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Friday, August 19, 2011

"I'm under a lot of pressure..."

"I'm under a lot of pressure...":

The ellipsis hides the most important part of this sentence:


"I'm under a lot of pressure from myself."


When you have a big presentation or a large speech or a spreadsheet due, the pressure you feel is self-induced. How do I know? Because stuff that felt high-pressure a few years ago is old hat to you now. Because it used to be hard for you to speak to ten people, and now it takes a hundred or a thousand for you to feel those butterflies. Because not only do you get used to it, you thrive on it.


Unless you're in a James Bond movie, it's really unlikely that the pressure that you're feeling is anything but self-induced.


What you do with the pressure is up to you. If it's not helping you do great work, don't embrace it. Pressure ignored ceases to be pressure.



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