressure can be both energizing and invigorating. However, pressure can have a seriously negative impact when it isn't properly managed.
Poorly managed pressure in the workplace leads to excessive stress. This can be triggered by high profile events and situations. But it can also arise from the relentless daily grind of dealing with minor issues. When someone experiences too much pressure, too often and without a chance to recover, this lead to negative stress. Just as pressure is felt differently by individuals, so is work-related stress. How a person experiences stress depends on the person's personality and how that person manages pressure.
For example, Carl is the owner of an IT company. He enjoys handling important duties such as meeting new customers and finalizing product designs. But he finds that he experiences stress when he has to deal with dozens of minor administration requests on an everyday basis.
Stress-Related Outcomes
Stress can lead to negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depression. These emotions result in stress-related outcomes that can disrupt a person's ability to perform at work.
• The first outcome is that the person loses focus.
• The second is the person is unable to make decisions.
• And, the third is that the person is unable to perform under pressure.
Losing focus
Stress can lead to a person losing focus because the pressure the person was experiencing has ceased to be energizing or invigorating. The positive energies have been replaced by negative thoughts that preoccupy or distract a person from the task at hand.
For instance, Tom is an IT project manager. He loses focus during a project to replace a company's outdated operating system. He copes well initially and uses the pressure to drive his performance. But a series of setbacks on the project turns the pressure into negative stress. Tom becomes agitated and irritable. He's distracted because the situation is stressful and forgets to place an important software order. This causes delays in the project and increases his level of stress.
Decision-Making Impairment
Stress affects a person's ability to make the right decisions. To make a decision, a person uses cognitive and emotional intelligences. Stress greatly reduces a person's ability to use these capacities, with the result that the wrong decision is often made.
For example, Corinne is a marketing executive with a bank. She's working on a promotional strategy for a new financial product. Her stress levels are very high. (...)

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