#23D. Pressure
How does that bass line go again? Doo doo do dodo do do?
Hi all!
Another interstitial?! Are these even interstitials at this point? Who knows. IF you get bored there’s a little teaser for a new project at the end…
My job has changed a bit recently. That's part of the reason for the interstitials. I've been getting involved in pitching. For those who don't know what that is, it's a meeting set up between two companies. Company A has a problem, Company B claims to be able to solve that problem. In this meeting, Company B tries to convince Company A that this is true.
Regrettably, it is often easier to persuade people that something is true than to actually make it true. So there is a lot of scrutiny. One purpose of this scrutiny to ensure it is so hard to convincingly pretend you have solved the problem that it is actually easier to do it for real than to fake it. So, the more difficult the problem, the more intense the scrutiny has to be.
This is just a small part of sales, but perhaps you can see why salespeople are stereotypically so stressed. I have been getting a little taste of this and it is pretty difficult! Not exactly more difficult than learning to teach, but definitely on a par. I've been struggling with this a bit, and so I did what I sometimes do at these moments — try to figure out what the pros do. How do salespeople deal with the pressure they feel?
So far as I can work out, they don't really have a secret to reducing stress. They do all the normal things — meditation, yoga, deep breathing, spending time with family & friends. But even people who handle stress quite poorly do this. What's the difference?
It clicked for me when I came across a video which went something like this:
Q: What does it mean to perform under pressure in the work that you do?
A: Pressure is something that a high performer puts on themselves. It's what makes you want to win, and excel at what you're doing.
This is the core of something I'd heard before but never really understood — the stress-positive mindset. Some people don't dread stress, they actually think it's great! Perhaps it can wear you down, but so can so many things. I've understood this theoretically for some time, but not managed to internalise.
Another video I watched made the point that "stress comes from inside you; the buyer isn't stressed, it's your own expectations that bring that about."
All of which makes sense for me. I hold myself to very high standards, usually higher than it's possible to reach. On the one hand this does mean I 'achieve' quite a lot, but on the other it means I often don't enjoy the fruits my work and I'm frequently feeling a lot of pressure. I've often felt bad even about this, feeling bad both that I inflict this upon myself willingly, but also afraid to give it up lest I not do the best I'm capable of.
But! If pressure is not intrinsically destructive, but instead a positive force that I apply to myself when and if I want to do great work, I can also decide when I don't want to put myself under stress, when it's not important to me.
So I wrote down in my silver marker I save for special occasions: "I control how much pressure I put on myself." I've been keeping that in mind, and it feels like a useful shift in perspective. That might even be a gold marker one actually. Fucking love those markers, make you feel like a big deal. I should sign contracts with them.
I'm starting another newsletter! I know I know. This is still my main one though. The other will be limited edition and titled Software Archaeology. You can read the teaser here and sign up to get the first letter which is practically written (first draft review from e: "ok first of all this is REALLY cool [...] also the long quote after the barbican walk ways was too long and i also was like ehh what" — so, you know, pretty standard for my writing...)
Stay pressed,
Kay xx