Delegates often say they work best under pressure; many of them maintain this is their most productive zone.

Why, I wonder, is this phenomenon so pervasive? And, what balls do we drop when we’re in this phase of frenetic activity?

Maybe you are a super-efficient all-rounder, and never drop the ball. There certainly are these amazing people amongst us, I think I have even met some. But most of us are mortals, and our work output tends to be wonderful at the outset of our high pressure phases, but the cracks start showing if it becomes a chronic rather than acute situation.

We tend not to drop the ball on things that are interesting, new and/or challenging, it’s the repetitive tasks where we let stuff slip. Once we’ve got it under our belt we move quickly onto auto-pilot – into complacency. Often long before our skill level has reached the point where we can accomplish the task ‘in our sleep’.

Take driving a car. Initially, we were hyper-vigilant. We were aware of putting the key in the ignition, checking the rear-view mirror, moving the seat and all manner of really boring, mundane tasks. Yet all of these were integral to our success on the road.

Once we’ve been driving for some time however, we perform these functions without noticing. After some time, we find we’re performing them whilst we’re already in motion. Then, we become adept at performing all these tasks whilst adding a few more to the list when we reach our first red robot…get my drift?

Working under pressure is most definitely part and parcel of our daily lives, and it isn’t bad at all. What is a problem is that the adrenalin it produces, and the resultant feel good brain chemicals, aren’t there when we face the mountain of ‘boring’ admin on our desk. Pressure can become addictive.

So we need to be able to function under pressure and when the ‘exciting’ pressure isn’t around.

Balancing our approach to work is difficult. That’s probably why our Stress and Time Management course is so popular…

Email us at info@StaffTraining.co.za for more info or give us a call at 0861 996 660

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