Performing better under pressure: What I have learned about staying clear when it counts 

I spend a lot of time thinking about pressure, not as a concept, but as something you feel in real environments where the clock is moving and the expectation is that you still get it right. 

Most people assume pressure is something you either cope with or you don’t. I don’t really buy that. 

What I saw in my time as a frontline Police Officer is that pressure doesn’t just test performance, it quietly changes it. It shifts how people think, how they interpret information, and how quickly they move from analysis to action. And the interesting part is, most of it happens without people realising. 

I see a very similar thing in accounting. 

It just looks more controlled on the surface. 

Month end close, reporting cycles, audits, tax deadlines. Everything has to be accurate, clean, compliant, on time. There is no real room for “I’ll come back to that later.” So people adapt. They get faster. They get sharper. They learn to carry more in their head at once. 

But pressure still sits underneath all of that. 

And what I’ve found is this. In high-pressure professional environments, performance doesn’t usually break because people don’t know what to do. It shifts because pressure changes how clearly they can think about what they already know. 

You see it in small ways. Over checking. Rushing decisions. Second guessing something that was originally right. Or sometimes the opposite, sticking with something too long because there isn’t space to step back and reassess. 

None of that is about capability. It’s about cognitive load under pressure. 

The part I think is worth paying attention to, especially in accounting teams, is that pressure is often worn like a badge of professionalism. Being busy, being under time pressure, being in “busy season” becomes normalised. But normalised doesn’t mean neutral. It still has an effect on how decisions are made and how people communicate under strain. 

One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve come across is that high performance is about pushing harder under pressure. In reality, most people are already at capacity before they realise it. 

So the question isn’t really about how we “cope” with pressure. It’s about what we actually do in those moments when it hits and we still have to perform. 

In my experience, those moments don’t wait for perfect thinking. You don’t get extra time to reset. You have to work with what you’ve got, in real time, while everything is still moving. 

That is where performance really shifts. Not in theory. Not in calm conditions. But in the practical tools you rely on when things are fast, uncertain, and decisions still have to be made. 

And that’s the part I think is often missing in how we talk about pressure in professional environments. It’s not just about understanding it or just merely coping. It’s about having something you can actually use when it shows up. 

That’s the space I spend my time in. The tools I had to develop when there was no room for hesitation. The ones that helped me make decisions under pressure when there was no option to step back and reset. 

And importantly, they are not exclusive to high-risk environments. They are transferable. They can be taught, practised, and applied in any role where pressure and performance collide. 

That’s what I explore in my work, and what I bring into organisations where the expectation is simple. Get it right, under pressure, when it matters most. 

Rob Hosking is taking to the stage for ‘999: How do we perform better under pressure‘, at 3.20pm, 13 May at Theatre 5 – Orbit Keynote Stage.

Register for your free ticket here.

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