If you’re a leader, it’s only natural that, at one time or another, you will face adversity. Pressure as a leader is a natural occurrence, though it doesn’t negate how it makes us feel. You may feel pressure because of the overwhelming list of expectations placed on you or even disappointment with your progress on a project. However, there are things that you can do to help you effectively lead under pressure.
Figure out what drives you
One of the things that you can do when you feel the pressure is to tap into your sense of purpose. What gets you up in the morning? What pushes you to do better? The reasoning behind your actions is one way that can push you past the stress and overall adversity.
Manage your expectations
Stress and pressure come from us not reaching our expectations, whether the expectations are out of our reach or not. Learning how to say yes and no in certain situations can help diffuse the stress that’ll come from unrealistic expectations.
Let go of perfectionistic expectations
It’s only natural that you want to be perfect as a leader. It’s a belief that a lot of leaders have. Unfortunately, that’s incredibly unrealistic and will only lead to stress and pressure on you. The moment you stop expecting perfection, there will be less pressure on you. Instead of going for perfection, what you should be doing is focusing on making progress and doing the best that you can. If you expect perfection, the only thing you’ll end up doing is procrastinating.
Set clear and concise boundaries
When you’re the leader, everyone’s going to want to talk to you. Whether that’s for help or for your stamp of approval for a project, someone will want to talk to you at every opportunity. In order to combat the stress that comes with this, make sure that you’re setting up good boundaries and sticking to them. Boundaries are there to help keep you from getting burnt out. They may be difficult to enforce, but they’re there to make sure that you stay a good, healthy leader.
Learn how to adapt
A degree of uncertainty is going to be par for the course when you’re a leader. You’re not always going to know everything about a situation, so ambiguity is, unfortunately, a necessary evil. By learning how to adapt to these situations and approaching these events with an objective frame of mind, you’ll become overwhelmed less and less often. Instead of focusing on everything you don’t know or understand, focus on what you do know and what you can change.