Acting under high pressure/stress situations
Today I read an interesting article in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Ausgabe vom
21.Juni 2009, Seite 2 der Beilage “Leben”) about how young people are living
a life of high expectations and high pressure that they put themselves under,
and how this might pose a danger to society.
What I think though is that it is quite feasible and possible to teach
individuals how to act under high preassure without burning out. Actually I even
believe that this skill will become essential in our society sooner rather than
later, and a standard school curriculum should include such topics. Also, like
reading and writing, a skill that is recognized as widely essential to be able
to function as part of our society, stress manegement is skill that can be
applied universially to many many situations. Just think of it, what are
sitatuions that invoke the feeling of stress and pressure? Situations where we
are overwhelmed, where our skill set is incomplete, or situations that we are
unfamiliar with.
Learning how to deal with such sitations is not a skill that persons are born
with, they can be taught and learned, just like reading, writing and math. Just
like anything human beings do actually.
And also, this knowledge is not really secret or obscure, or needs any research.
Professions and groups that are dealing with high stress situations on a
regular basis developed curriculums to prepare their applicatiants long, long
ago. Just think of military services, police and special forces, but also
firefighters, pilots etc.
Learning to act in high stress situations is probably best thought through a
combination of theoretical foundations and practical experiences, and once you
start to understand the basics its actually quite a lot of fun. 
Cheers
-Richard
PS.: I will bring my copy of the article to the Zeitsparwerk for you to read.
Tags Rant, Science
June 21st, 2009 at 14:26
But why do we need so much stress and such an achievement-oriented attitude as a cornerstone of our society in the first place? Austria is one of the most goal-driven, masculine societies in the world and has the fourth-highest suicide rate for people between 15 and 35 in the world. Here in Sweden, the sun barely shines between October and April, the weather really sucks, everybody is depressed during half of the year and nevertheless Sweden only ranks 10th-13th in the suicide statistics (see for instance).
There is a certain, not-too-low percentage of people who will never learn to full cope with the tremendous amount of pressure posed upon them - why not strive for a more cooperation- and relationship based society like the Nordics have? One where not only achievement (no matter how it was reached) counts. Weak people - either in terms of skills or psyche - are often treated as relatively “unworthy” in Austria. Austrian society sometimes really sucks with respect to that.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:01
Because its fun? People are seeking thrills, they go bungee jumping, skiing, downhill biking climbing, etc. to expose themselves to thrill and adventure voluntary in their free time.
Also as soon as you learn basic strategies and skills, you start to have a choice, you do not have to expose yourself to stress anymore, unless you decide to do so.
I do agree though that nordic societies do indeed have their advantages
, but never the less, I prefer to stay a thrill-seeker for now.
Cheers
-Richard
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:04
PS.: Thanks for linking this statistic, and interestingly enough, Finland is leading the pack, we have to talk about Finland one day.
June 22nd, 2009 at 20:17
Yeah, *some* people are thrill-seekers, others collapse under pressure.
I agree, that you can do a certain amount of training, but as with many talents a large portion of pressure-sustaining is a thing that comes with birth. I forgot to mention that I actually find your idea good, if it is not the only measure that is taken. I, for one, are against an elbow and achievement-only society and want to question that in principle. Because it can never be fully abandoned and pressure can come to effect in a lot of situations, it is also a tremendously good idea to teach people how to deal with it. You would just have to do it right and not make it one of these useless soft skill thingies.
People in Finland are different, just like the Hungarians (same ethnic origin), they seem to have some melancholy incorporated in their common spirit.