how do you problem solve under pressure

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How to Remain Calm Under Pressure & Overcome Problems in 9 Steps

When times get tough and you are faced with any of life’s complicated problems it can be hard to stay motivated…

How do you stay motivated and keep your cool when things are going badly around you?

Here are some tips on how to stay positive and motivated when times get tough and you face problems. If you want to learn how to overcome your problems and stay motivated, keep reading…

1) Don’t Blame Others

Accept responsibility and take charge. You especially must keep yourself positive and focused. You do this by reminding yourself and repeating these words:

‘‘I am responsible! I am responsible! I am responsible!’’

Above all, refuse to blame anyone for anything. Anger and negative emotions of all kinds are dependent upon blame for their very existence. As soon as you stop blaming other people for what has happened and take responsibility for the future, your negative emotions cease, your mind becomes calm and clear, and you begin to make better decisions.

As soon as you stop blaming other people for what has happened and take responsibility for the future, your negative emotions cease, your mind becomes calm and clear, and you begin to make better decisions.

2) How to Remain Calm Under Pressure

The starting point of staying calm under pressure is for you to refuse to react automatically and unthinkingly. Instead, take a deep breath to calm your mind and then think carefully about your next words and actions. Imagine that everyone is watching.

Imagine that this situation is a test to see what you are truly made of. Imagine that everyone is waiting to see how you will respond.

Resolve to set a good example, be a role model for others, to demonstrate the correct way to deal with a major problem, as if you were giving a lesson.

3) Get the Facts

Instead of overreacting, keep yourself calm by asking questions of the other people involved. Listen patiently to the answers as you use your problem-solving skills to find a solution.

If there is a solution, your job is to find it by fully understanding what has happened before you respond.

4) Ask Questions

Ask key questions and listen carefully to the answers. Here are some that will help you get at the facts: What is the situation exactly?

• What is the situation exactly?
• What has happened?
• How did it happen?
• When did it happen?
• Where did it happen?
• What are the facts?
• How do we know that these facts are accurate?
• Who was involved?
• Who is responsible for doing (or not doing) certain things?

The very act of asking questions and gathering facts keeps you calm and increases your courage and confidence.

The more facts you have, the stronger and more capable you will feel about making good decisions to solve the problem and get through the crunch.

5) Write it Down

Begin by asking, ‘‘What, exactly, is the problem?’’ If you are working by yourself, write down a clear statement of the problem on a piece of paper.

We find that if you can get the problem down on paper it starts to solve itself. Then write down what all of the possible solutions to the problem.

You will find that when you write out your problem and solutions, you will be able to identify the best way to solve it quickly. It may not seem like a problem at all after you write it down.

6) Try Something Different

By trying something different or taking a different approach to solving a problem. You may find a new, more beneficial way to go about things.

When something fails, by taking a different approach and solving what went wrong the first time, will help you improve over the long run.

It might also help to take a break from solving the problem altogether. I find that motivational quotes and inspirational images can recharge my energy, which allows me to return to the problem at hand with full vigor.

7) Communicate With Others

Sometimes, talking over the problem with a spouse or trusted friend will help immensely to keep you calm and controlled. Go for a long walk and review the situation, examining it from every angle, seeking a possible solution. Remain optimistic, no matter what is going on.

Look for something good in the problem or situation. Very often, what appears to be a major setback is an opportunity in disguise. The complete failure of a project, process, or business venture may be exactly what you need because it may compel you to channel your time and resources in another direction.

8) Make a Decision

No matter what happens, seek the valuable lesson in every difficulty and setback.

Within every problem you face, there is the seed of an equal or greater benefit or advantage . When you discipline yourself to look for the good in the situation, and to seek the valuable lessons that the situation or crisis might contain, you automatically remain calm, positive, and optimistic.

As a result, all the powers of your wonderful mind remain available to you to solve the problem or resolve the crisis.

9) Get Busy Solving the Problem

Get so busy taking action that and solving the problem and bringing about a solution, that you don’t have time to worry or think about the problem anymore. The only real antidote to worry, is purposeful action in the direction of your goals.

Instead of becoming upset or doubting yourself and your abilities, decide to take action, any action, to resolve the difficulty and get yourself through the crunch. Remind yourself that problems come not to obstruct, but to instruct. Related article: The 10-Step Process to Solve Any Proble m

When times get tough and you are faced with any of life’s complicated problems, stay motivated knowing that using this technique you can recognize and develop strategies to solve any problem.

How do you solve your problems and stay motivated? Join the conversation below.

If you want to learn how to build greater confidence in yourself and keep calm under pressure, click the button below to download my Self-Confidence Assessment .

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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Article • 7 min read

Coping Under Pressure

Survive and thrive under pressure.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Do you ever have so much to do that you don't know where to begin? Maybe you sometimes feel overburdened by others' expectations of you, or disappointed with the progress you've made. When you're under pressure, it's easy to feel like this.

Pressure is an everyday part of our working lives. Philosopher Thomas Carlyle said, "No pressure, no diamonds," suggesting that, in manageable doses, it can energize and motivate you to perform and achieve.

Too much of it, however, can tip the balance the other way. The trick to making pressure work for you, and not against you, is to find the "sweet spot" between having too little and too much of it.

Here, we look at how to stay in control when pressure starts to weigh you down.

Where Does Pressure Come From?

There are two kinds of pressure – internal and external.

Internal pressures stem from pushing yourself too hard, or from worrying about your ability to meet others' expectations of you and those that you have of yourself. You might drive yourself to be your company's number one salesperson, for example, or doubt your ability to perform at a speaking engagement.

External pressures come from the circumstances or the people around you – a micromanager, for example, making you work in a certain way, or giving you a hefty workload that exceeds your capacity to deal with it.

Some external pressures have little connection with your job, but the way you react to them can negatively impact how you work. A long commute, illness, financial difficulties, family responsibilities, bereavements, or a dangerous workplace can all weigh heavily on you and affect how you behave.

In extreme cases, you may even feel pressured to take risks, to act against your values, or to take part in illegal activities, such as "massaging" figures to reduce your organization's tax bill. Read our article, When to Speak Up , for advice on how best to handle these dangerous situations.

Measuring the Toll of Too Much Pressure

The idea that increasing pressure stimulates people to perform better and better, until an optimum point is reached, dates back to 1908. Psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson found that, when pressure exceeds this optimum point, it has the opposite effect and performance starts to suffer. This conclusion still holds today. [1]

The negative impact of pressure first shows with mild dissatisfaction and a minor deterioration in the quality of a person's work. When the pressure becomes excessive, they can succumb to stress, anxiety and unhappiness.

If the situation doesn't quickly improve, and the excessive pressure is prolonged, the person runs the risk of burning out . Worse still, they could become physically ill or develop psychological and emotional issues such as depression, or behavioral problems like aggressiveness.

Be careful not to confuse pressure with stress – they are quite different. Pressure can be a very positive quality. Experiencing it, yet feeling calm and in control, can spur people on to achieve great things. It's only when it keeps building and that sense of calm and order is replaced by a feeling of being out of control that stress happens, and has a wholly negative effect.

How to Thrive Under Pressure

A sensible lifestyle is central to coping with pressure, so exercise regularly, drink alcohol moderately, maintain a healthy diet, and get plenty of sleep. These commonsense steps aren't enough on their own, however. Responding proactively to pressure can help you to manage its negative impact on you. Here are some strategies to help.

• Stay on Top: Pressure is a positive force when you're in command of the situation. Lose your sense of control, however, and you can quickly feel overwhelmed and anxious. Developing an internal locus of control can boost your ability to monitor and deal with rising pressure – because you believe you are responsible for your own success and that you can have a positive influence on the situation you're in.
• Managing Pressure With the Inverted-U: Consider how your ability, personality and self-confidence, and the complexity of your work, might influence how much pressure you feel. Addressing your "weak spots" and balancing these influences can help you to optimize your performance. The Inverted-U model is a useful tool for doing this.
• Manage Your Response: With a positive mindset, pressured situations can be opportunities to shine, learn and develop. Use them as your motivation to succeed. Cognitive Restructuring can help you to turn negative situations around so that they work in your favor. Try to tackle pressure head on, too, because it's unlikely to go away by itself.
• Be Organized: Taking control of your workload enables you to manage it when pressure starts to build. The Demand-Control Model can help you to do this.
• Boost Your Self-Belief: Pressure often stems from doubting your abilities. Try to appreciate your qualities and work on your self-belief.
• Work on Your Self-Control: We all know that our emotions can run high when we have "a lot on our plate," so it's important to develop your ability to cope in these situations. Check out our article on using emotional intelligence for more on this.
• Energize Yourself: Without energy, you're likely to feel "flattened" by pressure, and lack the drive to tackle it. So, pump up your energy levels to regain your focus, and to improve your ability to withstand and respond to pressure.
• Ask for Help: Don't be afraid to ask for help if you feel under too much pressure. Decide where the pressure is coming from and ask your boss, colleagues, friends, family, or whoever in your support network is appropriate, for advice or help.

Relaxation exercises are a great way of putting things into perspective when you're under pressure. Take a look at our article on physical relaxation techniques for some handy techniques for "winding down."

You experience pressure when you worry about living up to your own or other people's expectations.

You may also feel it in situations that you have no control over, and when you don't have the time or the means to do what is being demanded of you.

Excessive pressure can bring on the psychological, physical, emotional, and behavioral problems associated with stress, so being able to deal with it effectively is an essential skill.

By consciously opting to respond positively and confidently, and by focusing on solutions, you and your team members can go beyond simply coping and learn to thrive under pressure.

[1] Yerkes, R. and Dodson, J. (1908). 'The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation,' Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology , Volume 18, Issue 5. (Available here .)

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How to perform well under pressure

Ditch the tough talk, it won’t help. instead cultivate your mental flexibility so you can handle whatever comes your way.

by Josephine Perry   + BIO

is a chartered sport and exercise psychologist who supports those in sport, on stage and in the professions to maximise their success. She writes extensively in the media and is the author of four books: Performing Under Pressure: Strategies for Sporting Success (2019), The Psychology of Exercise (2020), I Can: The Teenage Athlete’s Guide to Mental Fitness (2021) and The Ten Pillars of Success (2021). She lives in London.

Edited by Christian Jarrett

Listen to this Guide.

Need to know

Whatever sphere you inhabit, whether you’re a pro or amateur athlete, businessperson, teacher, full-time parent or something else entirely, you’re bound to have felt the pressure of your own expectations and the expectations of others. Almost everyone must cope with daunting situations, in which they don’t feel they have the skills needed to succeed and meet the weight of those expectations. I’m a sports psychologist and I help teach my clients mental techniques to deal with this kind of pressure. I’ve found the same practical techniques and principles that I teach to athletes are also invaluable to my clients from many walks of life, including business and theatre.

‘Mental toughness’ is the wrong approach

You might have noticed that, in contemporary Western working cultures, the way people are often expected to respond to pressure is by becoming mentally ‘stronger’ or ‘tougher’. This magical mental toughness will supposedly block the annoying nerves, and reduce the frustration and upset that come from feeling out of our depth.

‘Mental toughness’, and the ‘tough guy, special forces, battle-ready’ approach that it exemplifies, does make a great soundbite. The concept is widely adopted by athletes, adventurers, entrepreneurs and those in the military who talk about their journey to find it. Companies pay thousands of pounds for keynote speeches to their staff explaining how to get it. The renowned American football coach Vince Lombardi summarised our cultural worship for the phrase when he said: ‘Mental toughness is Spartanism with its qualities of sacrifice and self-denial, also the qualities of dedication and fearlessness and love.’

In sports psychology, the concept of mental toughness combines the traits of confidence and determination with the feeling of being in control of your own destiny. It might sound appealing, but in my work I take a completely different approach. I’ve seen the harm that can be caused by over-idolising confidence, determination and control, along with self-denial, sacrifice and fearlessness. This tough mindset might look strong and unbreakable from afar, but it actually prompts performers to bury their heads in the sand when faced by an intimidating challenge. Students of mental toughness are taught to ignore their worries and they will often self-sabotage. If you’ve fallen into this trap, you might recognise it in a speech you’ve put off practising, a paper you procrastinated over or a project sitting only half done – all with valid-sounding excuses, but also creating poor performance.

I’ve also seen how aspiring to mental toughness can trigger unhelpful and unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as self-imposed rigid rules, perfectionistic traits, a lack of self-compassion, and goals being attacked as threats rather than embraced like challenges. Entering any high-performance arena and seeing the encounter ahead of you as a threat is highly problematic because it means you are thinking with the avoidant, fear-driven parts of your brain, rather than the open-minded, approach-oriented parts. In a fearful state, you don’t think and respond creatively, you just follow patterns you have used before, usually following rigid rules, which means you cannot adapt well to new information or changes in your environment.

Consider a mentally tough bike rider who might be great at climbing a mountain, but prone to complete panic if they get a puncture or a spectator runs out into the road. Or a mentally tough actor who can handle the pressure of a live audience – right up till the moment of distraction from a mobile phone, at which point they forget their lines. Their mental toughness means they would survive the moment, but they wouldn’t be thriving in it or ready to adapt – their performance will suffer and their enjoyment will disappear.

The benefits of mental flexibility

The approach to coping with pressure that I teach is all about cultivating not mental toughness but mental flexibility , also known as ‘psychological flexibility’ (drawing partly on the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT, an approach in psychotherapy that has grown out of cognitive and behavioural therapy and blends it with insights from Buddhism and other perspectives). Mental flexibility is vital for coping well with pressure because, if you want to perform brilliantly, you need the skills to handle whatever is thrown at you, especially the unexpected. In sport, this might be a last-minute course change or finding out a scout will be watching your match that night. On the stage, it could be the understudy having to step in during the interval. In office work, it could be a last-minute request to join the team for a new business pitch. Cultivating your mental flexibility will allow you to better manage these kinds of moments.

A great definition of the type of mental flexibility I’m talking about comes from the American clinical psychologist Steven Hayes, the co-founder of ACT, and his colleagues, in which they describe it as ‘the ability to contact the present moment more fully … and to change or persist when doing so serves valued ends’. The mention of ‘valued ends’ is important here. When you are rigid (or psychologically in flexible), you persist in your actions even when they are no longer effective in helping you achieve what matters to you. With flexibility, by contrast, you can switch quickly between strategies based on the demands of each situation, and make decisions for how to act in line with your values (ie, ‘your heart’s deepest desires’, in the words of the ACT trainer and author Russ Harris).

Mental flexibility is associated with superior performance and better mental health. In 2006, Hayes and his colleagues published a meta-analysis of 32 studies involving 6,628 participants who had completed a measure of mental flexibility known as the ‘Acceptance and Action Questionnaire’. Across the studies, people who scored higher in mental flexibility were less likely to have a psychiatric disorder and they had higher overall mental health. Among the participants with chronic pain, those who scored higher in psychological flexibility were able to function for longer periods of time, took fewer painkillers and needed fewer healthcare visits. In the workplace, higher scorers made fewer errors and held a higher status.

The move towards mental flexibility as a goal in therapy comes from psychological approaches, such as ACT, that recognise everyone has fears, worries and stress, and that people fare better when they face and acknowledge these, instead of trying to fight them. Psychologists have seen that the more you try to block out difficult thoughts and emotions, the more they appear. In accepting rather than suppressing, a person still notices those thoughts, but they have less impact. The things you fear then distract you less, so you can use more helpful, solution-focused thinking and fewer avoidance-focused coping mechanisms. This means you unstick yourself from behaviours that are no longer helping you work toward your values in life.

These same principles are especially important when you feel under pressure – for instance, imagine your boss surprises you by asking you to pitch your product to an array of potential buyers, or perhaps you’re feeling nervous as you prepare to meet your partner’s parents for the first time. You might think that, in such high-pressure situations, the way to excel is to grit your teeth and toughen up. But a mentally flexible approach is arguably more beneficial, especially when you are clear on your values and know what matters to you. With values, you always have a direction, and every time you need to make a decision under pressure, you have a barometer against which to measure. A flexible, values-driven approach helps you perform well because you’ll be mentally nimble and you’re always working to meet your own metrics in life, not those driven by others, by fears or by expectations.

In this Guide, I will show you some basic techniques to develop your mental flexibility and become more aware of your values. Whenever you’re feeling under pressure, these foundations will allow you to proactively choose the direction you take, thus helping you perform better.

To perform well under pressure, you need several elements in place: an ability to distance yourself from destructive thoughts and self-talk; a way to cope with overwhelming feelings; the mental flexibility to respond in the most effective way; and, finally, to know what matters to you.

Here are five steps to take to build this approach to performing well under pressure:

Separate yourself from your thoughts

To begin, it is essential to remember that the thoughts you might have when feeling under pressure are often not actually true. When you are standing on the tennis court, you might catch yourself thinking ‘I’m useless at tennis, this will be embarrassing’ (or in the office, you might think ‘I’m useless at presenting, this will be embarrassing’) but these are not facts, they are emotionally driven thoughts. By recognising this (in ACT, it is known as ‘defusion’), you won’t get unhelpfully caught up in these negative thoughts and any related self-talk, and instead you will have the flexibility to make better decisions that move you towards what matters, not away from whatever you find scary.

Here’s an exercise that can help you achieve this distance from your thoughts. Firstly, you need to notice the unhelpful thoughts that are rattling around your head – not to dwell on them, but to become more aware of them. A visual way to think of this is to imagine your life as a bus. You are the driver, the direction of travel is set by your values, and the passengers are the thoughts or feelings that might try to direct you down the wrong roads. Your job as the driver is to stay focused on the direction of travel and not be distracted by the noise and chatter of the passengers – but you can’t kick them off the bus or stop them from talking. So, the way forward is not to try to block them out, but to notice what these passengers (your thoughts) say, nod along as if you are listening, all the while staying focused on the road and where you want to go.

A way to create an even greater sense of separation from your thoughts is to repeat them in an amusing voice – something like Minnie Mouse or ‘Movie Trailer Man’. This will further help you to suck out the negativity and power from the thought until it is clear it is just an unhelpful distraction.

If the voices idea sounds too silly to you, another approach is to try ‘distanced self-talk’. For example, in your tennis match, instead of thinking ‘I’m always weak with my first serve,’ add some distance, such as ‘I am thinking that my first serve is weak.’ A step even further away from negativity would see you get to ‘I am noticing that I am thinking that my first serve is weak’ (and to create even further distance, try referring to yourself with the second-person pronoun ‘you’ or by using your name). Creating distance in this way takes the sting out of the thought and allows you to flex around the belief, such as focusing on a strong serve, rather than being beaten up by it.

The same principle applies across contexts, so for example, in the office, try switching from something like ‘I always begin my presentations poorly’ to ‘I am thinking that I begin my presentations poorly,’ and so on, to create distance from the negative thoughts.

Practise labelling your feelings more accurately

When you’re under pressure, you might feel overwhelmed by your feelings and notice aggressive, unforgiving language bouncing around your mind, such as ‘I’m furious’ or ‘I’m terrified’. It’s as if the passengers on your bus are using very emotive language as they try to get your attention. Interpreting your feelings in this way can trigger your automatic fight-or-flight response, which evolved to help you survive danger, but is highly unhelpful to performance in many situations in modern life.

Instead of catastrophising about these feelings or trying to suppress them outright, a more mentally flexible approach is to increase your emotional vocabulary so that you can describe your feelings with more accuracy and nuance (psychologists call this ‘affect labelling’). This is important because most of us tend to be fairly lazy in our language and rely upon six to eight basic emotional descriptors (usually focused around joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation). When you use more precise words that better describe your actual feelings (there are actually hundreds of emotion words; see here for a list of 135 of the more common ones), this will help you to choose a more helpful coping mechanism for that feeling.

For example, say you’re feeling under pressure having just missed out on making the first team in rugby, or because a colleague achieved the promotion that you wanted. If you decide you are ‘angry’, then you will be more likely to respond in an aggressive or avoidant way, which is likely to be counterproductive. In contrast, if you notice that, actually, you are envious (one of the anger emotions), then you can actively pick out whichever element of the situation is making you envious and put in place more positive actions, such as planning extra rugby training or arranging a personal review with your manager. Identifying the envy means you can be clearer in your own goals and work more proactively towards achieving them.

Replace forms of self-talk that increase the pressure

How you think about your feelings and emotions is one aspect of self-talk, but there’s another kind that can also be highly counterproductive when you’re under pressure. One word that particularly raises a red flag is ‘should’, as in ‘I should be able to give this presentation easily’ or ‘I should be able to finish this project tonight.’ This word is loaded with expectations and pressure, and it prevents you from being open to all the options in front of you.

First, let me take another example from tennis. When, before the match, a player has checked out the rankings and seen her opponent is ranked far lower than she is, she might go into the match thinking tough, telling herself ‘I should win.’ Unfortunately, this will instantly trigger a threat reaction because, if she doesn’t win, she will have failed twice over – not just losing a match, but losing a match to a supposedly inferior player. By contrast, by being mentally flexible and making a concerted effort to see the bigger picture, she might realise that her opponent hasn’t been playing ranking events recently (ie, events that contribute to a formal ranking in a league) or has played a great deal but all of it overseas. With this more open attitude, she gives her opponent the respect she deserves and places far fewer expectations on herself – she might say to herself that she has an opportunity here to do well, rather than that she should do well – which will probably mean she plays in a more relaxed way and performs better.

By using a broader range of emotional language and avoiding pressurised self-talk, you too can start to replace words such as ‘should’, ‘must’ and ‘have’ with more open, alternative words such as ‘notice’, ‘awareness’ and ‘opportunity’. In moving towards this gentler language, you can adjust to the demands of a situation without allowing emotion to take over. It will help you focus more on process (the way you perform) over outcome (in terms of success or failure) and allow you to look at what you can do to live in line with your values, rather than fearing or avoiding potential failure.

For an example away from sport, imagine being at work and a new senior leader comes to visit your team, asking about the projects you work on. You could tell yourself to be tough and that you should be able to do this without preparation or that you must do well to impress your boss (self-talk that’s likely to make you feel panicky), but if you try instead to think ‘Here’s an opportunity to share what I’ve been working on’ or ‘This will be a great way to get more support for our project,’ then it should soften the pressure and help you think on your feet.

If thinking this way feels unnatural, you can make it easier through practice. Try writing down a few of examples of the kind of pressurised self-talk that goes through your head, such as ‘I should be the best,’ and then cross out the ‘should’ and replace it with something less restrictive, such as ‘I have an opportunity to do better than last time.’

Break some of your own rules

Overly rigid thinking and routines can all increase feelings of pressure. Increasing your mental flexibility is the antidote, and one way to do that is by deliberately challenging your usual way of doing things. This sounds super-simple, but if you like rigid routines and have come to rely upon them, you will find it difficult.

To complete this exercise, then every day for the next week, aim to do something you never normally do. It can be trivial – maybe washing up straight after dinner rather than leaving it until morning, or trying a completely different route home from work. Then the next week, aim every day to stop doing something you always do (maybe stop wearing your watch if you usually do, or avoid making the bed first thing if your usual routine is to make it each morning). The activity should not be anything dramatic or harmful, but something that makes you just a little uncomfortable. Breaking your own rules in this way will teach your brain that you are able to escape routine and that you can be agile. You will learn that, even when you don’t follow your usual routines, all is usually OK in your world.

Hopefully, this newfound mental flexibility will carry across the next time you are dealing with a high-pressured situation in life – for instance, rather than falling back on methods or strategies that aren’t working any longer, you’ll be more willing to try out alternative solutions, or you’ll interpret the potential outcomes of the situation with a more open mind. For instance, say you’re studying for a qualification and your routine is to submit papers as late as possible so you have the maximum amount of time to make the paper perfect. With flexibility you might realise the paper doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to pass – and if you submit it earlier, when it is ‘good enough’ you will have extra time to start the next paper, or relax, or do something that enhances your wellbeing. You are still performing well under pressure, but you help yourself to reduce the pressure by flexing away from the rigid routine.

Identify and remember your values

The final and most fundamental step to performing well under pressure is to know why the performance matters in the first place – this is where your values come into play. Here it’s important to make a distinction between values and goals. Your goals are your long-term aims, whereas your values apply in every waking moment. For instance, you might have a goal to become the highest goal-scorer in your soccer team, but your soccer-related values might be to always try your hardest, to always strive to improve and to be a good team-mate. When you are very clear on your values, you gain two major benefits – you can spot when they could be violated (and so likely to trigger your emotionally driven threat systems), and you can also use them as a measure for how to respond when you feel under pressure, so that you stay consistent with them.

To identify your values, there are sheets of suggestions and exercises you can find online (for instance, Russ Harris provides his complete range of worksheets here ), but I’ve found that another fun way to identify a key value is to scroll through the photos you have taken on your phone. Is there a theme, an element that is captured over and over again: success, family, beauty, community, spirituality? Once you’ve identified a key value, spend some time thinking about how you can make more decisions in your life in line with that value. If you’re feeling under pressure in a particular domain of your life, such as in a team sport, performing at work, or in family life at home, perhaps you could think of how the value you’ve identified pertains to that context. Keeping the value at the front of your mind when you’re under pressure – and those distracting bus passengers pop up! – will ensure your destination stays programmed into your satnav and you stay on track.

To give you a concrete example away from sport, imagine you’ve started volunteering for a local wildlife charity and the manager suddenly asks you to give a short talk about the charity to a group of visitors. Again, you might think the solution is to be tough and brave, but this would be to create a threat out of the situation. Instead, revisit your values – perhaps you care deeply about nature or you’re passionate about cultivating a sense of local community – with these at the forefront of your mind, you’re more likely to see the situation as an opportunity (challenging for sure, but not a threat), feel more relaxed and find it easier to think on your feet.

Key points – How to perform well under pressure

• ‘Mental toughness’ is the wrong approach . It’s a popular coping style but it can backfire by causing you to see challenges as threats.
• Develop your ‘mental flexibility’ instead . This way, you’ll be better able to think on your feet and cope with the unexpected.
• Separate yourself from your thoughts . We all have difficult thoughts, but when you learn to notice and accept but not respond, you stay more in control.
• Practise labelling your feelings more accurately . To avoid becoming overwhelmed by negative emotions, focus on improving your emotional literacy and you’ll see this opens the way to more creative solutions.
• Replace forms of self-talk that increase the pressure . Avoid telling yourself that you should do this or you must do that, and instead adopt more gentle and open language that is about opportunity and noticing .
• Break some of your own rules . Switch things up in everyday life so that you find it easier to be flexible when you’re under pressure.
• Identify and remember your values . Understanding your values and what truly matters to you means that, whatever life throws your way, you can become adept at moving in the direction you choose.

When flexibility trumps toughness

One way to motivate yourself to develop more flexible thinking is to see how others who are considered ‘tough’ have moved towards ‘flexibility’ in order to improve their performance under pressure.

In working regularly with high-performing teenage girls who excel in sport, school and music, I see they often struggle with a fear of failure. When you have done well in pretty much everything in the first 15 years of your life, the fear of doing something wrong, and what that might mean about you, looms large. The fear pushes these girls to create rules and routines in order to maintain control. This helps them feel protected against failure, but it also brings with it stress, anxiety and the inability to try new things, to take a risk or to be creative. Our teenage years are all about trying on different characteristics, ideas and activities for size – and if you are too frozen with fear to try anything different, you could miss out on finding things you love. With more flexibility, you can explore your teenage years very differently. For these girls, learning to become more flexible means they have to accept they might fail at something, but doing so aware that it is for a greater good – a life where they can explore widely and perform at a high level because they are prepared to try new and different things.

Another group I’ve seen really benefit from more flexible thinking in order to perform under pressure is injured athletes. Whether they are professionals earning their living through sport or amateurs playing in the local cricket league, injury is the setback many of them dread. Research in this area has found that athletes scoring high in mental toughness have higher pain thresholds and are more likely to play through injury. While helpful to their momentary performance, it risks their long-term sporting endeavours. With more flexible thinking, I’ve witnessed how these injured athletes start to see a bigger picture; not focused on a single match, but a whole career. They acknowledge that pain is not to be ignored and is actually valuable information. This gives them a wider range of options to consider, such as embracing cross-training or new sports, and gives them more effective coping mechanisms that are in line with their values.

Links & books

‘The Struggle Switch’ (2015) by the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) trainer Russ Harris is a great YouTube video to help you understand why it is healthier to be flexible than try to struggle through the tricky times with toughness.

To learn many more of the ACT skills included in this Guide, I recommend the book ACTivate Your Life (2015) by the clinical psychologists and trainers Joe Oliver, Jon Hill and Eric Morris.

You could try using apps such as Headspace or Calm to get more attuned at noticing, but not responding to, your unhelpful thoughts.

To further help you start to practise and understand some of the techniques in this Guide, you could watch the ‘Passengers on the Bus’ (2013) YouTube video by Joe Oliver and ‘The Unwelcome Party Guest’ (2011) video , also by Oliver – both are great. If you add to this an ‘Emotional Wheel’ (a Google search brings up lots of nice versions), you will find some easily printable sheets listing more than 100 emotion words to help you increase your emotional vocabulary.

Harris’s book The Happiness Trap (2007) is the one I see most often recommended by psychologists to understand how to incorporate more acceptance, commitment and flexibility into your life.

Finally, if listening is more your thing, my new audiobook (on Audible) is called The Ten Pillars of Success (2021). In it, I offer many tips and activities to develop a more mentally flexible approach to performing under pressure.

Goals and motivation

How to do mental time travel

Feeling overwhelmed by the present moment? Find a connection to the longer view and a wiser perspective on what matters

by Richard Fisher

How to cope with climate anxiety

It’s normal to feel troubled by the climate crisis. These practices can help keep your response manageable and constructive

by Lucia Tecuta

Emerging therapies

How to use cooking as a form of therapy

No matter your culinary skills, spend some reflective time in the kitchen to nourish and renew your sense of self

by Charlotte Hastings

11 Secrets to Performing Well Under Pressure

By editorial staff | jan 4, 2016.

It isn’t easy to stay calm under pressure. Too often, we psych ourselves out thinking about all the little things that could go wrong. But keeping your cool during stressful situations doesn’t have to be a struggle. Whether you’ve got an exam or an interview for your dream job coming up, here are 11 tips and tricks to keep you feeling zen on your big day.

1. MAKE A LIST OF YOUR FEARS.

Afraid you’ll forget the last line of your speech, or the most important facts on a final exam? Make a list (written or mental) of your fears and worries ahead of time, and think of possible solutions—so that even if something does go wrong, you’ll be prepared. Often, the mere act of breaking down a high-pressure situation into its component stressful parts will help you realize there’s actually less to be afraid of than you thought.

2. GET ENCOURAGEMENT FROM A LOVED ONE.

Ask a friend, family member, or significant other for some positive encouragement. A recent study found that people who had loved ones describe a time when they were at their best, just before facing a challenge, had improved problem-solving skills. Being reminded of our “best selves” can help us feel more confident and perform better in the moment.

3. PRACTICE AHEAD OF TIME.

Feeling prepared is one of the best ways to stave off anxiety. While practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, it will make you more confident in the moment. To ensure you get the most out of practicing, however, make sure to practice deliberately. A groundbreaking 1993 cognitive psychology study found that just putting in hours of effort isn’t enough to master a skill—targeting and addressing your weaknesses is just as, if not more, important than spending a long time practicing. For example, if you’re rehearsing a big speech, don’t just memorize what you’re going to say. Thinking about—and practicing—performance elements like intonation, eye contact, the emphases you’ll put on different words, even the specific way you plan to hold the microphone, will help calm your nerves and make you feel like a master of public speaking.

4. DON’T OVERTHINK IT.

Sometimes, even after you’ve practiced something to perfection, when it comes time to perform you can get in your own way by overthinking. Try to clear your mind, and trust yourself. Banishing distractions can help you enter what sports psychologists call a “flow state”: a heightened state of calm concentration that helps athletes stay in the moment and remain relaxed. “Flow states” are said to transcend conscious thought, and, though the term is most often applied to professional athletes, can be experienced by anyone who’s fully absorbed in what they’re doing.

5. TRY TO HAVE FUN.

A small attitude adjustment—seeing your high-pressure moment as a challenge rather than a threat—can help you feel more ambitious and less fearful. And, if you find your positive mindset slipping, stop and remind yourself of all the things you have control over in the situation. Cognitive behavioral therapists believe that feelings of control can help boost confidence levels, and serve to remind people that they’re able to shape the outcome of a situation.

6. REMIND YOURSELF THAT (SOMETIMES) IT’S OKAY TO FAIL …

Okay, this one doesn’t apply to genuine life or death situations, but for most of us, failure isn’t the end of the world. Mess up that job interview? Eventually, you’ll have another one. Failure is disappointing, but it’s a part of life. And, counter-intuitively, acknowledging the possibility of failure can help take some of the pressure off—making it more likely that you’ll succeed.

7. … AND THAT ANXIETY IS NORMAL.

There’s a whole range of phobias associated with high-pressure situations: “fear of public speaking,” “stage fright,” “performance anxiety”—and they’re all totally normal. Some scientists believe the fight-or-flight response we have in high-pressure scenarios may have had beneficial evolutionary origins, helping early humans recognize socially perilous situations.

8. TUNE IN TO YOUR SENSES.

Stress isn’t just psychological, it’s also physiological. It helps to be mindful not only of the thoughts stressing you out, but of how your body is feeling. If your heart is beating too fast and your throat is dry, taking a few deep breaths and grabbing a glass of water can make a big difference.

9. BRING A GOOD LUCK CHARM.

It might sound silly, but studies have shown that a little superstition can actually bring real luck. It’s all about increasing your confidence, which in turn will make you more likely to succeed. Plus, once you’ve experienced success once with your good luck charm, it’ll serve as a reminder of that success—and your ability to prevail under pressure—during future stressful events.

10. BUILD A MEMORY PALACE.

Lots of high pressure situations involve memorization: Whether you’re taking a test, delivering a dramatic monologue, giving a speech, or trying to remember the names of the people you’re about to meet with, worrying about a lapse in memory can make a trying situation even more stressful. If you’re worried about remembering a long list of facts or names, imagine putting each one in a separate room in a familiar building, along with an associative item. So, for instance, if you’re going to a dinner party with new clients George, Janet, and Jim, think of an image connected to each of their names (for example, George Washington’s wooden teeth for George), and place each item in a familiar room (the kitchen of your childhood home, for instance). Imagine walking through each room and seeing the items there to help you keep track of each name.

11. MEDITATE FOR TEN MINUTES.

A 2010 study found that students who meditated for just 10 minutes before a test scored almost a grade higher on average. Since stress can deplete some of our brain’s processing power, meditating before a high-pressure situation can calm us down and also keep us mentally sharp.

Nobody knows the importance of keeping your cool under pressure like the pint-size geniuses on Lifetime’s Child Genius: Battle of the Brightest . Tune in to the season premiere on Thursday, January 7 th at 8/7c to see how the competitors stack up.

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How to Deal with High Pressure Situations at Work

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Identify your triggers (and practice).

What can you do to improve your ability to deal with pressure, or at least avoid choking under pressure in critical career moments? Here are four science-based recommendations that can help.

• Know your threshold. Practical tips for building self-awareness include getting feedback from trusted colleagues and friends, evaluating your performance under different degrees of pressure, and paying attention to your emotional reactions in potentially triggering situations.
• Identify your triggers. We can all learn to minimize situations that put too much pressure on us by planning, prioritizing, picking our battles, and going outside our comfort zones  within reason — without going over the tipping point. As with any skill or ability, practice is key.
• Use these strategies to cope in the moment: When it comes on quickly,  de-emphasize the seriousness of a stressful situation by focusing less on yourself, finding something or someone else to focus on, trying to enjoy certain aspects of the situation, and leveraging effective self-presentation (humor, honesty, vulnerability).
• Don’t avoid pressure entirely. You will probably want to keep some level of pressure in your life. It will ensure that you develop strength and resilience, that your competitive instincts get activated, and that you go outside your comfort zone to achieve bigger things.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Many of the things we’re proud to achieve in life are the product, not just of our talent and effort , but also our ability to handle pressure . From studying for exams, to preparing for job interviews, to giving a big speech or presentation, it’s hard to conceive of any career-defining moments that aren’t peppered with pressure.

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, co-founder of  deepersignals.com , and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of  Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It ) , upon which his  TEDx talk  was based. His latest book is I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.   Find him at  www.drtomas.com . drtcp

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6 Tips to Work Effectively Under Pressure

Some industries naturally lead to higher stress levels, but high-pressure situations can happen in any  job . Left unchecked, that pressure can start to eat away at your physical and mental health, leaving you feeling stressed and physically unwell. Figuring out how to handle pressure without sacrificing your performance takes practice and a few key strategies.

Here are some tips to get better at handling and performing well under pressure in the workplace:

1. Reframe the Situation

High-pressure situations tend to make everything seem worse. Instead of looking at that upcoming deadline as another task to complete, you see it as a make-or-break situation that could end your  career . Sure, some situations do carry a lot of weight, but most of the daily things that stress you out at work aren’t do-or-die situations.

Try to take away the threatening aspect of the situation, and look at it as an opportunity to put your skills to work or a challenge to conquer. If you’re worried or afraid of the situation, you’re less likely to perform your best. That negative pressure can sap your energy and make the task more challenging. Change the way you think about it, and you’re better prepared to tackle it.

2. Look at Worst-Case Scenarios

When you’re under a lot of pressure, you often have a sense of doom about the outcome. But if you really stop to think about the worst-case scenario, you may realize it’s not that bad. Say you’re in charge of organizing a big meeting at your office, but you forget to book the conference room and someone else books it first. You beat yourself up over it and let the stress become overwhelming, but the worst thing that might happen is you have to get creative and find a new location. It could turn out better, too, with the other person agreeing to reschedule their event so you can have the conference room as originally planned.

Thinking about worst-case scenarios can also help you prepare for the unexpected. If you have a big presentation coming up, some potential problems could be forgetting what you’re supposed to say, losing your  PowerPoint  presentation, or spilling your coffee on your lap beforehand. Now, think of ways you can be prepared for those situations in case they do happen. Maybe you practice your presentation a little more and come prepared with note cards as a backup. You might save your  PowerPoint  presentation in multiple places to ensure you have a copy. Perhaps you choose water instead of coffee, sip carefully or pack an extra set of clothes. Use your worry to empower yourself and prepare for the worst thing that could happen.

3. Make a Plan

It’s easy to waste your time worrying or feeling overwhelmed by the situation. Instead of thinking about how it might turn out, focus on creating an action plan. Break down what you need to do to accomplish the task. Then, figure out how you’re going to complete each step to get there. Prioritizing the tasks helps you decide what needs the most attention. Focus on starting and checking off items on your to-do list. Making that progress can give you confidence and make it easier to keep going. Keep your mind on the things you can control rather than worrying about the factors that are out of your control.

4. Use Stress-Relief Strategies

Strategies that help calm you and ease the stress can make it easier to handle high-pressure work situations. Even though you feel like you need to devote all your time to the project, taking a break to exercise, meditate or breathe deeply can help lower your stress and let you work more efficiently. Listening to music can have a powerful effect on your mood and  outlook . Find a type of music that calms you if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Some songs have a motivating effect, making you feel like you can conquer anything. Think about what type of attitude change you need, and find the music to help you achieve it.

5. Step Back

When you’re feeling too much pressure, take a step back and slow down. That little step can give you the clarity you need to figure out the best approach to the situation. If you rush into the project to get it done quickly, you may end up making a mistake or missing an easier solution to the situation. By taking a step back, you can formulate a strong plan to get through this high-pressure situation. That moment can also help you realize the situation isn’t as challenging as you think.

6. Reach Out for Help

Some high-pressure situations call for a little help. Talk with someone about the pressure you’re feeling, and it may be enough to improve your  outlook . Someone who has been in a similar situation may have advice to help you through it. If possible, consider delegating some of your tasks to other team members so you aren’t so overwhelmed. For example, you might ask a colleague to pull numbers for you while you’re compiling your presentation for an upcoming stakeholder meeting. Even a little help can make a big difference in your  outlook .

Final Words

Be careful not to confuse pressure with  stress   – they are quite different. Pressure can be a very positive quality. Experiencing it, yet feeling calm and in control, can spur people on to achieve great things. It’s only when it keeps building and that sense of calm and order is replaced by a feeling of being out of control that stress happens, and has a wholly negative effect. Remember pressure at work will always be present, it is how you manage these that truly counts.

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Leadership Under Pressure: 3 Strategies for Keeping Calm During a Crisis

• 19 Dec 2019

To become an effective leader, there are several core capabilities you should have—ranging from the ability to influence and inspire others to knowing how to act decisively. While these traits are important in your daily role as a leader, they are especially critical during times of stress.

The demanding situations and crises you face over the course of your career are likely to be the moments that define who you are as a leader and, potentially, as a person. How you act in these scenarios can impact how your employees and co-workers remember you.

When managers break down , so can their teams, resulting in hindered performance and lower morale. This can cause your employees to miss deadlines, make mistakes, and potentially lose customers—the exact opposite of what you need during times of crisis.

Research shows it’s common for leaders to react poorly in high-stress situations. Specifically, 53 percent become more closed-minded and controlling during times of crisis, instead of open and curious. A further 43 percent become more angry and heated.

If you’re in a leadership position, learning how to control yourself and maintain a level head during challenging times will serve you well over the course of your career. But that can be easier said than done. Here are three techniques that can help you manage your team during a crisis while also keeping calm.

Strategies for Leading Under Pressure

1. wait to act.

A leader is someone who responds to a situation calmly and with a well-thought-out plan. Before you jump headfirst into problem-solving, take a deep breath and pause to collect your thoughts and assess the situation with a clear mind.

This advice is the most important tip that Harvard Business School Professor Nancy Koehn, who teaches a free, online leadership lesson about legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton, learned when she studied former US President Abraham Lincoln’s method of leadership.

“One of the things Lincoln cultivated in high-stakes situations was to do nothing in the moment,” she explains. “He wasn’t living with nonstop social media. But he was constantly bombarded by people and important issues demanding his attention. In such an environment, his rule was that the higher the stakes, the less likely he was to do anything.”

In a crisis, it’s important to take a deep breath and remain as calm as possible—especially as the stakes rise or as circumstantial turbulence accelerates—before responding in order to move forward with an actionable plan and to avoid creating mass panic.

“The smallest pause before picking up the phone, sending out the tweet, or saying something to someone will help a leader gather his or her thoughts and maximize the chances that he or she makes a smart move,” Koehn says.

2. Build a Strong Support System

Leaders rarely go it alone—it’s why they usually have a board of advisors, why former US President John F. Kennedy relied on his brother, or why Abraham Lincoln had two secretaries and a cabinet from which he frequently sought input.

“Great leaders have people around them who understand how to maintain a grounded, calm presence,” Koehn says. “It’s important they have advisors who are calm as well.”

To recruit a strong counsel, make sure the people around you have strength of character. Are they confident in their own viewpoints, but also open-minded and communicative? Do they support your vision? Besides quality leadership values, they should have diverse experience and emotional intelligence skills so they can take on a variety of responsibilities and help you lead to the best of your ability.

Koehn also recommends ensuring your management team is reliable so you can stay grounded and maintain a presence of equanimity. This can help people make the right decisions and successfully navigate through crisis.

It’s often said that success never happens in a vacuum. The amount of work your team puts in, along with their attitudes and ability to ask the right questions, can make or break success, so keep this in mind when you build your support network.

3. Understand the Reality of the Situation

It’s crucial to recognize the reality of a situation and acknowledge your limitations during a crisis, no matter how difficult that might be.

“Realize that in the heat of the moment, nothing an individual leader can do can solve the whole situation,” Koehn says. “You’re better off acting from your strongest, calmest self than you are taking the first reactive, immediate action.”

While a problem can seem overwhelming at first, the best way to approach it is to break it down step-by-step. Doing so can help you gain a clear picture of the circumstances, enabling you to work closely with your counsel, prioritize your next steps, and delegate effectively.

Once you’ve decided on a plan, stick to it and rely on yourself and your team to complete the tasks assigned and carry out a successful resolution.

Becoming an Effective Leader

Becoming an effective leader takes work. Not only do you need to constantly hone your leadership skills, but you must also maintain poise under pressure and learn to adapt to various situations.

It also requires developing a personal leadership style . Like any successful leader, you don’t have to do it alone. Taking leadership courses can help you learn skills and qualities to use both in your personal and professional life.

Some of the benefits of taking a strategic leadership class include the opportunity to learn how to use your strengths and weaknesses to your advantage, practice your skills, and gain feedback from experienced leaders.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to become the president of a country or a business executive. You can become an effective leader at any stage of your career by becoming a go-to subject matter expert, consistently lending new and creative ideas in meetings, building networks throughout your company, voicing and articulating visions on how your organization can move forward, and much more.

Do you want to improve your leadership capabilities? Download our e-book on how to become a more effective leader or take our free, 35-minute leadership lesson about legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton, and discover how you can develop the skills to lead with courage and conviction.

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Interview Question: How Do You Handle Stress And Pressure? (17 Tested Examples!)

‘How do you handle stress and pressure?’ Now there’s an interview question that may actually put stress and pressure on you! But take a deep breath.

It’s important that a hiring manager asks this because they need to understand how you will cope with potentially challenging environments. It’s one of the most common interview questions because almost every job will have its own flavor of obstacles and pressure.  

So knowing that it’s almost certain that you’ll get asked this in your upcoming interview, how should you answer? There are a few different routes you could take. In fact, we’ve laid out several example answers to help you.

If you remember one thing from this article, know that it’s more about how you explain

Table of Contents

What is the interviewer really looking for?

When they ask you, “How do you handle stress and pressure?” the interviewer wants to know what you would do in potentially stressful work situations and the impact that may have on how you perform in the role. They want to see that you know yourself and that you are prepared for there to be some stressful situations in the future.

A couple of additional tips to keep in mind regardless of which answers you choose:

• Provide a specific example to back your answer, preferably from your previous job. It’s powerful when you can show them your approach to stress management, not just tell them.
• Maintain calm, confident body language. If you get worked up answering this question, then they have a pretty good idea of how you handle stress (hint: not that well).
• Some interview guides recommend the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result), but I find that to be a bit cold for this question. Instead, use your soft skills to connect personally with the recruiter and try to learn with your own follow-up questions.

How not to answer ‘how do you handle stress and pressure?’

Here are the big no-no’s when it comes to answering ‘how do you handle stress and pressure?’

• Don’t say that you cannot handle stress and pressure. That’s an automatic red flag for a potential employer because every job is a high-stress job some days.
• Don’t mention that the stressful situation made you stressed. Instead, talk about being in that energy of pressure and stress and remain calm and focused.
• Be careful how you respond in terms of the particular role it is. If it’s a multi-tasking project management role, and you share that you have trouble juggling many tasks and that makes you stressed, you’ll not be seen as a fit candidate for the role.

Interview Question: How Do You Handle Stress and Pressure? (17 Examples!)

Below are 17 sample answers to this common but challenging behavioral interview question. Choose which one seems most suited to your particular experience, personality, and role that you’re applying for.

Example 1: “Prioritizing my responsibilities and using time management to handle my tasks is how I best deal with stress, as I know it could easily get out of hand if I didn’t have a clear action plan. Knowing what is most important and then working from there helps me to take it one step at a time and stay calm even under tight deadlines.”

Example 2:  “Communication is one of the best ways that I know to manage stressors in a high-pressure environment, as I find that most stress is due to confusion and not feeling clear about what to do.  

Talking things through, constantly communicating about what needs to be done, and asking people what they need to get their job done is a way that I’ve previously handled stressful situations in a leadership role, keeping the whole team more calm.”

Example 3: “Actually, when I have the pressure of a deadline, I find that my work is more efficient and even more creative. So I use this bit of stress as a motivator, and I don’t generally feel that what might be a stressful situation actually creates much stress within me.”

Example 4: “Personally, I manage my stress levels by working out and meditating. I find that if I spend time outside of the work environment focusing on my awareness and creating a calm internal state, I am far more grounded during the day no matter what happens.”

Example 5: “Being in a dynamic environment that is fast-paced and under deadlines is where I get my best work done, as I feel more inspired by the high energy that is needed on the job.”

Example 6: “One of the most effective ways that I’ve found to deal with a stressful situation at work is to take a step back and see the situation from a more objective viewpoint. It’s far easier for me to then see what needs to be done and stay out of the energy of stress, keeping calm and clear to move onto the next step.”

Example 7: “In my past responsibilities, I couldn’t let stress affect my work, as I had a role that required problem-solving and level-headed energy. I’ve learned that being highly organized is the key to dealing with workplace stress.  

I rely on setting a structured schedule and having contingency plans when that isn’t going to work. So I have backup schedules and plans, which keeps me prepared when things unexpectedly change.”

Example 8: “I believe that working as a team with others is the key to managing stress and pressure in work. Whether it’s my co-workers, supervisors, or managers, I know that if we all band together to see what can be done, we come to a solution far more quickly and easier.

So, I see self-awareness and communication between key people in a company as the best way to handle stressful situations. Having trust in the team is how I stay calm and collected.”

Example 9: “Although I do enjoy some stress in any role to keep me motivated with the challenge, I know that there needs to be a balance of healthy stress and not too much pressure leading to chaos.  

I think the best way I’ve found to keep balanced in the face of impending over-stress from a difficult situation is to look at the facts and keep an objective, impartial point of view, rather than getting pulled into my personal opinion. Looking at the situation from the outside, I can see far more clearly what needs to be done without getting stressed.”

Example 10: “Having the right tools on hand is the best way that I’ve found to stay grounded even if a situation has some pressure and potential for stress. I rarely feel stressed because I use tools like scheduling calendars, daily task lists, and communication software to always be informed of what’s happening. I also have planning procedures to always have a backup plan if unexpected things happen.”

Example 11: “I’ve actually felt that some of my best work has come from feeling a little pressure. So I don’t feel that it’s a problem for me to have a little stress and pressure in a role, it doesn’t make me feel chaotic or confused, but actually keeps me feeling clear and inspired.”

Example 12: “An example of how I dealt with a stressful situation was when I noticed that my co-worker was having a hard time with all the tasks she needed to get done that day, and it made her frazzled, and I could see she was struggling but didn’t want to ask for help.

Instead of watching that and feeling her stress, which would put more stress on me and everyone else, I knew that we had to come together to help our team member. So I asked the team what they could do to help take some load off for her and take some of her tasks on. Being attentive to the environment helps me manage stressful situations.”

Example 13: “Planning is the best tool I can think of to diffuse stress. As long as there is more than one plan to get something done – so always having a backup plan or two – I feel like I never get stressed or overwhelmed. There is always a way to make it work.”

Example 14:  “I find that listening to my co-workers and customers/clients is actually the best way to deal with their stress and my own. In this way, I’m not overwhelmed with confusion and expectations not being met. Instead, I’m present to what’s happening, and I can best solve what needs to be solved in a way that is responding to that I’m listening to, rather than reacting to stress.”

Example 15: “Having a deadline is one of the best ways I create effective and high-quality work, so I love an environment with some pressure. I know how I work best and how to deal with challenges when they arise, so I don’t get affected by stress even in a high-pressure environment.”

Example 16: “I feel that when we can react to the situation, not the energy of stress, we will never have a problem in environments with a lot of pressure. Because we can stay more clear and see the bigger picture rather than get overwhelmed with energy. So I always think about that – situations, not stress.”

Example 17: “I’m skilled at handling multiple tasks and projects and love working in this dynamic environment. I just feel like it is a part of my personality to be able to balance what some people may see as a stressful way of working and feel motivated by multitasking.”

To learn more, check out my other tricky interview questions guides for job seekers:

• Describe a stressful situation and how you handled it .
• Describe your greatest weakness.
• https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/interview-question-how-do-you-handle-stress
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140825105924-73915208-job-interview-question-how-do-you-handle-stress-pressure
• https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-do-you-handle-stress-2061246
• https://theinterviewguys.com/how-do-you-handle-stress/

My name is Lewis Keegan and I am the writer and editor of SkillScouter.com. I'm extremely passionate about online education and what it can do for those to better their lives. I spend most of my time blogging, hiking, and drinking coffee. I also have a Bachelor's Degree in Education and Teaching.

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• Interview Question: "How Do...

Interview Question: "How Do You Work Under Pressure?"

11 min read · Updated on September 11, 2023

If an interviewer asked you how you work under pressure, would you know how to answer?

How do you handle pressure in the workplace? If that's something that you've never really thought about, because you just deal with stressful situations as they arise, there's a good chance you may struggle to answer this question if it comes up during a job interview. After all, these types of questions can be tricky to answer if you're not expecting them. Fortunately, this tough question can be easy to answer if you prepare your response ahead of your interview.

In this post, we'll explain why employers ask this type of working under pressure interview question and offer some helpful tips you can use to create a convincing response. We'll also provide some examples of working under pressure answers you can modify and use in your next interview.

Why do employers want to know how well you work under pressure?

The first thing you need to understand is that employers who ask the question, “how do you work under pressure?” are not just asking you whether you can deal with stress and pressure. What they really want to hear are some examples of how your ability to handle pressure has helped you to overcome obstacles and provide value for your previous employers. In addition, they're interested in learning about your overall approach to managing pressure at work.

Tips to help you create your “how do you work under pressure?” answer

To prepare your response to this type of question prior to your interview, you first need to spend some time thinking about all the ways you manage pressure and stress. How do you maintain focus during those moments and keep your priorities in order? The following tips can guide you as you think through your pressure management process and create your response.

Focus on a specific example of working under pressure

Try to remember a time when you successfully dealt with pressure in the workplace. Take a few moments and write down everything that you remember about that event and your response. Identify the problem you faced, the decisions you made, and the skills you used to deal with the pressure. These details, along with the results you achieved by managing that pressure, will be used to create your response to the interviewer's question.

  Use the STAR method to tell a story

The STAR method is a great way to formulate responses to  interview questions, so we recommend employing it whenever possible. It's a simple and straightforward storytelling technique that you can use to answer almost any interview question – including those unexpected questions you'll sometimes face. To use  STAR , simply create a narrative that follows this outline:

Situation : begin by describing the situation, including the type of pressure that you were facing

Task : detail the challenge that you needed to overcome

Action : talk about the specific steps you took to deal with that challenge, while navigating the pressure

Result : explain how your actions not only dealt with the challenge and pressure, but also produced measurable benefits for your employer.

Include mention of your stress management skills

You should also take the opportunity to describe some of your favorite and most reliable stress management skills. Every job can be stressful at times, and that stress can increase workplace pressure if you're not adept at managing it properly. By explaining how you deal with stress, you can help to ensure that the interviewer recognizes that you're an employee who can be relied upon to navigate even the most pressure-filled workplace situations.

Maintain a confident body posture and tone of voice

Finally, don't neglect your body language and vocal presentation. Unless you look and sound confident, your example of working under pressure is likely to fall flat with the interviewer. You should practice your answer as many times as it takes to ensure that you:

Maintain good posture, without any nervous fidgeting

Look the interviewer in the eye when you're delivering your narrative

Speak directly and convincingly

Remain calm throughout your presentation

Remember, if you can answer this question in a confident way, the interviewer is more likely to believe that you can handle pressure. That will add credibility to your response and invite the interviewer to trust you as a job candidate.

“How do you work under pressure?” example answers

To further illustrate some of the best ways to answer the question, “how do you work under pressure?” we've compiled several example answers. Each of these sample answers can be modified to fit your own specific work history, stress management abilities, and personality traits. You'll note too that every one of these responses includes use of the STAR method by presenting a real-life example of how the candidate successfully managed to achieve real results despite workplace pressure.

Example of working under pressure interview response #1

“Over the course of my career, I've had to learn to recognize the difference between good and bad pressure and how to deal with each in an effective way. For me, positive pressure can be motivational, since it usually involves tough deadlines that force me to focus on goals, or external factors that require me to reorient my priorities. Negative pressures usually involve various stressors that need to be managed to ensure that they don't distract from my goals and priorities.

I'm reminded of a time earlier in my career, when we had a client who repeatedly changed his project parameters, including just days before our final deadline. That chaos was extremely disruptive to the team and several of our colleagues were urging our team leader to cancel the project and fire the client. I was fortunate enough to have been through several similar situations with other clients and was able to use the lessons learned from that experience to calm my team and get us refocused on completing the work. That client ended up so satisfied with our results that he signed a long-term contract with the company.”

In this example, the job candidate first provides their perspective on pressure and stress, along with a brief explanation of how they try to focus on their goals and priorities. Then, they recall a particular example of working under pressure, describing the situation, task, action, and results – using every element of the STAR method. They also highlighted their use of specific interpersonal skills to solve the challenge.

Example of working under pressure interview response #2

“As a  Project Manager with eleven years of experience leading teams and missions, pressure and stress have become like old friends to me. Whether it's conflict in the team, managing our leadership's expectations, or dealing with pressure from our clients, the challenge of managing stress is something that we live with every day. That experience has helped me to develop important skills that I use to balance my emotions, keep my team focused on the task at hand, and maintain workplace harmony.

My communication and organizational skills are key to my effectiveness in dealing with pressure, something that I learned several years ago. At that time, I was working as a Project Coordinator for another firm. One of our projects involved a customer who received a lower project bid three weeks after he retained our services and just two weeks before our work was scheduled to be completed. We had already put in a tremendous amount of work on his project, so I was asked to take the lead in getting him to change his mind about dropping us.

Fortunately, my organizational skills had helped to ensure that the team was well ahead of our deadline and I had a solid body of initial draft work to show him when he agreed to meet with me. It took three meetings over several days, but I was able to convince him that the amount of money and time he already had invested in our work would ultimately offer even more cost and time savings than he would get from breaking his contract and working with our competitor.”

The job candidate in this example begins by acknowledging that pressure is a major part of their job and describes the type of stressors that they routinely encounter. They then offer a brief overview of the strategy used to deal with those high-pressure situations, including vital skills like organization and communication. Finally, they provide an example that shows how they have managed pressure in the past.

Example of working under pressure interview response #3

“My management duties have always included some level of stress and pressure. Most of that pressure comes from balancing the needs of all the different stakeholders who have a vested interest in my team's success – including our leadership team, clients, customers, and employees. Whenever something goes off the rails, pressure can come from any of those directions. I've always relied on my ability to separate the situation from the people, to minimize stress and control my emotional response.

For example, when I was managing the production team at XYZ, leadership was continually increasing production goals while tightening deadlines. At one point, the goals had become so unrealistic that we were tracking a 23% decline in morale and a 19% increase in absenteeism. The pressure had gotten so bad that the entire department was starting to see a decline in productivity.

After spending some time evaluating the situation, I decided to seek a meeting with our leadership team, to discuss the numbers and the general state of the production floor. I committed to total transparency, so that we could have a frank and honest discussion, and went into the process focused on resolving the pressure rather than blaming the people involved. Once they could see the direct correlation between their quota expectations and our declining production, they reversed course.”

With this answer, the job seeker focuses on key management skills, including emotional intelligence and the ability to manage people and resources. The candidate also provides a descriptive example of a time when they needed to use powerful communication and other interpersonal abilities to resolve a serious problem that was causing undue pressure in the workplace.

Things you should never say in response to this question

Of course, it's also important to recognize that there are some things that you should never say when you're asked to describe how you work under pressure. Make sure that you avoid including any of these responses in your prepared answer.

“I've never felt stress or pressure in my job.”

The problem with this answer is that it's so unlikely that the interviewer will probably feel that you're hiding something. Alternatively, they could decide that you're just not serious about your work since everyone feels pressure at some point or another. If you've somehow managed to avoid that experience, chances are that you're not really engaged in your job.

“I try to delegate responsibilities to avoid pressure.”

The reason why this answer is so bad is that the average interviewer may just assume that your response to stress or pressure is to pass the problem off to other people. If you were the employer, would you want to hire someone whose entire approach to pressure is to let someone else deal with it?

“I'm still struggling to deal with pressure.”

To a certain extent, everyone is always struggling to learn how to cope with pressure. Few people have truly mastered  stress to the point where it's no longer a concern. However, you never want to even suggest that you have no way of dealing with pressure. Instead, talk about all the things you've learned about stress management, your efforts to excel under pressure, and how it's made you a better person and employee. Then pivot right into your example of working under pressure, using the STAR method to create a compelling story.

Even difficult questions can have simple answers if you take time to prepare

While it may not always be easy to come up with your own example of working under pressure, it's something that you need to do if you want to be able to answer this tricky question. By taking the time to conduct a self-assessment and focusing on creating a compelling narrative,  you should be able to provide a response that convinces employers that you're capable of handling any pressure that comes your way.

Are you looking for strategies that can push your job interview success to the next level? Contact our expert  interview coaches today!

Recommended reading:

Different Types of Interviews

9 Signs It's Time to Hire an Interview Coach

The 3-Pronged Approach to Ace Your Next Interview

Related Articles:

How to Prepare for a Software Engineering Job Interview

27 Financial Analyst Interview Questions (with Great Answers)

27 Supervisor Interview Questions (and Great Answers)

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6 Ways to Handle Work Pressure

Work pressure starts the minute you walk in the door on your first day. Meeting a bunch of new people and learning new procedures all at once is highly stressful; and you haven’t even begun performing your job duties yet. Once you do, you know you’re being evaluated for how well you “work under pressure” as management jargon calls it.

When you feel the pressure heating up, these techniques can help you keep your cool.

1. Adjust your attitude.

It’s automatic for human beings to see pressure as a threat to our wellbeing. In the workplace, though, you’re not really in danger. So that fearful viewpoint is as counterproductive as the pressure itself.

Highly successful people flip pressure into an opportunity to conquer a challenge, growing stronger and more experienced in the process. When you’re faced with learning a new skill quickly or meeting an impossible deadline, think about how it will help qualify you for a more responsible, rewarding position.

2. Stay in the present.

Worrying about the ultimate success or failure of the process can be overwhelming — and paralyzing. Instead, block all future possibilities out of your mind.

When star athletes are asked if they’re thinking about winning the championship, they always say no, they are focused only on the next game or competitor. You can use this same “one-step-at-a-time” mentality to minimize your own stressful situations.

3. Give yourself positive reinforcement.

Remind yourself that you’ve handled tough situations in the past and you know you can do it again.

If you can’t think of any similar pressures you’ve handled before, then “fake it till you make it,” as the saying goes. Amazingly, acting as if you are calm, competent and in control will become the reality — not just for outside observers but for yourself as well.

4. Visualize the worst case scenario.

Sometimes it’s the fear of the unknown that really stresses you out. So what’s the worst that could happen if you fail? Make a plan for dealing with it, and you’ll be better able to manage your anxiety and stay on track.

Step back and take a good look at this terrible thing that might happen. Is it really the end of the world? Keeping the situation in perspective will also help reduce your stress.

5. Take a deep breath.

When people are in panic mode, they tend to start rushing and stop thinking clearly. This leads to mistakes and makes the situation even worse.

Take a minute to empty your mind and just breathe. This breaks the vicious cycle of anxious, useless thoughts (“What am I doing?” “What should I do?” “What is the boss thinking?”), and allows your brain to problem-solve objectively, flexibly and creatively.

6. Ask for help.

On the job, you’re surrounded by people who’ve felt the exact same stresses you’re feeling now. Whether it’s your team peers, supervisor or coach, they can share some great tips on handling the learning curves and relieving anxiety.

Remember, you all have the same goal: to make the team a success so that you can advance your career goals. Helping you will bring rewards for them, too.

While you’re here, don’t forget to check our  job listings  for your next great step toward career success. Or find an  Integrity Opportunity Center near you and visit us in person.

Welcome to the right place to find your next big job opportunity.

Let’s work together.

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