Performing Under Pressure Quotes

“I’ve done it before. I can do it again” is the mantra of this pressure solution.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“These small wins matter more because they are so much more likely to occur compared to the big break-throughs in the world. If we only waited for the big wins, we would be waiting a long time. And we would probably quit long before we saw anything tangible come to fruition. What you need instead of big wins is simply the forward momentum that small wins bring.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Next, think about likely questions or interruptions, and rehearse your responses. Then think of additional questions or interruptions, and how you would handle them.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“But we now know that even small victories, or micro-successes—a productive conversation with your boss, or a positive phone call with a client, a compliment from a colleague or friend—can have the same impact. They stimulate the winner effect, causing the release of testosterone and dopamine, which in turn build confidence.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Testosterone has another important effect: It increases levels of dopamine, the feel-good chemical in the brain that mediates the reward network. Pay raises, compliments, sex, experiencing any kind of success—all result in increased levels of dopamine in the brain.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Feeling challenged is an inherent performance steroid—your body releases more adrenaline than noradrenaline, which means the smooth muscle in your blood vessels dilate, as do your your lungs, and now you have more oxygenated blood going to the tissues that need it. Your body has more energy and your brain can think more clearly.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“There’s no pressure. It is going to be fun, a great game, and I look forward to meeting the challenge.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“The philosopher Epictetus said more than two thousand years ago, “Man is not troubled by events but rather how he interprets them.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“The pressure to get Toy Story 2 successfully made was not the high pressure of a single moment, like giving a speech or competing in a musical competition or sporting event. It was an intense, long-lasting pressure that wore people down. And it came immediately following the three-year grind of making of A Bug’s Life, which was ten times as complex as the original Toy Story.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Ed Catmull says, “Toy Story 2 was the defining moment for our studio.… People and how they work together is more important than ideas. They [other companies] could copy our technology but they couldn’t copy our team.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Employees are not productive because they are satisfied; they are satisfied because they are productive. High satisfaction is the result of high performance, not the cause of it.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Individuals who can perform under pressure appraise the criticism as information that can help them. In”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“you believe that the only way to be successful in a pressure situation is to perform better than you ever have performed before—that is, to be perfect—you stop trusting your capabilities, and worse, you start doing things that do not help you succeed. You”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Time pressure may drive people to get more done, but it causes them to think less creatively.” This same effect can be seen in teams.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“time (and other) pressure might make you feel more creative, but it does not help you do higher-quality work. In”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“you’ve heard that some people at work do more creative work, are more productive, work better as a team, or add more value to a client under pressure. But it’s not true. Moreover,”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Whether you come in first or last, you’re still my horse!”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“loss aversion creates the behavior commonly known as “playing not to lose,” instead of playing to win. How”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“It is not the event that causes our reactions but rather how we interpret the event, which makes us either confident or anxious.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“teams facing significant performance pressure tend to default to high-status members at the expense of the most knowledgeable of the team members.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“you can lose a competition and not choke, just like you can give a great presentation and not get the job. Choking has more to do with the effects of pressure on performance than on the outcome.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Your natural tools are your thoughts, physiological responses, body movements, voice, and senses. They determine how you handle pressure, regardless of your level of expertise, abilities, or good intentions. People”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“when teams face significant performance pressure, they tend to defer to high-status members, at the expense of using expert team members.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Like a beta-blocker, confidence acts as a neurochemical antidote that allows them—allows each of us—to move forward even when we are feeling the physical and psychological manifestations of pressure.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Rework the basics. Your initial presentation will result in a sequence or series of steps: To really know your stuff, change the order. Start with step 5 and work backward. Skip a couple of steps. Rehearsing the material in a different order helps to reinforce your knowledge of the material.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“Practice the basics. Run through your presentation again and again. Make sure you know it cold, so you can perform it on autopilot; that way you can turn some of your focus to reading the room instead of having to think about every word you are saying.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“By achieving these small goals you can use the winner effect to gain momentum on achieving bigger goals. Essentially you feel more confident.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“The important takeaway is to know that you don’t have to wait until you win something to access the winner effect: You can do it in any moment by engaging and getting proficient at mental rehearsal or visualization.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“But it is our perception of success that has the biggest hit on this part of our brain. When dopamine levels are high, they engage our frontal cortex, where are our “executive function” exists.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

“One is that they allow the individual to create a mental model of perfect performance that shows what ideal execution looks like. The individual can then use this covert model to guide performance. Another is that visualization reduces performance anxiety, allowing the individual to successfully deal with unexpected or troublesome situations.”
― Hendrie Weisinger, Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most