Gents Journey
Gents Journey
Thriving Under Pressure: Harnessing Stress for Success
Can pressure be your greatest ally or your deadliest foe? Join me on the Gentleman's Journey podcast as we explore how pressure shapes our lives and characters, much like how stress forms diamonds. You'll learn how some individuals harness its power to rise to incredible heights, while others find themselves crushed under its weight. Together, we'll uncover the root causes of pressure, such as fear of failure and time constraints, and discuss why the truly strong seek out better preparation rather than avoiding pressure altogether. By reflecting on key life moments, we'll reveal how controlled pressure can ignite breakthroughs in performance and personal growth.
In our journey to mastering pressure and cultivating self-belief, I'll share personal insights on training under pressure and transforming nerves into excitement. Discover practical techniques like visualization, developing pre-performance rituals, and reframing negative thoughts into positive affirmations. Through my own experience of delivering a last-minute graduation speech, you'll see how preparation and mindset can lead to success. We'll also discuss the importance of accessing support and guidance, encouraging open communication, and providing you with the tools to make your dreams a reality. Let’s empower each other to thrive under the pressures of life and make 2025 our year of achievement.
"True mastery is found in the details. The way you handle the little things defines the way you handle everything."
Hello and welcome to the Gentleman's Journey podcast. My name is Anthony, your host, and today we're going to talk about something that affects really all of us and, excuse me, some people. They thrive in it. With some people they thrive in it, Some people die in it and some people fall apart in it and some people run away from this. Now, what is this that I'm talking about today? I'm talking about pressure, so let's go ahead and let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:You know, pressure, like pressure, is one of those real finicky things, right? Because it's either you love it or you hate it, right? And as we talk about that, it's like you know, some people love it, some people hate it. I love pressure. I'm going to be honest, right? I love it because I realized a long time ago that pressure it's not an enemy, right? What pressure is? It's a test of you, right, and what it does. It separates people from those who crumble, right? People that are successful in high pressure situations are usually highly successful people in life, and people that crumble under pressure usually are not very successful in life.
Speaker 1:Right, Because I'm going to tell you, with every great achievement, with every defining moment that you've had in your life, guess what it comes with. It comes with pressure, and the question you have to ask yourself is will pressure break you or will pressure help you rise and become the person you need to be? Because I want you to think about it. Think about those moments in your life when everything was on the line. Maybe it was a presentation for school, for work, Maybe it was an important decision to stay or go, Maybe it was a life-altering opportunity to leave somebody. I don't know right, but what did you do in those moments? Did you freeze up or did you lean into the moment? Right, Because what we're going to talk about today, we're going to break down how to reframe pressure like what it really is, and how you can master your response to pressure and use this stress as a tool to propel you forward. Okay, Because what my job here is, at the end of this episode, I want to give you the mindset and the strategies and real-life techniques so that way, you can thrive under pressure. Now, the reason why pressure can be your greatest advantage is this we all know what diamonds look like, right? Well, diamonds start off as pretty much a piece of coal and, over millions and millions of years, under immense pressure, it creates a diamond. A diamond is the strongest thing nature has ever made, right and kind of like.
Speaker 1:In life, you have to go through a bunch of bad stuff and be under a lot of pressure over a long period of time to be a strong individual, and strong individuals are formed or forged, I should say in high-stress environments. You know, because growth happens under stress. You know, because growth happens under stress, Controlled pressure we'll talk about this later too it leads to a breakthrough in performance. It helps you break your plateaus right. And I'm going to tell you you talk to any high-level executive, you talk to any high-level athlete, any high-level performer, anybody, right? They love pressure. They love it when the ball is in their hands. They love it when it's all on them, right. That's when they perform at their best. When it's all or nothing, okay. When it's all or nothing, okay. Because here's the thing I'm going to tell you this right now Most people run from pressure. The successful ones, they lean into it. So you get to decide which one you want to be okay. You get to decide that Because you want to know one of the things that causes pressure it's fear of failure.
Speaker 1:What you're doing is is, when you have a fear of failure. You're worrying about outcomes that haven't happened yet, and what that does is it creates resistance inside yourself. Right, it creates your inability to take action, and we all know what happens when you don't take action, like we talked about earlier this week. Right, it's not a good thing. The second thing is is when you have high expectations, you want to be perfect, can cause paralysis. You have to understand and we talked about this yesterday there is no perfect time. The time is now right, and when you have high expectations of yourself and you want everything to be perfect, understand that it's not going to be perfect. Understand. You have to learn as you go and also understand too. The most perfect thing you can do is take action and worry about things later.
Speaker 1:The next thing what causes pressure is time constraints. You know, if you have you ever been in a room where you're taking like a test or whatever, and they have that white clock with the with a black lettering on it? And they have that white clock with a black lettering on it and you just watch that thing go tick, tick, tick. It's enough to drive you mad because you're physically seeing time pass you by. That can cause a ton of pressure, especially if you need to ace this test in order to get a job or in order to move forward with school that's pressure right. Or in order to move forward with school that's pressure right, and I would say this right here.
Speaker 1:This last one is what happens with a lot of people Lack of preparation Sorry to get some water there. Lack of preparation magnifies pressure. If you know you're not ready because you haven't prepared for the moment, or you haven't prepared for that presentation, it's going to be a lot of stress. It's going to be a lot of stress, but you put yourself in that situation, okay. But here's the thing you have to understand, though, is that pressure is never about the situation. What pressure is? It's about your mindset. The strongest individuals out there do not wish for less pressure. They want to prepare better. Okay. Now, here's the thing prepare better, okay.
Speaker 1:Now here's the thing. When you start understanding the science behind performing under pressure, it'll really change your mind on how you deal with pressure. Right, Because you have to understand when the brain is under stress. Right, when you're faced with pressure, your brain activates your oh gosh. I might butcher this, so I'm sorry, but I believe it's your amygdala, right, and what that is? It's the center of your brain that is responsible for your fight or fight response, right, it's a survival mechanism. It's designed to help you react quickly to threats. However, if this is left unchecked, it can cause panic and impulsive decision-making, right? So you're always like worried about, like, oh my God I'm. So if you're always like just tensed up all the time, you're stuck in that fight or flight mode because you're constantly under stress, right, you need to learn how to let that go.
Speaker 1:The other thing that happens when you're under pressure, right, is your cortisol and your stress levels rise. Obviously, right, when you're under pressure, cortisol levels spike, increasing alertness. But what that does to that chemical? When you're under pressure and you're scared, it impairs your working memory if it's prolonged. So if you're in that cortisol fight or flight mode all the time, you'll realize you can't learn anything. Sometimes it'll get to the point to where you forget where you are. And then I actually knew somebody that was so stressed out it's something called hysterical blindness. They actually went blind for like three or four days because they were so stressed out about a final. It's crazy, right. But once you can learn how to regulate stress through like meditations, those kind of things, right? Yeah, it will help maintain your cognitive function right.
Speaker 1:And here's another thing, and this will go towards people who love stress right, or high-pressure situations. It's the only way that they get a dopamine high, right? Some people, like I said, they thrive under pressure. It's because their brain releases this feel-good chemical called dopamine right, and it does it in response to challenges, and what it does is increases your motivation and focus. This is why, sometimes, reframing a pressure situation as an opportunity rather than a threat can significantly impact and improve your performance under pressure right Now. The next thing is called Yerkes-Dottson Law Yerkes, I think it's Y-E-R-K-E-S. Yerkes-dottson Law. Now, it's a psychological principle, okay, and it states that moderate stress enhances performance right, but too much stress can lead to anxiety and decreased efficiency. What the whole key is here is you got to find your optimal stress zone where your focus and productivity can peak right Now.
Speaker 1:The next thing is cognitive repraisal. Studies show that individuals who reframe pressure as an excitement rather than a fear are more likely to perform well. So, like something like, say, if I'm doing like a big presentation or I'm talking like at a graduation or something like that, I just feel in my heart, my mind, like when I do it. I'm so grateful for this opportunity, I'm so prepared, I'm so energized and I can't wait to do this Right now. I'm going to be a comic book nerd here really quick right now. I'm going to be a comic book nerd here really quick. You know there's a saying like you know if you watch, if you listen well, actually, if you watch batman or if you read the comics, you know they say don't you ever get scared? He's like no, I don't get scared, I get angry again because he reframes it. So if he's angry, it'll help push himself forward because he's acting in anger. I'm not saying you should act in anger, I'm just saying it's an example about reframing your mind right Now.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing too, is that athletes, military professionals, elite professionals they undergo high pressure training right. They expose themselves to simulated high stress situation. What that does? It helps build resilience and the automatic responses that they need to improve life, improve their real life performances. You know what I mean. Because making pressure or making pressure, my gosh, mastering pressure. Because making pressure or making pressure, my gosh, mastering pressure. It means you understand how your mind and body react under pressure and it's about taking control of that response, right, Instead of letting it control you, because you have to remember, if you're under pressure and you're under stress and you let it control you, it's literally going to drive you into the ground, Trust me I know because it's done it to me, Okay, Plenty of times.
Speaker 1:As we're talking about this, right, I'm going to share something with you that really helped me out, especially if I'm stressful, and it's something called controlled breathing. So it's the 4-7-8 method. Okay, what I do, let's say, if I'm really stressed out, I'm just really right. I use this 4-7-8 breathing method. What it is is this I hold, I inhale my breath for four seconds, right. I then hold my breath for seven seconds and then I exhale for eight seconds. Now I'm going to tell you you do three or four rounds of that. You will get the most amazing relaxed feeling you've ever had. I guess the best way I can explain it. I know this is going to be kind of weird as I say it, but it's like if you've ever been on a muscle relaxer before and all of a sudden, when it finally hits you and your body just kind of lets go of the stress, doing this right here feels very similar to that right.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I do, like we were talking about earlier, is I train under pressure. I put a lot of pressure on myself and I put myself in a high stakes scenario in my mind and I'm like okay, how do I perform if this happens? How do I perform if that happens? So, in that way, if I'm always prepared if something bad is happening, like, say, in my presentation, let's say the you know, the monitor goes off or my sound goes off or whatever that it doesn't phase me. Right, Because I'm prepared for it. There's nothing wrong. Being prepared and training yourself under pressure is one of the best things you can do to prepare for life, just in general. Right.
Speaker 1:And then, with that too, you have to reframe the narrative. Right, Because this strategy, if you do this correctly, it changes everything. Because when you start saying like, oh my gosh, I'm so nervous, oh my gosh, this isn't going to work, oh my gosh, I'm going to fail, Instead of saying you know what, Instead of saying nervous, I'm excited, Instead of saying I'm going to fail, Like you know what, Whatever happens here is going to benefit me or I don't know what to say, the right words will come to me to say what I feel and what I need to say, Because, remember, this is all you, it's nobody else, it's all you, and you got this. Because what year is it? That's right, it's your year. 2025 is the year of you.
Speaker 1:Now the next thing is you've got to develop some pre-performance rituals, right, and what these rituals should do is they should help anchor confidence inside of you before your big moments. You know you could create like I mean, like I know a lot of people like before they go out, they'll listen, they'll get themselves hyped up on some music, they'll take some deep breaths, they'll do themselves hyped up on some music, They'll take some deep breaths, They'll do their little power pose or whatever, and then they go out and just absolutely crush it Because they've been there before and they'll be there again because they know how to handle pressure, and these pre-performance rituals, right before they go do something, is one of their biggest keys to their successes. Right and again, you have to trust your training. You got to train. If you want to be successful, you have to train like a successful person. Right, because I'm going to tell you this right now and and I want this statement to really ring true to you Confidence comes from preparation, not wishful thinking. I'll say that again Confidence comes from preparation. It does not come from wishful thinking. What you should be doing or aiming for is preparing so well that your reaction becomes automatic under stress, where it's just it's not a thing. It's just not a thing, right?
Speaker 1:So, as we're talking about this, I'm gonna tell you a story about a graduation speech. I did not that long ago, it was last minute and it was for a friend of mine and their guy, I guess, got sick and he's like I know, you do the podcast and I just need 10 minutes. You know, just talk to talk to this graduation class. And there was, I don't know, probably five, 600 people, right, Probably the largest crowd I've ever spoken in front of. And I'm going to tell you when I said yes, my heart dropped to the floor.
Speaker 1:When I said yes, my heart dropped to the floor, right, my stomach dropped to the floor and I immediately started feeling ill. I'm like, oh my God, I just said yes to this. What am I going to do? And I said to myself wait a minute. What am I stressed out about? I know what to talk about. I know what to say. I do a podcast. I talk to hundreds of people a day who listen to this right? How is that any different than what I'm currently doing, right? So, right there, what did I do?
Speaker 1:I reframed my mind right there, I reframed my thought process and, as I'm writing my speech, right, I'm thinking'm thinking about, like, okay, what would I want someone to tell me if I was graduating right now? And I just talked about greatness and about what it takes and if they're ready for it, and it was, was really. It just came down to the to I said why not you? It's really what the whole graduation speech was is why not you? And I talked about everything that they went through to graduate, where they went through COVID, they went through all these things and they're graduating, and how hard of a concept and how hard that is for a lot of people to not only understand but to do. And they did it.
Speaker 1:And I tell you what, after that 10-12 minute speech, I kind of blacked out. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to lie to you. I completely blacked out and when I, right before I got done, I kind of came back into my body and when I got done, they gave me a standing ovation. And now you know, I got invited to do another graduation here soon to talk. But I wouldn't have been able to do any of that if I didn't practice and prepare. I spent hours going over my speech. I had that whole thing memorized front back inside out, so that way I didn't have to look at a card. I only had like three cards and it was just bullet points really that I just wanted to make sure that I was hitting, and I did it again. I wasn't afraid.
Speaker 1:I realized that pressure was just the judgment I placed on myself and really the judgment was do I believe in myself or do I not? Because I believed and I knew that I can do it, and I practiced and I visualized it. It became true and I knocked it out. You know, Because you have to understand and I think this is the key thing that I started to understand about myself Is that you're built to handle pressure Right. What makes you handle pressure or not handle pressure is your belief in yourself. If you want to handle big pressure, just believe you can handle it. That's like nine-tenths of it right there anyways, right.
Speaker 1:So as we're talking about this, I want to kind of help you build your high-pressure muscle, right? So this week, I want you to put yourself in a controlled high-pressure situation. I want you to practice these techniques. Now you're thinking like, okay, how do I put myself in a controlled high pressure situation? And once you practice these techniques now you're thinking like, okay, how do I put myself in a controlled high pressure situation? You give yourself a problem, you give yourself time and you act like it's the last thing you're ever going to do. That's a very high pressure situation, right, and in that, what I want you to do is I want you to identify one thing that makes you anxious, and what I want you to do is I want you to face that. Whatever that is, I want you to face it head on instead of avoiding it, Because when we avoid things, that makes us anxious, that anxiety controls us, and being anxious about things is not a way to live. It's just not. You can overcome that, I promise.
Speaker 1:Now, as you're facing this right, use the 4-7-8 breathing method that we talked about Right In for four seconds, Hold for seven seconds, Breathe out for eight seconds. I'm telling you that right there. If you get, if you take anything out of this episode, if you do anything, do that. One thing right there the 4-7-8. I'm telling you that is the biggest game changer and that is probably one of the biggest tools that could be in your tool bag that'll help you be successful. Just that, right there, right.
Speaker 1:Next thing practice talking about being excited instead of being nervous. Start reframing your mind about things. Your mind is malleable, Remember. You control your mind. Your mind doesn't control you. Your mind is a tool to your benefit, not to your detriment. Okay, Next, create a pre-performance ritual.
Speaker 1:What is a song that just gets you so hyped up? What is it Right? What is a thought that just makes you just man? I'm going to get it. Let's get it. You know what is it. And, last but not least, just reflect on a moment when you handled pressure well. What worked? Put yourself in that frame of mind again. Really experience that. And I'm telling you, you do that. With that 4-7-8 breathing method. You are going to be unstoppable. You are going to understand what we talk about here. You're gonna understand why this is your year, because it's your year.
Speaker 1:2025 is the year of you. Don't forget that, because I'm going to tell you this right now the more you embrace pressure, the stronger you become. It's time to step into your own power. It it just is, Because I'm going to tell you this. I want you to own this moment. From this point forward, I want you to understand that pressure is a privilege. It means you have something worth fighting for. It means you're in the arena, You're playing at a level where stakes matter and that's where growth happens. So don't run, Don't hide. Step up, Own this moment and thrive under pressure. Look it straight in the eye and say not today, sucker, Because this is your year and this is your time, so let's get it.
Speaker 1:Whew, Sorry, I know I've been so hyped up this week, but it's just. The reason why I get so hyped up about these things is because I want it so bad for you. I want you to be successful. I want this year to be the year of you, when you drew your line in the sand and said I'm doing it. That's what I want. So I want to thank you guys so very much for listening today.
Speaker 1:I know we went a little long here today, but I was really hyped up, but if you have any questions on this or anything that I've talked about, please, please, please, never hesitate to reach out to me. There's three ways. First way is you can text me. So, like on the description, it'll say text me or let's chat. You click on that, we can chat back and forth. So, like on the description, it'll say text me or let's chat. You click on that, we can chat back and forth and I'll answer any questions concerns that you have. Second way is going to be through my email. My email is anthonyatgentsjourneycom. Please, please, please, never hesitate to reach out to me. And, last but not least, you can go to my Instagram. You can drop me a DM. My Instagram handle is MyGentsJourney. So please feel free to drop me a line at any time and I'm here to help you, okay, Because I want 2025 to be the year of you all right? So, again, guys, thank you so much for listening today and remember this you create your reality. Take care you.