Practice Reacting Differently

Your coping mechanisms will only stand up to the stress and pressure they've been exposed to.

I say this almost daily now 'we cannot control the presence of stress and pressure in our lives, but we can always control our responses to it'.

Here's the kicker, when the 💩 hits the fan, we are not going to respond in a way that serves us positively if we have not created awareness of...

👉 Our default responses to stress and pressure
👉 What an ideal outcome would be from said situation
👉 Where the gaps are between the two points above
👉 Practicing the skill of altering our reactions (and outcomes)
👉 Relentlessly practising our coping strategies, in all situations, environments and under pressure.

No elite athlete has ever nailed the winning shot without having first practised 2 things...
1. That specific skill
2. Coping with the pressure that comes with that situation

We are talking about stress inoculation here, about exposing yourself to challenges, observing your responses with curiosity, not judgement, and consciously choosing a different response.

All of which done across a range of environments (home, work, traffic, waiting in line) in a range of situations (late, championship point, taking screaming kids to nursery in traffic, big sales pitch).

Practice isn't enough, it needs to be intentional, high-quality practice.

That is the only way your coping strategies will stand up to intense stress and pressure.

Are you practising your coping strategies under pressure?