You’ve probably experienced that sickening feeling after making a grave mistake or sensing something terrible is about to happen. When the pressure’s on, it feels like the world is about to crash down on you. Here are some ways to remain calm under pressure.
Be Kind to Yourself
Treating yourself with kindness should always be a given. If you hold yourself to a standard of perfection, you’ll only set yourself up for disappointment. Stop beating yourself up and instead be open to dealing with negative situations constructively.
Breathe
In a tense situation, stress hormones are likely coursing through your body, and your heart rate increases. Before you do anything else, take a deep breath; it’ll help you relax. Once you’re calmer, you can focus on what to do next.
Just the Facts
Before you classify your event as a catastrophe, get a handle on precisely what happened. What are the potential consequences? Can you do anything to alter the outcomes or their severity? Can you enlist someone to help? Try to look at the problem objectively to understand its nature and gravity.
Keep Your Perspective
Suppose your boss yelled at you because of typos in your report. You skulk back to your desk only to panic about getting fired, failing to secure another job, not making rent, and starving on the street.
Slow down. It’s probably not the end of your career. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” In this case, it likely won’t be terminated. Also, will it matter next week, next month, or in five years? It probably won’t. Once you’ve gained some perspective, dust yourself off, and commit to better proofreading of future reports.
Take Action
When we’re under pressure, it’s easy to feel powerless. However, once you get a handle on a high-pressure situation, you have the power to do something. Instead of avoiding the mess you might have created, empower yourself by taking realistic actions to clean it up.
No matter what predicament arises, it’s essential to keep calm under pressure. Giving in to panic will prevent you from dealing with the situation correctly, and it’ll negatively affect your physical and emotional well-being.