How You Handle Stress and Pressure

Handling Pressure and Stress: Understanding the Basics

We all experience pressure at different points in our lives. It may be the pressure you feel when you’re presenting something in front of a group of people, whom you really want to impress. Pressure could be the feeling of wanting to play your best knowing that you need to in order to get back in the lineup for the next game. There are countless ways we can experience pressure and I am frequently asked the question “How You Handle Stress and Pressure?”… here’s some strategies to help you deal with, and understand, the pressure you’re feeling along with the stress that accompanies it.  

 

The Impact of Pressure and Perfectionism

I’m sure many of you have heard the saying, “pressure is a privilege.” I certainly have… countless times. I recall discussing my nerves before games with my parents, feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed. They never explicitly said that ‘pressure was a privilege,’ but they often reassured me that it was perfectly normal to feel nervous. They emphasized that wanting to do well wasn’t a bad thing and that nerves didn’t diminish my abilities. However, those feelings definitely affected my performance on the ice. When we experience pressure to perform, it can lead to stress or anxiety because our minds become fixated on the outcome. We might set expectations of perfection—or something close to it—that become the only result we care about.

 

Understanding the Science Behind Stress

Focusing on external outcomes and the unrealistic goal of perfection triggers stress and anxiety because our brain signals that the situation is out of our control. Deep down, we know perfection isn’t achievable, which leads to a chain reaction of stress-related feelings as the brain prepares the body to “flee.”

Your brain doesn’t like things it can’t predict. Uncertainty and inability to predict a good outcome means that the brain naturally enters into an ‘unsafe’ or fear-based state because it’s simply trying to protect you–to get you to run away from whatever’s making you feel that way.

 

How You Handle Stress and Pressure?

Now that we understand what causes us to ‘buckle under pressure’, we can jump into the strategies you can use to handle pressure and stress.   

 

Strategies for Handling Pressure and Stress

1. Train your brain to focus on the very controllable aspects of your ‘performance’ 
   • What is in your control? What is out of your control? Make a list.
2. Give your brain a concrete direction of focus–a very specific direction to move in
   • Based on the elements you can control, what goals can you set for yourself?
   • EX. I can control my readiness and knowledge of the topic before a presentation
     • “I will block one hour off a day for the next three days leading up to my presentation to practice my presentation”
     • “I will research my topic extensively before beginning the presentation”
3. Check-in on your progress to help your brain stay focused on the things it can control
   • There are so many things that can impact your ability to stay on track. Create a system of check-ins to hold yourself accountable and keep your focus where you want it.
   • EX. I can control the pace and energy that I play with
     • “I will make sure that my first three strides with the puck are hard, fast, and explosive”
       • To check in on this, when I hear a whistle or get on the bench after a shift, I will ask: ‘Are my first three strides feeling hard, fast, and explosive?’ If yes, what’s working? If no, what can I do to change that?

 

Embracing Your Nerves as Fuel

For a few years, late in high school and early in college, my nerves got the best of me 50% of the time. I was either great or terrible. When I think back on it now, I know that it’s because I had this idea in my mind that I was nervous because I wasn’t ready; if I was ready then I shouldn’t be nervous. 

What I know now is that’s not the case at all. If you’re nervous it means you care! You may care about the outcome, the teammates in your locker room, the coworkers depending on you—and all of that is OK. But, if you want to use that nervous energy to propel you forward, you need to understand that you are responsible for reigning that energy into areas of focus that you can control. 

 

Pressure as a Privilege

Pressure is a privilege because it means that you care deeply about something you’re doing. And that’s amazing. But you have to remember that it’s on you to make sure that you’re keying into the things you are about that you have control over!

 

Ready to take control of your stress and pressure? Schedule a free consultation today to get personalized strategies that will help you manage pressure, reduce stress, and unlock your full potential. Don’t let stress hold you back—let’s work together to build a calmer, more focused you. Book your free consultation now!

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Lauren Williams | High-Performance Coach | Athlete Mindset Coach | Former Professional Hockey Player