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Pressure is about urgency

• Pressure: A sense of stressful urgency caused by having too many demands on one’s time or resources.  Oxford Dictionary
• Pressure: A difficult situation that makes you feel worried or unhappy.  Cambridge Dictionary
• Pressure: The stress or urgency of matters demanding attention.  Merriam Webster
• Influence,  Conformity,  Haste,  Power,  Stress,  Anxiety,  Time management,  Preparation

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Pressure is often about stress

• Pressure and stress is the common cold of the psyche. Andrew Denton
• Stress is the body and mind’s response to any pressure that disrupts its normal balance. It occurs when our perceptions of events don’t meet our expectations and we don’t manage our reaction to the disappointment. As a response, stress expresses itself as resistance, tension, strain or frustration, that throws off our physiological and psychological equilibrium, keeping us out-of-sync. Doc Childre and Howard Martin
• Stress

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Today’s modern world is full of pressures

• …in all our efforts to provide “advantages” we have actually produced the busiest, most competitive, highly pressured and over-organized generation of youngsters in our history and possibly the unhappiest. Eda J. LeShan
• The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. Thomas Merton
• Leaders have to act more quickly today. The pressure comes much faster. Andy Grove
• All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. Noam Chomsky

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Much of the pressure we feel is social pressure …

• The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept. John W. Gardner
• To know what that true self is without social pressure is to know your true nature. Martha Beck

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… including peer pressure …

• Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behaviour, and they are classic excuses. Andrew Lansley
• Hermits have no peer pressure. Steven Wright
• Herd pressure is to be judged by two things: first, its intensity, and second, its direction. Bertrand Russell

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… and especially the pressure to conform

• I dropped out of school and congratulated myself for my diligence. Few realize how hard one has to work to resist the pressures of conventional success. Bauvard
• In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. Peter Ustinov
• Conformity

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Keeping calm and doing well under pressure is a key to success

• The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. Travis Bradberry
• All of us get knocked down, but it’s resiliency that really matters. All of us do well when things are going well, but the thing that distinguishes athletes is the ability to do well in times of great stress, urgency and pressure. Roger Staubach
• Success,  Calmness

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Much of the pressure we feel is self-induced

• The only pressure I’m under is the pressure I’ve put on myself. Mark Messier
• I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied. Cole
• All pressure is self-inflicted. It’s what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you. Sebastian Coe

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Deal with pressure by preparing mentally and physically

• To be a champion, you have to learn to handle stress and pressure. But if you’ve prepared mentally and physically, you don’t have to worry. Harvey Mackay
• Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Peyton Manning
• Preparation

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Deal with pressure by making time to replenish yourself

• No matter how much pressure you feel at work, if you could find ways to relax for at least five minutes every hour, you’d be more productive. Dr Joyce Brothers
• Rest and renewal,  Sleep

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Deal with pressure by learning to manage emotions

• Emotional competence is the single most important personal quality that each of us must develop and access to experience a breakthrough. Only through managing our emotions can we access our intellect and our technical competence. An emotionally competent person performs better under pressure.  Dave Lennick, Executive VP, American Express Financial Advisers
• Emotions,  Mindfulness,  Emotional intelligence

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Deal with pressure by seeing every situation as an opportunity to be challenged and grow

• If you adopt the mindset all day long that you look forward to challenging yourself and growing from the experience you will no longer feel pressure; you will simply do your best in any situation and enjoy it. Jerry Bruckner
• Opportunity,  Growth,  Challenge

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Deal with pressure by learning to be in the moment

• Pressure is created by how we look at it a particular situation or encounter with a person. It is not the situation or the other person that makes us tense, it is us! We create pressure by imagining a negative outcome. The solution is to train your mind to always perform naturally without thinking about what it needs to do next and what the possible consequences are of your actions. Be in the moment. Jerry Bruckner
• Live in the present

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Deal with pressure by creating calm rituals

• All great performers rely on positive rituals to manage their energy and regulate their behavior. The more exacting the challenge and the greater the pressure, the more rigorous our rituals need to be. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• Rituals and routines

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Deal with pressure by letting go of attachment, especially to outcome

• Attachment creates fear that gets in your way: What if I lose? What if the deal doesn’t go through? What if I’m rejected? Your belief that everything must work out exactly as you want it to with no glitches creates enormous pressure. Nonattachment, on the other hand, works like magic. It allows you to have fun in your efforts, to enjoy the process. It takes the pressure off. You win regardless of the outcome. Richard Carlson
• Non-attachment,  Letting go of attachment to result

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Deal with pressure by becoming a better listener

• Become a better listener and a more peaceful person by slowing down your responses. Don’t fire back your response. Wait for the person you are listening to finish. You’ll notice that the pressure you feel is off. Richard Carlson
• Listening

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Deal with pressure by making time to meditate

• Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, “How do you maintain that serenity and peace?” He replied, “I never leave my place of meditation.” He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart. Stephen Covey
• Meditation

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Deal with pressure by becoming mindful

• Pause to notice how your mind feels when it is in the doing mode. Is there a faint state of tension? A sense of pressure? A feeling of focussedness? A mental intensity? Whatever there is, just notice it.  Peter Russell
• Mindfulness,  Awareness,  Presence

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Deal with pressure by making time to pray

• The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You’ll feel more patient and less pressured. Rick Warren
• Prayer

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Deal with pressure by getting out into nature

• Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy. Hamlin Garland
• Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure. Patch Adams
• If you feel overwhelmed, confused, or stuck, go outdoors and clear your head. Go into nature and surround yourself in colors of green and blue, which have a calming effect. Find a panoramic view and look out into the distance. Walk. Take deep breaths. Empty your mind. Come back with a fresh perspective. Preston In
• Nature

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Deal with pressure by tidying and organising

• When I cannot bear outer pressures any more, I begin to put order in my belongings… As if unable to organize and control my life, I seek to exert this on the world of objects. Anaïs Nin
• Getting organised

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Deal with pressure by keeping problems in perspective

• People who make permanent and universal explanations for their troubles tend to collapse under pressure, both for a long time and across situations. Martin Seligman
• Problem solving,  Perspective

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Deal with pressure by keeping your mind on what you desire most …

• No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win — and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance. Billie Jean King
• Be clear what you want,  Begin with the end in mind,  Clarity

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… and keeping your mind off the consequences of failure

• If you think about failing, you probably will fail. So don’t think about it. Instead, think about how good you will feel after you accomplish what you are trying to do. Jerry Bruckner
• I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot… when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result. Michael Jordan
• “What if?” statements throw fuel on the fire of stress and worry. Things can go in a million different directions, and the more time you spend worrying about the possibilities, the less time you’ll spend focusing on taking action that will calm you down and keep your stress under control. Calm people know that asking “what if? will only take them to a place they don’t want—or need—to go. Travis Bradberry
• Failure,  Fear

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Reduce pressure by allowing yourself to fail now and then

• In the game of life it’s a good idea to have a few early losses, which relives you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season. Lee Trevino
• Risk taking,  Boldness

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Reduce pressure by letting go of the need to always be right

• Being right, defending our positions, takes an enormous amount of mental energy and often alienates us from the people in our lives. Needing to be right – or needind someone else to be wrong – encourages others to become defensive and puts pressure on us to keep defending. Richard Carlson
• The need to be right

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Reduce pressure on the soul by allowing yourself to cry

• Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it. Albert Smith
• Crying relieves pressure on soul. Toba Beta
• To cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun- filled day.  Anne McCaffrey
• Tears

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Pressure can have a positive side

• The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It’s as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure. Criss Jami
• Always work hard. Intensity clarifies. It creates not only momentum, but also the pressure you need to feel either friction, or fulfilment. Marcus Buckingham

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Some say they perform better under pressure

• I am a person who works well under pressure. In fact, I work so well under pressure that at times, I will procrastinate in order to create this pressure. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
• I don’t fold under pressure, great athletes perform better under pressure…so put pressure on me. Floyd Mayweather

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Pressure is an opportunity to rise

• Everyting negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise. Kobe Bryant

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Pressure reveals character and courage

• True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature. Robert McKee
• “By “guts” I mean, grace under pressure. Ernest Hemingway
• The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man… It is more powerful than external circumstances. Seneca
• Character,  Courage

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Pressure makes diamonds

• Pressure makes diamonds. George S. Patton Jr.
• When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. Peter Marshall
• Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck at it no matter how much heat or pressure they faced. Jeffrey Fry
• No pressure, no diamonds. Thomas Carlyle
• A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure. Henry Kissinger

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Pressure can be converted into motivation

• No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. I turn pressure into motivation to do my best. Benjamin Carson
• Use positive public pressure to motivate yourself. Tell all your co-workers you’re going to achieve a goal. Email your family and friends and tell them about your goal and ask them to keep you accountable.  Post your goal on your blog and post regular updates.  Join an online forum related to your goal.  Leo Babauta
• Motivation

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In fact, without pressure, little would get done

• Without pressure, the work doesn’t get done at all. William Saroyan
• The feeling one has no time to get anything done provides the pressure that guarantees one does get some things done. Alain de Botton
• Nobody works better under pressure. They just work faster. Brian Tracy

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Whenever possible, avoid making decisions under high pressure

• The general guideline then is: Good mood = good decisions, Bad mood = bad decisions. I am taking ‘bad mood’ to include times of pressure, stress and time constraints, and I am not saying that all decisions made in such circumstances are bad decisions. Instead, it’s more likely that we will make poorer decisions or decisions that are wrong when we are in a ‘bad mood’. David Mc Dermott
• There will be times when you absolutely have to make decisions when you are stressed or under pressure. A useful trick here to minimize such occurrences is to make decisions ahead of time, that is, before you ‘have to’. David Mc Dermott
• Decision making

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Live by inner purpose, not outer pressure

• Happiness is living by inner purpose, not by outer pressures. David Augsberger
• Purpose

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Don’t allow the pressures of life to stop you from embracing its goodness

• Rabindranath Tagore writes that the song he wanted to sing has never happened because he spent his days “stringing and unstringing” his instrument. Whenever I read these lines a certain sadness enters my soul.  I get so preoccupied with the details and pressure of my schedule, with the hurry and worry of life, that I miss the song of goodness which is waiting to be sung through me.  Joyce Rupp
• Though we live amid promiscuous pressures, spiritual clutter and forgetfulness, we probably still value the integrity of life. Baker Brownell
• Embrace life,  Embrace the gift of today

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Use relief of pressure as an opportunity to regroup and replenish yourself

• Relief is a great feeling. It’s the emotional and physical reward we receive from our bodies upon alleviation of pain, pressure and struggle. A time to bask in the lack of the negative. And yet, think about it—relief is really the status quo, a negation of the suffering, a nothing in itself. It is the way things were before the pressure and struggle began. So, is it a step back? A regression? Or is it an opportunity to regroup, start over, and move in a different direction?  Use your moment of relief well. Vera Nazarian
• Rest and renewal

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• A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all. Rita Mae Brown
• Goals are dreams with deadlines. Diana Scharf
• A hammer made of deadlines is the surest tool for crushing writer’s block. Ryan Lilly
• The ultimate inspiration is the deadline. Nolan Bushnell
• Deadlines aren’t bad. They help you organize your time. They help you set priorities. They make you get going when you might not feel like it. Harvey Mackay
• Give yourself a deadline to stop planning and to start taking action. Andy Gilbert
• Deadlines refine the mind. They remove variables like exotic materials and processes that take too long. The closer the deadline, the more likely you’ll start thinking way outside the box.
• Adam Savage
• A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline. Harvey Mackay
• Effectiveness

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Being a parent comes with many pressures …

• The pressures of being a parent are equal to any pressure on earth. To be a conscious parent, and really look to that little being’s mental and physical health, is a responsibility which most of us, including me, avoid most of the time because it’s too hard. John Lennon

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… but this is small compared to the pressure we sometimes put on our children

• If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him. John W. Holt, Jr.
• I don’t know where this pressure came from. I can’t blame my parents because it has always felt internal. Like any other parent, my mother celebrated the A grades and the less-than-A grades she felt there was no need to tell anybody about. But not acknowledging the effort that ended in a less than perfect result impacted me as a child. If I didn’t win, then we wouldn’t tell anyone that I had even competed to save us the embarrassment of acknowledging that someone else was better. Keeping the secret made me think that losing was something to be ashamed of, and that unless I was sure I was going to be the champion there was no point in trying. And there was certainly no point to just having fun. Portia de Rossi

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We’re putting enormous pressure on the planet

• There’s no point bleating about the future of pandas, polar bears and tigers when we’re not addressing the one single factor that’s putting more pressure on the ecosystem than any other, namely the ever- increasing size of the world’s population Chris Packham

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Say no to people who constantly put you under pressure

• People who pressure you usually deserve a “no”. People who are patient with you usually deserve a “yes”. Alan Cohen

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Apply pressure on the Government

• It may well be that our means are fairly limited and our possibilities restricted when it comes to applying pressure on our government. But is this a reason to do nothing? Despair is nor an answer. Neither is resignation. Resignation only leads to indifference, which is not merely a sin but a punishment. Elie Wiesel

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• Under pressure, people admit to murder, setting fire to the village church or robbing a bank, but never to being bores.   Elsa Maxwell
• I’m so used to pressure I’m afraid if it stopped I’d get the bends. Walter Headley
• I dropped out of school and congratulated myself for my diligence. Few realize how hard one has to work to resist the pressures of conventional success. Bauvard
• My last boyfriend gave me a piece of coal and he told me that he would marry me when it turned into a diamond from all the pressure.  Wendy Liebman
• Statesman: A politician who is held upright by equal pressure from all directions.

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