What happens when pressure arises?

Fear, doubt and worry creep into your mind. So how do you get rid of those thoughts? How do you stop them?

One key is your preparation. My secret formula really is preparation, and the phrase is,

So whether it’s a speech, a sales, a presentation, a pitch, an interview, a conversation with a person you’re leading on your team, a review, whatever it is, you have to over-prepare. If you’re not over-prepared, you’re under-prepared.

Now, I believe most of us in our careers actually are pretty confident in moderate to low-level pressure situations because we’re so familiar with our jobs. If we weren’t good at what we did, we wouldn’t be where we are. The point I’m trying to make is, we get so familiar that we’re not pushing for that extra level of preparation.

So, when you go into that review meeting, or difficult conversation, or you go into that pitch or presentation, or you go into that sales situation, the familiar is easy. When it goes beyond that, that’s where the fear, doubt and worry kicks in. That’s where you get scattered. That’s where you lose your creativity. That’s where you lose your resourcefulness.

Let’s look at Michael Jordan. When he was playing, he said there was no possible way he could do more prep than he did. So, going into the final moments of a game, or the pressure filled situations there was no nerves. There was no fear, there was no worry because he was so over-prepared. That’s how he beat the pressure.

As research more and more people who are excellent under pressure, their secret formula is their preparation.

If you can get good at over-preparing to the point where your preparation becomes almost automatic in your mind, you will find a way to win