LEADERSHIP
THE PRIVILEGE OF PRESSURE Pressure is an inevitable part of this life, what is the variable: how we handle the pressure, and whether we see it as a hindrance or a privilege.
By Javier Mendoza
I read once that Billie Jean King was quoted as calling pressure a privilege. As a former no. 1 tennis player with 39 majors to her name I think she would be well versed with what pressure feels like. Why then would she call it a privilege and how can we see the pressure we are under in the same way? Pressure can mount from many different sources. We feel pressure to be good parents or to make sure that we are good providers. We feel the pressure of society at times to have a nicer car or a bigger house. We can even feel self-imposed pressure to do better at our job or make a difference in this world. I wrote in, "Under Pressure",
I am not defined by the trouble that befalls my journey but by the way in which I respond to the pressure. In that article and from this quote I am trying to convey a sense that pressure is not the antagonist we have been conditioned to think it is. Pressure is a mirror in which we see the refelction of ourselves for better or for worse. I have a reputation for not always handling pressure well.
THE CONNECTION MAGAZINE
I can get worked up pretty quickly when the heat rises. I am not proud of this fact but I am aware of it and have learned over the years to harness pressure better and use it to form better responses. This has helped in every aspect of my life. As I try to visualize pressure as a privilege and not a hindrance it has helped me understand that it is not something to be avoided but It is something to lean into and make work for me not against me. Pressure is usually a precursor of growth or significant change. Think about a time in your life when you experienced a great change whether a new job, or a new position -- moving to a new house or maybe even your last "milestone" birthday. Probably you felt an amount of pressure leading up to those life events. You felt tension and maybe uneasiness at the prospect of learning something new or being in a new group. Sometimes the pressure is greater than the change required because of our anticipation of the event. We can work ourselves into an amount of pressure that may not even be fully representative of the impending change.
