PRESSURE POINTS OF WORK

FEB 16 2020

Aafreen Mody

TAGS : work, pressure points of work, pressure of balancing professional personal life and health, pressure to complete a task, Peer pressure

When we were children, we wanted to grow up as quickly as possible
because growing up looked ‘cool’ and seemed to be a lot of ‘fun’ as
we always saw it on the television which was actually nothing but an
apparent hoax or rather I would say, ‘gaining wings’ as we hit
college. We always eagerly wanted to be an adult, just to visualize
and experience how life really is and how things work as we ascend
with age. When we grow up, a major portion of our life gets involved
with primarily only one thing- Occupation. Be it an entrepreneur,
activist, employee, teacher, software, hardware, events, fitness,
research, freelancer or any other profession, work eats away the most
vital yet the most significant portion of our lives.
During the period of work and managing to find what is best suitable
for us to make a living, we come across High Pressure, Long Hours
and even longer durations of work, due to which we begin to feel
under pressure. But what exactly is pressure? According to Oxford,
work is defined as “difficulties and feelings of anxiety that are caused
by the need to achieve or to behave in a particular way.”
In simple words, I think that pressure is the anxiety to meet a certain
requirement within a stipulated time, be it a submission, conformity to
rules or behavior, or meet a requirement, it all keeps you by the edge
of the chair until it’s all done. In a work environment, as per
individual experience, there are 4 major points of pressure, which a
person experiences, under the pressure to perform which are listed
below:
1) The pressure to complete a task,
2) The pressure to conform to a certain norm/ rule,
3) Peer pressure,
4) The c,
5) Incentivised pressure.
The Pressure of completing a task is quite common, and that is indeed
something that most of us have faced over our time. Be it homework,
college work, assignments, research papers, workplace deadlines,
project deadlines so on and so forth, while the pressure to conform to
a certain rule/norm is much more inherent and older, since it was a
part of our upbringing and is also inevitable.

Peer pressure in personal as well as professional life affects your
performance in various aspects like mental peace, physical being,
relationships, growth. It not only affects the pay-scale of an individual
but in-turn also affects the family environment of the individual. A
good company might encourage you and your improvement, while an
incompatible company, might just affect your performance through
their extension of thoughts, ideas and perspectives on the same matter
and that very pressure are more cascading and ‘personal’ than the
others.
On the other hand, contrary to the above, there is always the pressure
to balance the segments of life. A family at home, friends at work,
outside work, and your professional life, all the while preserving your
health, which might be affected frequently, as the work increases
which induces a parallel increase in the pressure that an individual
experiences as well. The final pressure is incentivized pressure. This
is something that actually involves multiple external factors, and is
more dynamic than the above. Mentioned pressures. This is so
because the pressure to perform is not tied to merely the incentive of
performance, but also to the nature and circumstances of the work
assigned to an individual, level, and guarantee of the incentive, and so
on. It is the most common and prevalent practice across the entire
world.
The pressure of work is one of the most crucial circumstances, since
the situation is literally, a make-or-break situation. To check whether
you can complete the given work within a stipulated time frame or are
efficient enough for the task. These situations loom around us like a
‘sword on our neck’ or a ‘gun to our head’ which pushes us into the
‘make-or-break’ crises which are the root cause to develop a sense of
pressure which later on builds as time flies.
However, to deal with the pressure, there are certain possible
solutions, to achieve certain necessary qualities, to help tackle the
pressure.
· Patience: One of the most important aspects of completing a task is
patience. For an individual to be more patient or increase our patience
level, they must try to be more tolerant, understanding and being
attentive towards the task assigned, any obstacle or means of a
hindrance to the project.

· Stress: Stress is the subsequent consequence of Pressure. In order to
avoid it, meditate, do yoga, read a book, tap your feet onto your
favorite tunes, cling onto your favorite lyrics or pick a hobby,
anything that can help as a stress-buster is a good way to reduce
stress. Keeping one’s self hydrated and looking after one’s sleep cycle
and food habits also play a vital role in stress management.
· Listening and analytical skills: Sometimes when we are busily
involved in a task, we tend to analyze it incorrectly, as we often tend
to overlook certain details. We must try to listen carefully and ask a
colleague to make notes. This ‘tag-team’ can help in finishing the
work better and undoubtedly with lower errors.
· Learning Approach: One of the easiest ways to tackle criticism at
work is to assume that you are always learning. The moment we adopt
this, we tend to recognize every criticism and flaw as a stepping
stone, helping us to push ourselves to perform better and grow further.
If we do not implement and consider criticism in a healthy manner, it
often leads to ego issues between individuals that are not good for
both, the individual as well as the organization itself.
· Perspective & Perseverance: can it be more obvious? An optimistic
perspective helps an individual grow while a pessimistic one does not
help one to go a long way. It is the perseverance of a person that
should be developed, for a person’s ability to bounce back from a
setback. A defeat is one of the most valued assets of an individual, be
it at work or even otherwise. It is undoubtedly very essential to one’s
survival in the professional realm.
In observation, I would like to present the following quote, which best
explains the duo of pressure and perspective.
“Pressure is not necessarily bad. Pressure can make you produce.
The challenge of pressure is learning how to handle it- which
requires developing internal confidence and inner strength.”- Paula
White.

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