5 Ways to Shift Your View of Pressure
We are all under exorbitant amounts of pressure. Most people spend equally exorbitant amounts of time trying to relieve that pressure, but I don’t see it going away. I don't see myself waking up a few years from now suddenly living in bliss, with no pressure in my life. And so, the best we can do is find ways to live better under pressure.
Pressure can actually be a great thing. I've learned that it produces the best work and creativity in me. It makes me more intentional with my relationships and conversations. It forces me to depend on God because I can't accomplish all that is required of me on a given day without the power of God.
If I remove all the pressure from my life, I've then removed all my favorite parts. I've removed my job, my marriage, the stresses of keeping up with things I love, and a lot of relationships I treasure. So, the goal shouldn't be to get rid of all the stress and pressure in our lives.
What do we do with the pressure, and how do we not dread it?
How do we build a world where we can live with the pressure and actually enjoy our lives?
Well, here are the five ways to shift the way we view pressure and work:
#1 Accept it.
Quit fighting for a world without pressure or stress because that’s not going to happen. If it did happen, it would not be a very meaningful life we live. You want the things that contain stress and pressure because those are often the best things.
Accept that all work is important. I know it's hard to believe that cleaning your breakfast table matters in the grand scheme of things, but it does. Creating thriving spaces allows us to create thriving people. I believe that creating beauty and thriving spaces blesses and ministers to people. So, don't underestimate the power of making simple things beautiful.
Some mundane tasks don't feel significant, but added together over the years, you see committed long-term relationships and thriving. And so, we've got to view our everyday work as a physical investment that will bear fruit over time, even though it may feel insignificant today.
#2 Delegate
You may think this doesn’t apply to you because you work from home or are isolated. Perhaps you’re an introvert and you don’t want to let people into your life.
Remember that we were built to live in community. Look for ways to bring a team into your life.
When I started writing, I didn't have any money. So, bringing people in felt impossible. But I asked for help, even though I couldn't pay people. And it was awesome because people wanted to help. They loved being part of a mission and a story, and we loved being together.
If you are a stay-at-home mom, find a group of other moms and work together. When I was a stay-at-home mom, we would take our kids to each other's houses and clean that person's house together. We even had a cooking club where we all made casseroles and delivered them on Sunday night. I never feel lonely when I look back at those years.
There's a way to do any season of life with people. I work with an office of mostly single girls, and they are the most communal people. They work together all day, have fun at night, and play sports together on weekends. They're always doing life together because they're intentional. They want to be in community and form deep relationships.
Whatever season of life you're in, there are ways to bring a team into that pressure and have fun.
#3 Remember, no pressure means no growth or creativity.
I cannot tell you how strongly I believe in this. I set deadlines for myself, even when I’m not working on a contracted project. I then make myself accountable to a team of people, including my husband. Without a deadline, I am not very creative. I become super lazy and feel like I have nothing to do. So, I have to set deadlines and have a lot of people to keep me accountable because I want to keep moving forward.
Don't be afraid to set your own timeline and pressure. I don’t like that I produce better under pressure, but it works. I usually produce my best stuff when I am under the wire of a contracted deadline because I'm completely fixated on the project. We do tend to wander. So, we sometimes need to create that pressure to ensure that we're getting the best work done.
Creativity grows, blooms, and blossoms under pressure.
#4 Say “get to” instead of “have to.”
This is a theme at IF:Gathering. We noticed ourselves acting a bit like martyrs, especially for people who have really fun jobs. We get to create experiences and tools for women across the world to love God more. And I can’t imagine a better job description than that. But we found ourselves stressed by our job.
IF:Gathering grew faster than we could have imagined. And while that's positive, there were a lot of people to lead. It was a lot of pressure to keep up and build the infrastructure for it to succeed. And so, we realized that we had started to become martyrs to that.
We went to my sister's ranch, called Lost Valley Ranch. It’s an incredible place, and we got to do a staff retreat out there for a few days. The Lost Valley Ranch team sat down with my team every day and had conversations with us. Most of them were college graduates, and they did all the physical tasks around the ranch. I remember asking them how it felt to be cleaning toilets as college graduates, and they said it was an amazing gift.
They appreciated the fact that they got to be part of creating a thriving space for people to grow, relax, and rest. They described what they did as an incredible job. Cleaning toilets and planting flowers was part of it, but they saw it as getting to do it every day rather than having to do it.
We were all so moved by their perspective and walked away with a newfound outlook on our work. We committed to living this way no matter what pressure awaits us. We decided to see ourselves as people who GET to do this. That has shifted the way we view our work. We now realize that we get to be a part of this story, even if that means spreadsheets, possible stressful conflicts, and constant emails.
#5 Treat it like a friend, not an enemy.
Make friends with pressure because life without it would really be a boring waste.
So, don't be afraid of it. You can even seek it out. Many people have the most incredible dreams but never accomplish them because they have not set in place pressures and structures that cause work to flourish.
This isn't you or your personality. This is just the reality of life. If we don't set pressure over some commitments to people, deadlines, and structure for doing the work, then no work will happen.
We're dreaming of this incredible new project that I have believed in and thought about for probably 15 years. As it gets closer to happening, I have a sick feeling about it. And it isn't because it's not supposed to happen. It’s because I know how much work it's going to be. I know that we'll need to hire some people and spend money.
I know that I'm going to feel the weight and pressure of another thing. But I know it's worth it. So, I’m going to press through that sick feeling because I know that God has great purposes for this project and is going to bless a lot of people through it. If I’m too afraid of the pressure to start, I would miss the stories God will build through it. So, don't be afraid of pressure. Take a step into pressure today and see if God doesn't build beautiful things.
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