Monday's Question of the Day - December 21, 2015

Sorry I'm a little late with the question today.  I'm really feeling the pressure with these Christmas preparations today!  I was up till 4 am working on Christmas cards!  Friday night I stayed up till after 4 working on the quilt for DD's new doll bed DH built.  Now I need to manage to sneak out into the garage to put a coat of varnish on the bed.  I still need to sew the mattress, pillows and sheets.  I've also got all my baking to do, all our present wrapping, and clearing off my desk and kitchen table.  Both are catch-alls right now!  

Do you work well under pressure?

I think I do; if it's in my home.  I can be a real procrasinator about things; but once I get in the mode, I get it done!  I wish I could remember his exact words; but I remember a professor; who was head of the art and graphic arts department at my college, saying something about art students the final 15 minutes before final projects and presentations were due.  Basically; that's when we get our best work done.    It's still true!    I also think I tend to be unrealistic about what I put on my plate to do.  

I used to be know as working great while under much stress..and multi-tasking at the same time; however, over the years,  life stresses, the addition of working in a stressful environment, working with demanding, nasty people who were hypercritical; and having a job induced injury, resulting in an end to my career, has pushed me over the edge.. 

I have a hard time dealing with stress now.. sigh

I work really well under pressure.  

I try not to let it get to me too much.  Once I leave the office, I let go.

It depends on what it is.  If it is work that I enjoy or at least don't mind then I do well under pressure.  If it's something that I don't like doing I don't do well.  With things that I really don't like I like to be able to do it in small batches, work on it a little then either take a break or do something else for awhile.  When I have to do one of those things that I really don't like for hours and hours without a break or diversion it does get to me.

I think I work better under pressure at work than I do at home. At work, it needs to be done and it needs to be done by "this time" and it always is. At home, I really tend to put things off til the last minute, largely because I'm doing something else that needs to be done now and then I'm completely stressed out, trying to get it all done at one time. And most of that stress is stress I put on myself (if that makes any sense).

I think cookies are a good example of that. I really planned on making only a couple kinds of cookies this year. And then people said, "Well, what about this cookie?" or "It's not Christmas without that cookie!" and "How can you not make these cookies?" to the point where I don't want to make any cookies at all. I like to bake and I like to bake cookies. But I get to the point where I want to say, "You want this cookie or that cookie? Make it yourself!" But I get them all done, stressing the whole time. It's stress that I put on myself because I don't want to disappoint anybody.

i don't think i work as well under pressure as i do when i'm not under pressure. it has to do with the way my mind works/thinks.

i'm most relaxed and just humming along through getting things done when i've got my 'to do' list written up and i'm working through that. i also am a big believer in not putting off till tomorrow what i can get done (or get started on) today. this prevents 'pile ups', of many things that need doing accumulating...and then they all need doing right now, because i've put them off. also, since i'm just one person and everything here that needs doing gets done by me, i've learned to 'streamline' things so that they're done in the most efficient and time-effective way that i can come up with.

many of my 'projects' turn out best when i've had some time (a few days or so) to ruminate on them. when i do that, i almost always come up with a better way of completing the project. that may be because i'm visually oriented, and work through things by envisioning each possible way and the results/problems that may come up in my mind.

so when i'm under pressure, the things i'm working on generally won't turn out as well as they could have had i not been under pressure while doing them.

At work I think I do. But especially in the "emergency" types of situations at work. I always felt that was when I shined, so to speak.