Coping when under pressure

[Droopy]

How do you cope when under pressure? Do you break down (in terms of functioning) when you are constantly told to hurry up or being rushed?

The more I am rushed, the slower I end up going.

 

[jaws]

I totally agree with you. Generally, I can accomplish more than my peers, but if I'm rushed or my pattern/routine is disrupted it completely ruins my efficiency.

To cope, I do a few different things. First I try to start (say work) earlier or stay later, when it is usually quieter and easier to concentrate. I also try to keep myself in check by keeping my "to-do" list rather small...I find it easier to cope with adding to my list later than not having accomplished what was on the list and having to carry it over. I also try to routine anything I can...I even try to set aside a routine time to handle unexpected things so I don't feel these items are interfering with my plans. I have found that it take some time and stress, but I can usually train the people around me to know that I will do things like return email and call them back etc., but only at specific times. Lastly, I try to keep two things in mind everyday and share these sayings with people I know...1) I'm not in the medical field so nothing you bring to me is a life or death emergency. 2) No matter how badly my day is going it will eventually come to an end.

 

[Sketchy]

1) I'm not in the medical field so nothing you bring to me is a life or death emergency.
2) No matter how badly my day is going it will eventually come to an end.

Those are brilliant!

 

[CJinherPJs]

I've been surprised at times when I've been able to cope under a considerable amount of pressure but that doesn't mean I'm not glad when it's over. :lol2:

 

[KinksFan]

I've been coping under so much pressure in life and on other sites, that I don't know how I'm able to hold myself together as well as I have. There's the odd moment that I'm home, alone that I'll break down and than I tell myself that I've got to get through the rest of the year. I remind myself that everybody is struggling with one thing or another, and I just keep pushing through. It's hard, but I've got to do it.

 

[Billi]

I don't respond to being rushed well. If we are leaving for the grocery store, and my partner is telling me to hurry up, I will leave the house without my wallet, or keys or set the alarm, but forget to lock the door. Unfortunately i am not good at staying organized, so I am often trying to get all my stuff ready at the last moment, plus I get distracted easily which makes me even later, and more rushed. I have not gone to events I wanted to go to, just because I was running late and getting stressed out, and having a hard time concentrating on getting ready. A lot of times I will leave so early that I am waiting around. Last night I went to the meeting of my local bike organization, I got there at 6:55, when the clock turned 7:02 I was convinced I read the date or location wrong and was just about to leave. I was wondering if they had changed it and I missed the email or something. The first person who came in is a very nice guy, and I think he could tell I was concerned that no one else was there on time. He made a joke about how they are always running late.
I can survive under intense pressure, but I am going to pay for it when it's over. Aside from being physically draining, it takes a mental and emotional toll on me. Afterwards I will feel numb, and need to do something quiet and mindless. I need to be alone, or at least left alone.

 

[LgndKllr24]

I don't respond extremely well to pressure at all. I am especially bad with that when I am at work. When I know that something needs to be done, and fast, that is when I have a tendency to make mistakes. I also don't like when I have strict requirements I need to follow because I concentrate more on what the requirements are and not the quality of the work. If I'm given work and not given a lot of demands, I will still get the work done fairly fast and it will most likely be of better quality.

 

[PanPaniscus]

I generally don't work well under pressure, I go all over the place when I'm being rushed.

 

[superboyian]

I generally don't work well under pressure, I go all over the place when I'm being rushed.

This... You would also notice it too as I will start to talk a whole lot faster than I would normally do. :lol2:

 

[Eman]

I'm terrible under pressure at work, but for some reason when I travel and am under more stress I don't mind it as much. Helps that I like travel and dislike work LOL

 

[Gulas]

Much worse is the pressure in the long run.
Example: Pressure to be social, pressure to make money, get a job, establish a career.

These things constantly torment me. A good thing is having somethings that can recharge me, like video-games, a book, music, etc.

 

[Judge]

I often wonder if having a regular, tolerable job would relieve most of my stress. But then I think of all the obstacles of just looking for work which seems to equate to even more stress. So I default to what I'm doing...trying to survive on my own Aspie resources. Where all I have to really worry about is survival.

Yes my friends...it all constantly torments me as well. So I live each day one at a time. I think of the Serenity Prayer a lot.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

 

[King_Oni]

I often wonder if having a regular, tolerable job would relieve most of my stress. But then I think of all the obstacles of just looking for work which seems to equate to even more stress. So I default to what I'm doing...trying to survive on my own Aspie resources. Where all I have to really worry about is survival.

I've tried that route... not neccesarily because I had this aspie label to haul around though (since it was well before I got my diagnosis). But I found that the difficulties I had in school might hold up a good comparison when joining the "regular" workforce and getting a job, even if it would be for a year or so, and eventually returning back to education.

That fell flat on it's face, even though I kept a job for a reasonable amount of time (about 18 months). I was in therapy during my stint in employment since I couldn't deal with a lot of stuff that comes in during employment, and I'm not even talking "job security" since it was a job by a temp agency, thus I was somewhat prepared (and I was also prepared to visit social services for welfare if neccesary). Back then I also had options and I was still elligible for college loans to attempt university a last time if this "job thing" didn't work out.

That all being said, the one job I held for a long time, I didn't even have a formal job interview for. I went to a temp agency during the summer months and told them "I'm attending university, and I need a job through the holidays".. and that's how I got to some company who told me they'd need employees for the foreseeable future and thus I decided to give up a year of potential education for a year of employment. Perhaps I should add, that the one year I was able to hold a job was around 2007/2008, which (at least overhere) was a period of economic growth and an all-time low in unemployment. Makes me wonder if they kept me around no matter how bad I did my job... as long as I showed up and did something halfway decent. I remember there was a lot of extra hours because they just couldn't find more people to hire

The stress with finding a job I've went through though, just for a short period though, since I got back to school and when I dropped out again, I kinda got to social services right away, saw a therapist already and that's kinda how it has been on and off for the past 24+ months.

 

[Spinning Compass]

I don't respond to being rushed well. If we are leaving for the grocery store, and my partner is telling me to hurry up, I will leave the house without my wallet, or keys or set the alarm, but forget to lock the door. Unfortunately i am not good at staying organized, so I am often trying to get all my stuff ready at the last moment, plus I get distracted easily which makes me even later, and more rushed. I have not gone to events I wanted to go to, just because I was running late and getting stressed out, and having a hard time concentrating on getting ready. A lot of times I will leave so early that I am waiting around. Last night I went to the meeting of my local bike organization, I got there at 6:55, when the clock turned 7:02 I was convinced I read the date or location wrong and was just about to leave. I was wondering if they had changed it and I missed the email or something. The first person who came in is a very nice guy, and I think he could tell I was concerned that no one else was there on time. He made a joke about how they are always running late.
I can survive under intense pressure, but I am going to pay for it when it's over. Aside from being physically draining, it takes a mental and emotional toll on me. Afterwards I will feel numb, and need to do something quiet and mindless. I need to be alone, or at least left alone.

That's me exactly! I don't do well being rushed.

Or another situation, I might be in the middle of a very complicated priority project, one that requires me to concentrate, and yet I will be asked to assist another coworker who is struggling with her project to the point where I am interrupted every so many minutes. She can't get her work done and neither can I. Then they wonder why they have quality issues!