3 Secrets To Staying Calm Under Pressure

Morning Leaders,

We continue to navigate these uncertain times, and leading our people comes with it’s own pressures and stresses. How we handle and deal with these can impact our success significantly.

Feeling overwhelmed or not in the right headspace impacts our decision making and general emotional intelligence when we are serving the needs of our people. You may disagree, but generally we are a lot more effective when we can think clearly and maintain focus. If we are in an anxious state or feeling stressed we have the tendency to lose our composure and focus on areas we cannot control, and enter a unproductive state which can lead to mistakes or misses.

In 2003, the New Zealand All Blacks exited the World Cup in many fan’s view, early. They choked when pressure was applied. In the spirit of the All Black’s culture they needed to bounce back and fast.

They brought in forensic psychiatrist Ceri Evans. They wanted to explore more about the mindset and how the brain works under pressure to avoid choking at pivotal moments in a game.

Ceri Evans coined the phrases ‘Red Head’ and ‘Blue Head’ to help articulate a mindset state. If your mind is a Red Head, this is an unresourceful state, where you feel stressed, anxious or under pressure and cannot think clearly. You have a high possibility of making mistakes.

On the other hand, if you have a ‘Blue Head’, it’s the opposite, this is a calm state where your emotions are under control. You can think clearly, concentrate and make good decisions in a resourceful state avoiding any mistakes.

Photo by Stefan Lehner on Unsplash

The All Blacks recognised that a Red Head had the potential for them to chock on the field and make critical mistakes which would cost them games. With Ceri’s help they focused on 3 areas, which are all transferable to the working environment.

1. Seek a default of a Blue Head. Starting with a Blue Head is going to set you up for success or help alleviate some of the things thrown at you during your working day. Imagine if you start work feeling stressed or rundown, you are not going to be over productive or you’ll quickly feel overwhelmed when a challenging customer wishes to speak with you. Think about how you wind down in the evenings, switch off from work mode and return to a calm state after a long day.

2. Sense cues when you are entering Red Head mode. There will be certain triggers or things that make you feel stressed. Recognise when you are starting to feel stress or anxiety build up. Review available strategies which work for you, to help you return to an optimal state. That might be meditating, taking time off, reading or even going for a walk to separate you from the current environment.

3. Physical or mental trigger to get yourself back into Blue Head. The All Blacks would stamp their feel or pinch themselves as a trigger to their body that their temperature is approaching an unresourceful state, and they need to reset. This anchor or distraction, is like a reset button. It brought their attention to the presence moment and helped them focus on the task at hand or what they could control, rather than the emotions taking over and blurring their thinking.

Operating at optimal temperature will help us concentrate, maintain productivity and make better decisions. This psychology can be applied in any field as we look to take more care of our mind which will prepare us well for challenges we face on the journey ahead.

All the best

David

Resources Of The Week

• Book - The Magic of Thinking Big by David J Schwartz. This book is old but gold. Probably one of the first personal development books I read. It has so much value and wisdom including strategies to help you upgrade your thinking and improve your future prospects. You’ll be surprised at what you can achieve when you think big and build out a plan. Excellent book.

• YouTube Video - Jack Welch - What is the role of the leader? Jack was a hugely successful leader at GE. He talks through the importance of finding meaning in your team’s work, and why as leaders we need to remove blockers from our team’s environment to ensure they can be successful.

• App - Calm App - leadership can be stressful and it’s difficult to switch off in the evenings as our emotions run away. Meditation has historically had a bit of a stigma attached to it, but it is becoming more and more mainstream. The benefits are overwhelming including reducing anxiety and better focus and self-esteem. Years ago running/jogging was not very mainstream, now look at it. I favor the Calm App as Tamara Levitt is a calming influence on me. Try something new today!

Quote of the Week

“Calmness is the cradle of power” - Josiah Gilbert Holland

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