Learn to use stress, don’t run from it. ~Chad Howse
Stress is vilified in our society because we can see its myriad negative effects on our health. But WE NEED STRESS. WE NEED PRESSURE.
In all likelihood, you need more of it in your life. I know I do.
We need stress because it’s within moments and periods of extreme pressure where we’re able to focus more intently, and work more arduously.
Most great accomplishments of men have occurred under pressure. It’s under pressure where the great thrive.
Stress, especially of the physical variety, is largely outlawed in our society. We teach our sons in comfortable classrooms with little debate, where the ancient Greeks and Romans taught their sons by throwing them in the fire, in front of the class where they had to debate their point or fail. Grey area didn’t exist.
They learned battle tactics, they learned to fight. We even give our wee ones nap time if it makes them easier to control.
Our lives are lived on autopilot.
Everything is done for us.
Pressure of bringing in the crops on time is relegated to a few farmers. Stress of the hunt, even fewer.
The stress we do have in our lives isn’t born from pressure, but from our perception of an event. We make stress where there is none almost to feel as though something, some moment is in some way live or die.
We learn better under pressure than we do when we have options of what we can or can’t do.
We work with far more focus and energy when there’s something REAL on the line.
So what can you do?
Put pressure on yourself.
Create firm deadlines in your work even if your boss doesn’t require them.
Get out in the wild, where you AREN’T at the top of the food chain.
The thing about pressure is that it also exposes your character. And while success and all that jazz is important, nothing is more important than who you are when the shit hits the fan.
Expose yourself to that pressure. See how you fight.
Read This: Practicing to Become a Winner
