How to Perform Under Pressure

Photo credit: sergign / shutterstock.com

Photo credit: sergign / shutterstock.com

Nobody performs better when under pressure. In fact, research shows that pressure only makes you worse in what you do. Fortunately, this isn’t the final sealed deal. There are things you can do to diminish this.

If you are looking for a few pointers on how to perform better under pressure, check out these tips.

What is escape game?

This is a real life adventure game where you are located in a room. The game’s goal is simple: you need to work with your teammates to crack codes and puzzles, and solve several ciphers and find clues in a certain amount of time to escape from the room. Some of the nuggets you can adopt to perform under pressure include:

1. Focus on the task at hand, but not the outcome.
This is the easiest tactic of all. Instead of worrying too much about the outcome, you should be worrying about the task at hand. This means, your primary focus should be developing a tunnel vision. When you have your eye at the task at hand, all you will see is concrete steps needed to excel. Focusing more on the outcome will only create unwanted pressure and anxiety that isn’t good for you.

2. Take control.
In any pressure moment, there are a number of factors that have control over you; some factors that you can control and others which you can’t control. When you focus on uncontrollable factors, you will likely end up been tensed, anxious and have intensified pressure that ultimately makes you under perform. Just focus on the factors you can control and you shall be on the right track to perform better.

3. Remember your past success experience.
Remembering your previous successful experience ignites self-confidence: you did it before (cracked similar codes), and you can surely do it again. Once you feel great about yourself, and you believe you can do it, you will be able to cut through the pressure situation and take care of the issue at hand.

4. Slow down.
When you are facing a high-pressure situation, it is natural to speed up your thinking. But, do not do it even if the time is running low. Thinking very fast often makes you act before you are ready, and thus you are likely to underperform. Give yourself a few seconds to breathe and formulate a good game plan on how you will play the game. This will help you be more flexible, think better and come up with the perfect solution and ultimately aid you to perform better.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you’re feeling the pressure of the ticking clock when trying to escape one of our rooms!