Calm Under Pressure

“PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR” I said with calm, but incredibly focused determination. And she did. Immediately. Thank God!

What happened? I was standing outside the door of my friend’s car, with my hand in a precarious spot.  Seemed okay while we were talking. Until she shut the door. The pain was excruciating. Yep, several fingers were trapped in the door jam. 

If you would have asked me what I’d do in this circumstance, I’d tell you there would be an immediate set of words that I cannot type in this article, but they look something this: “!#&$! And “*%$#!@!. Yes, that’s what I’d say.

And if I had said that, how would she have responded? She would have freaked out, and I’d probably scream more of the same words, she’d freak out more, and well, you get what I’m saying – my fingers would still be in the door. Not good.

But I didn’t. I said calmly and very determined, “PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR.” And she immediately opened it. Only then did I tell her what happened.

Interviewing former Navy Seal Commander Jocko Willink, Tim Ferriss asked him how he handled the extreme nature of combat situations. Jocko offered his classic silent pause and then succinctly answered that he would mentally remove himself and calmly assess the situation to determine the best course of action.  This would happen almost instantaneously and would be impossible if he hadn’t developed the skill of managing calm under pressure.

You see, this guy was uniquely, physically equipped, and skilled for battle and had mentally prepared thousands of times over countless scenarios, but still needed to be able to think clearly, in the heat of the moment. Heart rate explodes, blood and oxygen are directed to the muscles for fight or flight. Adrenaline spikes.

And the brain is starved. Unless your Jocko or someone who’s learned to remain calm under pressure.

Reflecting back years later, I was pretty pleased with my reaction. I was calm under pressure.

Next time you have a stressful situation – something goes wrong, a person is a jerk, the tire blows out, or like us, recently, your pipe bursts. Do remain calm under pressure?

I recommend it.