In this blog I discuss a topic that has been very relevant to me recently: performance pressure. Below you can read more about this pressure, how I deal with it and I will pass on some useful tips that have helped me a lot.

A new job

I have been working a new job since March 2020 and within a short time I was able to find my feet. I work as a service technician in a small family business and have a good relationship with the best employers you can imagine. A total of 15 people work there, the majority of whom are around my age; young people between the ages of 18-25. It is a very nice team and I am having a great time.

Feelings of inferiority

Despite having such a good time, I suffer from performance pressure at  work. An important reason for this pressure to perform is my own experience. A number of my colleagues have been in the business for some time. They are the best technicians in the company and I really look up to them. They are all lovely colleagues, but every now and then I notice that I have less knowledge and experience. The fact that they are more experienced gives me a feeling of inferiority and creates a constant urge to prove myself. I often have the feeling that I fall short when helping customers.

Support

The constant comparison and the uncertainty about my own abilities can sometimes be quite difficult. Nonetheless, when I am faced with problems that I cannot yet solve myself, my employer and colleagues are always there to support me. On the one hand, this gives me a very good feeling; I am not alone. On the other hand, this feels like failure; I can’t even fix this problem myself. Fortunately, I am often reminded by my colleagues that it takes time to gain experience. Thanks to this support and the many good conversations I have had with my employer, I am motivated to keep going. This way I can work on getting better at what I do and gain useful experience.

Tips

I don’t think I’m the only 20-something who suffers from performance pressure, so I’ve listed a few tips that might help you cope with this.

• Learn from the mistakes you made. Your employer won’t get angry just because you make a mistake, everyone makes them! A good employer should enter into a constructive conversation in which you discuss what went wrong and especially how you can prevent the mistake from being made again.
• Ask your colleagues questions. No one will blame you for needing an extra explanation about something you are unsure about. Sometimes prevention is better than cure.
• Get up after falling. It can be painful to make a nasty mistake, but it’s important that you always get up and learn from your them. Only then can you grow! Making mistakes is human. As my employer said last week: “I discovered that I made a mistake in the administration. This mistake has had major consequences, but I am also human. ”.
• Dare to admit your mistakes. If you’ve made a mistake and you’re concerned that there could be major repercussions for the business, the best solution is always to admit your mistake honestly. Admitting mistakes is extremely difficult, but your employer will always be happy with your honesty.
• Be proud of yourself if you did something right without the help of a colleague, without it ever being explained to you, or if the problem is unknown to your company in general.

Love,

Bert

Are you dealing with pressure to perform and would you like to talk to somebody about this? Our NiceDay professionals are happy to help.

They probably give us the most stress, but also the most satisfaction: expectations. We are driven to meet expectations and strive for our ambitions. But how come they cause stress for some and not for others? 

What is it?

An expectation is nothing more than a goal of or for someone in a particular situation. For example, your employer can expect you to always be on time. Within expectations, you see various types. You can have hope that your crush likes you too, you can have the ambition to get a promotion, you can have the demand that you are treated with respect, you can have the life rule that everything must be perfect, it is the norm not to kill anyone and is it a value to be kind to children. 

What are expectations based on?

The feasibility of an expectation is based on two elements: the individual and the state of being. For the individual, you can think of your personality, genes, upbringing, memories and experiences. This together makes you unique as a person and cannot be changed. This is immediately followed by the state you are in. This concerns emotions, physical sensations (e.g. pain or illness), skills, knowledge and external pressures (e.g. working night shifts). These can vary per situation and are therefore changeable. 

Pitfalls 

When you notice that expectations of others or yourself cause a lot of stress, it’s possible that there are a number of pitfalls present: 

• You want or have to meet all expectations. 
• You assume that you should live by expectations instead of expectations being based on you. 
• You think of not achieving a goal or expectation as a personal ‘shortcoming’ or failure. 
• You get stressed by possible ‘shortcomings’, making expectations unnecessarily extra difficult. 
• You find it more important to change yourself than to adjust your goals. 
• Others don’t take the individual or the state into account enough.

What can you do?

If you recognize yourself in one or more pitfalls, that is already the first step toward change. And the solution is actually very simple; because you as an individual cannot be changed, only the state and the expectation itself are left to change. Is the state in order but are you still having trouble meeting expectations? Then the expectation is too big and you’ll have to talk to yourself or someone else to reduce it. Is the state not in order and are you, for example, overtired, and emotional, do you lack skills or knowledge, or are you experiencing drastic private situations? Then you have two options: either you adjust the expectation to your current state (e.g. I have a cold, so I may be 10% less productive today), or you take action to change the state (e.g. I’ll call in sick today so I can be a 100% productive again next week). 

Of course, an expectation doesn’t always have to be completely achievable. The goal is to stay both motivated enough as well as not too stressed. It’s okay to want to do everything perfectly, but it’s also okay to do only some things perfectly. Stay ambitious, but realistic. And remember, not meeting an expectation can never say anything about you as an individual!