How do you behave when under pressure? Some get overwhelmed and shut down, while others rise to the occasion. Grace under pressure is the most valuable life skill you can develop leading into your adult life. There will always be deadlines, there will always be circumstances that are out of your control. It is vital that you learn to act and react appropriately and push yourself to work within these situations to reach a positive outcome.
Some people are most motivated when under pressure. This causes them to procrastinate and create an emergency situation in which they are scrambling to finish a task or assignment. Although this works for some, I would not recommend this method because it leaves too much room for extraneous circumstances. You might have left yourself enough time to write that paper at home before you go to bed, but what happens when your internet goes down? Similarly, some projects that are put off until the last minute turn out to be much more complex and time consuming than originally anticipated. In this situation, even if you were to work through the night, that might not be enough time to complete the task, or if you do complete the task it is not up to par with the quality of work that you normally achieve.
In ideal situations there is enough pressure to motivate one to work hard on a task and complete it in a timely manner, but not too much pressure to prioritize turning in something over turning in quality work. Finding this balance at a young age will help you out in school and at work and it will make you incredibly efficient. When you are able to strike the perfect balance of pressure in your life, instead of crumbling under the pressure, you can make diamonds.
- Bria