Dealing With Pressure at Work

Dealing With Pressure at Work

By Mark Wager

It’s January, the holidays are over, the offices are full again, and for many people the emotional hangover of the new year is starting to bite. The emails have piled up, meetings are back-to-back, and the expectations that were quietly paused in December are suddenly back in full force. Over the last week or so, a phrase I’ve heard repeatedly from clients I coach  is: “I didn’t realise how much I needed that break until I came back.” Closely followed by: “I’m worried about the pressure this year.” If that resonates, you’re not alone. The return to the office in 2026 hasn’t reduced pressure for most people — in many cases, it has intensified it. Hybrid working has blurred boundaries, workloads have crept up, and many organisations have quietly assumed that being physically present again means people can simply absorb more. The good news is this: pressure itself is not the enemy. How we interpret it, respond to it, and manage it is what determines whether it sharpens us or slowly wears us down.

Pressure Isn’t the Problem — Our Reaction Is

Pressure often gets treated as something inherently negative, something to eliminate. In reality, pressure is neutral. It is simply a demand placed on us. The real issue is how our nervous system, our thinking patterns, and our habits respond to that demand. Some people experience pressure as a signal to focus, prioritise, and perform. Others experience it as a threat — something that triggers anxiety, overthinking, withdrawal, or people-pleasing. Neither response is a moral failing; they are learned patterns.

The danger comes when pressure becomes constant and unmanaged. When everything feels urgent, when there’s no recovery time, and when people feel they have no control, pressure turns into chronic stress. That’s when performance drops, mistakes increase, and wellbeing erodes. The aim isn’t to remove pressure from work. The aim is to develop a healthier relationship with it.

Focus Relentlessly on What You Can Control

One of the fastest ways pressure spirals is when we mentally wrestle with things outside our control: senior leadership decisions, staffing shortages, market conditions, office politics, or shifting priorities.

This doesn’t mean those things don’t matter — they do — but mentally living in that space drains energy without producing solutions.

A useful reset is to ask yourself three simple questions:

• What is genuinely within my control today?
• What can I influence, even if I can’t fully control it?
• What is completely outside my control and needs to be mentally parked?

Your time, effort, preparation, communication, and boundaries sit firmly in the first category. When people under pressure regain a sense of agency — even in small ways — anxiety tends to reduce. The mind relaxes when it feels there is a plan.  Your brain doesn’t want you to suffer. It wants clarity and direction. Giving it something practical to work on often calms the emotional noise.

Take Full Responsibility for Your Own Welfare

One of the patterns I see most often in leaders and high performers is this: they are exceptional at looking after everyone else and terrible at looking after themselves. They monitor team morale, pick up slack, cover gaps, smooth tensions, and shield others from pressure — while quietly absorbing more and more themselves. Over time, resentment builds, energy drops, and motivation fades. Your wellbeing is not something you can outsource to your organisation, your manager, or your team. Support helps, but responsibility sits with you.

This isn’t selfish. It’s sustainable leadership.

Ask yourself honestly:

• Am I sleeping enough?
• Am I eating properly during the workday?
• Am I taking breaks, or just changing tasks?
• Am I exercising, even lightly?
• Do I have any form of emotional outlet?

If the answer to most of these is “no”, pressure will feel heavier than it needs to be. No mindset technique can compensate for chronic depletion.

Don’t Stay Silent When Pressure Is Rising

Silence is one of the most damaging responses to pressure, particularly in professional environments. Many people stay quiet because they don’t want to appear incompetent, difficult, or unable to cope. The irony is that silence rarely protects you. It often leads to unrealistic expectations being locked in, workloads becoming normalised, and stress being misinterpreted as capability. Speaking up doesn’t mean complaining or offloading emotionally. It means clearly articulating facts:

• What you’re responsible for
• What capacity you realistically have
• What trade-offs are being made

Pressure becomes far more manageable when it is visible. Once it’s named, it can be negotiated. Unspoken pressure, on the other hand, tends to grow in the dark.

Keep Perspective: Work Is Important, But It Isn’t Everything

I live near a graveyard. It’s a quiet place, but also a sobering one. When you walk past the headstones, you start to notice a pattern. They don’t say “beloved employee”. They don’t say “outstanding performer” or “met all deadlines”. They say beloved father, beloved mother, beloved son, beloved daughter, beloved husband, beloved wife. That perspective matters — especially for people who care deeply about their work. Pressure becomes consuming when work quietly becomes the primary measure of self-worth. We work to live. We do not live to work.

This doesn’t mean lowering standards or disengaging. It means remembering that your job is one part of your identity, not the sum of it. When pressure starts to feel overwhelming, zooming out — even briefly — can reduce its emotional intensity.

If You’re Saying Yes, Ask Yourself What You’re Saying No To

Pressure often enters our lives through good intentions. Saying yes to extra work, extra responsibility, or extra availability can feel helpful, loyal, or career-enhancing. But every yes has a cost.

If you’re saying yes to more work, what are you saying no to?

• Recovery?
• Focus?
• Family time?
• Health?
• Strategic thinking?

The answer should never be “I’ll just work longer hours.” That doesn’t solve pressure; it postpones it. Eventually, the bill arrives — usually in the form of exhaustion, irritability, or declining performance. Sustainable performance comes from prioritisation, not endurance.

Diagnose the Real Source of the Pressure

When people feel overwhelmed, they often personalise the problem. They assume they’re not coping, not organised enough, or not good enough. In reality, pressure usually comes from one of three places:

A skills issue

Do you genuinely lack the skills, experience, or clarity to do what’s being asked? If so, pressure is a signal for training, coaching, or support — not self-criticism.

A process issue

Is the way work flows inefficient, unclear, or constantly changing? Poor processes create invisible pressure because people spend energy navigating confusion rather than producing outcomes.

A resource issue

Are there simply not enough people, time, or tools to do the work well? No amount of personal resilience fixes systemic under-resourcing.

Understanding which of these is driving your pressure changes the conversation completely. It moves it from “I’m failing” to “Something here needs to change.”

Create Small Recovery Points During the Day

Many people associate recovery with holidays or long breaks, but pressure is far easier to manage when recovery is built into the day. This doesn’t require dramatic lifestyle changes. Small, intentional pauses matter:

• Stepping outside for five minutes
• Taking lunch away from your desk
• Slowing your breathing before a difficult conversation
• Creating meeting-free blocks for focused work

Recovery isn’t laziness. It’s how the nervous system resets. Without it, pressure accumulates and eventually spills over.

A Thought for 2026

Returning to the office has reintroduced structure, visibility, and connection — but it has also reintroduced pressure in very human ways. The challenge for 2026 isn’t to become tougher or more resilient at any cost. It’s to become more intentional. Pressure doesn’t disappear when we ignore it. It transforms when we understand it, manage it, and respond to it consciously.

If this year already feels heavy, take that as information — not as a judgement about your capability. Your mind is signalling that something needs attention, clarity, or adjustment. Pressure handled well sharpens performance. Pressure handled poorly drains life from work. The difference lies not in how much pressure you face — but in how you choose to meet it.