#150: Pressure Is a Privilege

Lauren - I ironically had a very strangely similar conversation with my older sister a couple weeks ago. At first we were talking about the stress we were dealing with from grad school (me) and the business world (her). After some anxious back and forth venting, the conversation went a different direction. We began discussing how being stressed out can actually be sourced from a place of privilege... My sister mentioned how her biggest fear may be losing her job because her passions and values align so strongly with the company she's currently at, and it would be so troubling to have to move somewhere else. But to be in the position to have this distress at all is an entitlement in its own. Perhaps it is a gift to have decision-making power for yourself to choose a job that is challenging yet rewarding and potentially aligns with your true self. Thanks for sharing this and for the gentle reminder, Lauren.  

- Amanda

Pressure is a Privilege

If you were to walk out onto the court of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open, you would pass a plaque with a quote from the tennis legend Billie Jean King: “Pressure is a privilege.”

This is what I told my sister the other week over the phone: pressure is a privilege. She recently started a new operations role at a big financial services company and has been feeling extremely anxious about the job. One small mistake could have ripple effects for her boss, her coworkers, or clients. Even though she is not necessarily “high up” in the company, she holds a lot of power over choices that need to be made.

I thought back to when I started playing tennis when I was in grade school. The reason why I fell in love with tennis was because it was just you on the court and no one else. Every victory – and every ball that hit the net and went limp – was no one’s doing but your own. I liked the black and whiteness of it. But that pressure was a privilege…because it meant I had power.

So that is what I tried to explain to my sister. Every time you feel pressure, it is and indicator that you have power over something, even a seemingly small thing. And this not necessarily a bad thing at all.

I don’t know if it helped her. It’s certainly always hard to see a upside when you are blinded by extreme stress. But I hope that she will come to see that pressure often indicates that your work has meaning, that its outcome will not just go echoing into some void, but rather will directly impact someone – and knowing my sister’s incredibly hard work ethic – certainly for the better.