In my opinion, the ability to withstand stress is one of the most lacking skills in the contemporary workplace.
Alan Draper pointed “statistics show that as of September 2022, over a third of U.S. employees (36%) felt a moderate level of burnout (Statista, 2022a).”
Why? Because with the continuous improvement of material living standards, many people grew up in greenhouses that have never experienced a storm.
When food comes to the mouth, clothes come to the hand, and even the dormitory cleaning on the first day of college, others have to do it for you. The biggest setback in life may be “failure in the exam”, and then there are people who comfort you by saying “you have worked very hard”.
The biggest characteristic of children who grow up in such a sunny environment is that they have a fragile mind and low ability to withstand stress. When encountering anything, their first instinct is to look for excuses from the outside world instead of looking for reasons within themselves.
From my observation, some children like to say “Why am I so unlucky” when they were young.
[Because I was in a hurry, I forgot to bring my Chinese textbook. ——”Why am I so unlucky?”
Because I was distracted, I was criticized by the teacher in class. ——”Why am I so unlucky?”]
They often only focus on bad results, and subconsciously ignore that the result is not “luck” or even “fate”, but their own insufficient efforts.
But people will have to come out of the greenhouse one day. In the long journey of life, failure and setbacks are the main theme. When you enter the workplace and lose the protection of your family, when you officially face the storm, people who grew up in different environments will have completely different behaviors in an instant.
Take a colleague of mine who is a fresh graduate as an example. His biggest problem at that time was that he could not listen to other people’s objections or criticisms, even if that person was his boss.
Every time he makes a mistake and is pointed out by others, his first subconscious reaction is to find reasons to prove that “this is not my problem” or to prove that “this is not a mistake” to prove that the boss’s criticism is actually unreasonable.
The second reaction is to fall into the negative emotions of being criticized and never get out of it, because they have never been criticized since they were child and don’t know how to deal with such negative emotions.
The third reaction was to bring negative emotions into work, and even once took leave from work because of this emotional problem. Rather than “Okay, I know I was wrong, I will correct it next time”, accept criticism from others and accept your immature self calmly.
There is another example.
Once a senior colleague and a new colleague were on a business trip and made an appointment to wait at the light rail station at 9 o’clock. As a result, the new colleague was too excited and couldn’t get out of bed the next day because it was his first business trip. When he suddenly woke up and rushed to the light rail station, the train had already departed.
Under normal circumstances, what should we do when we encounter this kind of thing?
First, call your boss immediately to report the situation.
Second, find a remedy immediately, whether it’s taking the next light rail, taking a bus, or even taking a taxi.
Third, if there is really no remedy, go back to the company and continue working.
But the newcomer colleagues chose a method that no one had thought of.
He didn’t call or reply to messages. He just stayed in a daze at the light rail station for two hours and then went home.
Later, I asked him why he didn’t reply to the message, and he said that he “didn’t know what to say.” When asked why he went home, he said that he “went all the way to the light rail station and was sweating, so he went home to take a shower.” A jaw-dropping operation.
The reason for the above two cases is that when the results of the outside world are different from one’s own expectations, this difference brings about cognitive tearing and a strong sense of oppression, out of the fear of oppression, and finally chose to escape.
In the final analysis, it is the lack of ability to withstand stress.
Many fresh graduates often say that companies don’t hire them because they have no work experience, but if they don’t hire them, how can they get work experience.
But in fact, is it really because companies don’t tend to hire fresh graduates because they have no work experience?
Even if it is, it is more likely because there is no experience of being “beaten by society” and no experience of self-emotional regulation under pressure.
After all, work skills can be taught, but what can companies do about emotional and mental problems?
Yes, there is actually nothing companies can do to train employees to cope with stress.
Because most companies often simply and rudely ask you to “face the difficulties”, but this approach is often not advisable.
I think that for people who have grown up in a greenhouse for the first twenty years of their lives, it is useless to rely on the external power of the company to improve their ability to withstand stress, and it is not very useful to deliberately “face difficulties”. Meaning, you can only rely on yourself.
How can you rely on yourself? There are few key words: gradually adapt and cultivate self-confidence.
Why do we feel stressed at work?
First, I have never done this work and am confused about how to implement it.
Second, I am not good at this job and have no expectations for work results.
To put it simply, this job is not within my comfort zone. Imagine if our job was just to stamp documents, would there be any pressure?
In psychological research, people’s cognition of the external world is divided into comfort zones, learning zones and panic zones. Most of the pressure that can crush people generally comes from the panic zone.
However, the sizes of different areas are different for each person. It is not that people with strong stress resistance will not be overwhelmed by pressure, but that their panic zones are farther away.
Alan Draper also gave his 10 tips as to our conclusion.
1. Remain Calm, Always
2. Stay Focused on What Needs To Be Accomplished
3. How To Deal with Pressure by Helping Others
4. Sidestep the Drama and Stay Positive
5. Get Help If You Need It
6. Watch Your Caffeine to Handle Pressure
7. Take Breaks
8. Plan Vacations to Learn How Can You Handle Pressure at Work
9. Take On Big Projects
10. Avoid Letting Your Stress Show Too Much
When a person gradually begins to have more and more confidence in the work he is doing, he will naturally no longer feel the pressure that may overwhelm him at any time.

Alan Draper. 2023. How Do You Handle Pressure at Work? 10 Ways to Show It Off. Business 2 Community. Read on 7/3/2024. https://www.business2community.com/human-resources/10-ways-to-show-your-ability-to-handle-pressure-at-work-01316198