Pressure makes diamonds.

In the creative business we occasionally find ourselves in situations where we're faced with the reality of a limited amount of time to do what we do best, properly. And that leads to pressure.

Pressure, from tight deadlines to sudden pitches is a part of our business whether we like it or not, it's up to us in how choose to deal with it though. In a nutshell, there's 3 approaches we can take.

The worst & probably most obvious one is moaning and groaning, bathing in the sheer misery of the situation and succumbing to negativity. Which comes with the wicked -in a non-cool way- combo of pointing fingers & playing the blame game when results are sub-par. Leaving us feeling terrible, isolated and susceptible to the negative avalanche that will just consume morale left & right.

Then there's indifference. Cruise controlling the highway of apathy. Essentially not giving a, you know what. A damned road that leads nowhere but mediocrity & irrelevance. This dreaded apathy in a sense is extremely toxic, because at least with the prior approach -negativity- one can at least deduct the cause of misery. Choosing indifference & a life of shrugs, generates a mysterious cloud of ambivalence. No one know's what's wrong, and no one cares. Which leads to the dissipation of culture & a rapid decline of collective standards.

Which leaves us with embracing the nature of our business & being aware of the elephant in the room, before we've even entered the building. So, how to deal with pressure? Well, simply put pressure is all about intensity. Dealing with intensity best by having these 2 mantras at the helm of your psyche. Being Proactive & Challenging yourself.

Being pro-active is an essential part in overcoming the fear of pressure. It's an approach that sets you up from the get go with a positive mind-set and forward thinking mentality where you try to anticipate potential scenarios & manage them in advance. It sets a tone that is encouraging, empowering and motivating for yourself and every else working on the task at hand.

We also know that pressure cooker situations are unpredictable and chaotic. So, if we were to on purpose place ourselves on a regular basis in similar situations by design, the chaos associated with pressure will eventually dissipate. Think of it like taking cold showers or plunges every day, they're not the funnest thing in the world, but the known immunity & natural dopamine level increases are worth it and eventually you build up a cold tolerance. Challenge yourself on a regular basis to deal with pressure, by self creating pressure scenarios and embracing them head on. Reading thoroughly, push-ups, cooking, whatever the task, time yourself & hold yourself accountable, and get better over time. Just like I gave myself 30 minutes to write this article off the cuff, I did it in 27. Not bad.

Make pressure a part of your life & you'll have it under control.