The Power of 3Ps - Pressure, Practice and Perserverance

Part One : Performance Under Pressure or Over Pressure.

Recently I heard a conversation where a young student asked a famous cricketer 'How do you deal and perform under Pressure?','What are your coping mechanisms and how do you manage to succeed most of the times even with enormous pressure of performance, pride at stake and personal image?' 'Can you give me some tips how to deal with pressure of studying, doing well in exams and with the fear of failing and not succeeding.' The Cricketer's reply was simple yet sensible. 'If you have prepared well for that situation, nothing will change in a day. And if you haven't prepared well enough for it, again nothing will change in one day."

I have often heard people saying 'I perform better under pressure'. I like to think this as a complex response that could be broken into 'I', 'perform better' and 'under pressure'.Perhaps the very beginning of the phrase is daunting for me, 'I'. I would love to believe that I know what performance is for me and I know best how my own performance works. Is it possible to be perfect at all times? Is it possible to be able to perform at a bar we set for ourselves always. Is it vital for us to believe I have to do what I think I should do and am capable of? Many more burning questions that I think are crucial to understand for our own wellbeing.

Performance is quite contextual. I may be most of the times able to perform better in practice than in real context, simply because I am used to practice situation than the real situation. And when I add a big deal to the real performance, it affects my productivity. Putting all the efforts in the practice rather than the outcome would allow for better productivity rather than pressure.

The pressures that real performance brings with it can make one feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. We often feel the need to perform at a high level, often set by us and thought as the ultimate goal for measuring success. We are told that in order to succeed we need to learn to deal with pressures. Here it brings with itself the negative vibes leaving no or little scope to bounce back. The sense of struggle to meet the success criteria has a detrimental role in the performance. The pressures that people feel to excel and perform are actually eroding the ability to do so. The significant thing in a performance is the belief in the power to change it. It is important to recognise our own well being as non negotiable. The ability to let go off the anxiety, pressure and stress that controls the mind doesn't guarantee the   super performance but doesn't worry too much about the outcome either. But it would allow to understand mistakes are an inevitable part of the performance and success doesn't equate to happiness.

Sharing some inspirational stories that I am learning from, to balance pressures and well being and ability to surpass and perform over pressure. It is about time to let go off the thought that pressure drives performance. Performance is a journey of ups and downs, success and failures and mostly of keep trying without feeling overwhelmed. 

Simone Biles and Unprecedented pressure

MS Dhoni talks about mental health

Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed in the article are of the author.