Opinion: 4 ways to perform well under pressure

The executive director of an international business association nervously glanced at his watch. His assistant had just reminded him that lunch would be served soon, the convention’s opening session was running 40 minutes late and the keynote speaker had yet to present.

He frowned, glanced at his watch again, turned to me, and whispered, “Previous speakers have run over on their time, and I need you to cut your keynote down to 22 minutes, max.”

Typically, a keynote speech is about an hour long, and no one had ever asked me to reduce one. But the association executive was desperate and needed help.

My mind spun rapidly, trying to imagine what to cut. In the meantime, I nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll be happy to do that.”

The challenge of coming through under pressure can cause someone to focus on negative, overwhelming feelings or listen to defeating self-talk such as, “That’s impossible,” or “I’ll embarrass myself.” I had to ignore negativity and focus on outcomes.

It might be a presentation at work. It might involve answering a tricky customer question or explaining your reasoning for a decision to an executive in your company. This test makes your palms sweat, your mind race, your heart pound or your stomach get butterflies. Instantly, you feel like you may not perform at your best, and your mind fixates on everything that could go wrong.

To deal with pressure requires a sensible approach, one that works when you must think quickly on your feet. I’ve found four things that help to perform well under pressure:

1. Be adaptable. Flexibility allows you to perform well in situations you never imagined you could handle, and it calms your nerves so you can think and act more clearly. When the executive asked me to cut my keynote time, as long as I was flexible, I knew it would create a fun challenge for myself I had never faced before.
2. Know your goal. What’s the most important goal for your presentation, project or assignment? Your values also should come into consideration here. Don’t think about yourself, but instead focus primarily on other stakeholders. What’s the outcome or benefit they want to realize?

When you focus on what other people want, I find that it frees your mind to find creative solutions because you’re not wrapped up in self-interest. In cutting my speech down, the main goal was how can I deliver high value to the audience and make the executive director look good?

3. Prepare ahead of time. The late Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker and author, once said, “I spend three hours preparing a speech I’ve already given 300 times.” Thorough preparation gives you several advantages: having the correct answer to a question, offering a compelling reason for an objection or challenge, and being calm and confident, especially if you need to accommodate an unexpected request.

Know your information and anticipate and plan for possible questions or resistance. The task of reducing the keynote was made simpler because of advance preparation.

4. Be strategically brief. Give concise answers and edit out the nonessential. When you must think quickly, paraphrase the comment or question the individual stated; it gives you time to gather thoughts and causes them to rethink what they said. When you give your answer, start at the end of what you want to say. Eliminate points you don’t need to cover. By narrowing my speech, people could reflect on the essential insights.

The keynote, by all measures, was a success, and the association’s executive thanked me profusely for bailing him out.

When we teach ourselves how to think on our feet quickly, we master a valuable skill. The next time you feel anxiety  from a challenge, and you must think on your feet, be flexible, focus on your goal, rely on preparation and present the essential information.

Consultant, professional speaker and author Mark Holmes is president of Springfield-based Consultant Board Inc. and MarkHolmesGroup.com. He can be reached at
mark@markholmesgroup.com.