Learn to use pressure to advantage
BE INSPIRED: Andrew Wittman, The Mental Toughness Training Centre
What do you do?
WE WORK with law enforcement, military and corporations teaching resilience. People think resilience is about coming back from something difficult but you can be proactive to take control of your thoughts and attitudes while under pressure. That boardroom of body, mind and emotions, we teach people the science to get it to work to their advantage rather than disadvantage.
about pressure?
It started in Australia. I was the fat kid in high school that was bullied. Two guys helped me – they introduced me to the warrior culture and how to not live in fear and anxiety. I left here and went to the US and joined the Marine Corps. I became a special agent and protected Hillary Clinton. The stakes are even higher when you have this high-ranking official you have to protect as well as yourself. I then moved to the State Department and was training SEALs, Marines and special forces, running missions in the Middle East and Kosovo.
How can pressure work in someone’s favour?
Once you can tap into it, you can use it in any situation. We teach the difference between fact and truth. Truth is our perception of the fact. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, stress and pressure is the same. I choose to look at it as my rocket fuel. It makes me focused and is never detrimental. It’s all about perception and how you choose to look at it. stress – such as being asked to shorten a deadline or add an extra task to an already overcrowded schedule – Wittman recommends adhering to “the two-minute rule”.
“Suspend your disbelief for two minutes,” he says. “Say to yourself ‘OK it’s impossible but if it were possible, how would I do it?’ Your brain is the original search engine – if you ask a bad question you are going to get a bad answer.
“Instead of asking ‘Why am I so stressed out?’ a better question would be ‘How can I handle pressure better?’.
“It’s subtle but it makes a huge difference.
“The body acts the same way in combat as in traffic so you need to learn how to get this under control.”