Pressure – The stress or urgency of matters demanding attention, The burden of physical or mental distress, The constraint of circumstances.

Working under pressure involves dealing with circumstances that can be constrained by time, resources, the difficultly of the task, all of these and more.

It involves the stress that comes from dealing with a matter that must be taken care of in a timely manner. This pressure can lead to physical or mental distress.

Stress is a term adopted from engineering science by psychology and medicine.

Simply defined, stress in engineering means force upon an area. As so many forces are working upon us in the modern age, and we find it extremely difficult to cope under so much pressure, stress is called the "disease of civilization."

Phillip Zimbardo in his Psychology and Life traces four interrelated levels at which we react to the pressures exerted upon us from our environment.

The four are: the emotional level, the behavioral level, the physiological level, and the cognitive level. The emotional responses to stress are sadness, depression, anger, irritation, and frustration. The behavioral responses are poor concentration, forgetfulness, poor interpersonal relations, and lowered productivity. The physiological responses consist of bodily tensions, which may lead to headaches, backaches, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure and even killer diseases.

At the cognitive level one may lose self-esteem and self-confidence, which leads to feelings of helplessness and hopefulness. At worst such a person may even end up committing suicide.

In order to understand stress let us consider the various environmental factors which exert pressure on modern man.

In this atomic age the very survival of the species is threatened. Nuclear war threatens every single human being on earth, irrespective of whether one lives in a country with nuclear weapons or not.

Population explosion threatens man with severe food shortages; at present even a large segment of human

Population is undernourished while still others are dying of starvation and malnutrition.

Environmental pollution causes severe health hazards and mental and physical retardation.

Unemployment among the skilled is a growing global problem. The pace of life has become so hectic that man is simply rushing from one task to another without any relaxation.

This is really paradoxical in an age when labour-saving devices are freely available and are in use to an unprecedented degree.

Competition for educational and employment opportunities is so severe that it has contributed a fair share to increase the rate of suicide.

Enjoyment of sense pleasures has grown to obsessive that it has become like drinking salt water to quench thirst.

Constant stimulation of the senses is today considered a necessity, and thus pocket radios with earphones, chewing gum and cosmetics are marketed every where.

Sense stimulation goes on unrestrained but satiation is far from achieved.

It is no wonder that man caught up in all this, is terribly confused and frustrated, and his life is intolerably stressful. This is the situation Buddhism describes as "tangles within and tangles without, people are enmeshed in tangles."

How To Cope With Pressure

Maintain Control
The first step in learning how to work under pressure is to maintain control. For some pressure brings up emotions that can cloud decision-making and inhibit your ability to deal with a problem.

If you are unable to set your emotions aside take those emotions and turn them into the energy needed to deal with the situation.

Evaluate The Issue
Before you jump into action you must first evaluate the issue.

Be sure you know exactly what the issue is before you try and resolve it. On the surface it may seem to be one thing, when in fact there is an underlying cause.

By jumping to conclusions and acting on the wrong issue you may in fact make it worse. Ask the important questions who, what, when, where, why to get to the root of the problem.

Once you know what the issue is then determine the priority. Is it a high priority that must be dealt with immediately?

Have a Plan
How important it is to have a plan or processes for dealing with a crisis already in place. When a crisis arises that puts you under pressure you execute the plan. Each step is outlined and everyone knows what they are supposed to do.

When There Is No Plan
There are times when something arises that there is no plan for. In these cases the best way to deal with it is a step-by-step process. Learning how to work under pressure means sometimes you have to work without a net.

Determine what the issue is and document all the circumstances surrounding it.

Determine how critical it is. This will determine how quickly it must be dealt with.
Create a simple to-do list for each step that needs to be done to resolve it.
Once you know the steps then it is just a matter of doing them or delegating them.

Anytime you deal with something for which you had no plan for after the issue is resolved write down everything while it is still fresh in your mind. You can use these notes later to create a step-by-step plan for dealing with that issue should it arise in the future.

How to work under pressure can be summed up into three steps.

Maintain control
Evaluate the issue
Execute the plan or prepare and execute the plan if no plan exist

You can relieve the stress of working under pressure by knowing what steps to take to deal with any situation that can arise. Being pro-active by having plans in place for common issues can make sure they are dealt with promptly and relieve the stress of working under pressure.

The more you have to work under pressure, the better you get at it. This builds confidence that you can deal with anything that arises. This confidence can relieve the stress and help reduce the emotions that can come up when working under pressure.