The Privilege of Pressure
We live in a world of contradictions. One such, is that many people say they want to succeed, grow and reach the highest levels professionally, personally, physically, or financially. Yet, at the same time few seem willing to accept that to achieve those outcomes you have to battle through hard work, pressure, effort, and sustained discomfort, over long periods of time.
We’ve all heard the analogy that diamonds are formed under pressure, yet how many of us are willing to undergo the process in order to come out refined and shining on the other side? Somewhere along the way, potentially due to the myth of overnight or quick successes we’ve become disconnected from the realities of what growth actually demands.
The topic of pressure, hard work, and persistence is one I hold close to my heart but that came into sharper focus recently while reading The Art of Winning by Dan Carter. In the book he devotes a chapter to the idea that pressure is a privilege, not a burden. Whilst finishing up the book I also stumbled across a short clip from Gary Vaynerchuk, where, in his typically blunt fashion, he reminded people of something deceptively simple:
“Every single thing that’s worth it is hard.”
The synergy of these ideas was timely. Every so often especially during periods of stress you can find yourself questioning (or at least I do) whether you’re on the right path. Are you making the right choices with what your prioritising even when it comes with increased stress or pressure? After reflection I always find my way back to the same answer. It’s sometimes reassuring though to hear it echoed from other sources when you need a quick jolt back to focus.
In a world that’s becoming increasingly shaped by convenience, speed and instant gratification over hard work, persistence and patience we often forget some of the basics that create success.
Pressure Isn’t the Enemy
In life, there are of course situations where pressure lands on you through no fault or choice of your own. In most professional, sporting, or performance-driven contexts, however pressure is earned. You find yourself under pressure precisely because you’ve placed yourself in a position where standards are high, expectations matter, and outcomes carry weight.
This doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a rite of passage on the path you’ve chosen to pursue.
In Carter’s world, that pressure showed up on the biggest stages in elite rugby including World Cup finals where everything was on the line. In business, or life more broadly it might look more like making a critical decision, taking responsibility for a team, or carrying accountability for work that has real consequences. In both cases though, be it business or sport the common thread is the same: pressure is a by-product of caring, striving, and stepping into arenas where performance matters.
I particularly enjoyed Carter’s focus on internal state, specifically the ability to manage your mindset under pressure. He describes this through the lens of ‘red head’ versus ‘blue head’ where red head is reactive, emotional, rushed. It’s the spike in heart rate, the narrowing of focus, and the urge to force an outcome. Blue head, by contrast, is composed, clear and deliberate.
The key distinction isn’t avoiding red head altogether, that’s unrealistic for anyone to achieve. Finding yourself in a red state is natural. Anyone who claims they never feel pressure when something meaningful is on the line is either lying or disengaged. The differentiator is the ability to recognise when you’ve tipped into red and to deliberately bring yourself back to blue.
This is a skill developed through exposure to pressure, mindful practice and cultivating the ability to identify and course correct. Without exposure to pressure, you never develop the skill to manage it.
Growth Begins Where Comfort Ends
Carter also touches on the importance of continued evolution, even when you’re already operating at a high level. There’s a clear difference between maintaining comfort and committing to growth. Comfort is static. It’s complacency coming into play. Growth requires intentional discomfort in order to evolve.
Whether it’s pushing into unfamiliar territory at work or taking on demanding physical challenges, the pattern is always the same. Growth doesn’t happen in comfort. It happens when you stretch beyond what feels manageable, face into discomfort, and learn to manage new and challenging situations and experiences.
If you never place yourself in situations that demand composure, discipline, and resilience, you don’t cultivate those traits. Instead, you open yourself up to stagnation. Regardless of how far you’ve already come, if you stop moving forwards then by definition you’re standing still. You may feel calmer day to day, but you’re also capping your full potential. High performance in any domain requires accepting that pressure isn’t an occasional inconvenience, and growth can’t occur without discomfort. They’re a recurring feature of the path.
This, for me, is the essence of treating pressure as a privilege. Being in a position where expectations are high, where standards matter, and where failure carries weight isn’t a curse. It’s a signal that you’re operating in a space worth being in and one that you’ve worked hard to get yourself to.
Hard Work Is the Price of Entry
Gary Vee dropped his point in a short clip where he was almost exasperated at how often he hears the same complaint; ‘it’s hard’
“Love is hard. Relationships are hard. Being healthy and strong is hard. Making money is hard. We have to f*cking fall in love with hard”
There’s no version of a meaningful life that doesn’t involve hardship in some form. I’m not even referring to business or financial success here. Any endeavour for meaning, purpose and fulfilment in life will sit on the other side of some form of hard work or effort. More often than not, the depth of reward correlates with the degree of difficulty you’re willing to face and persist through.
Not everyone will see the work you put in. Not everyone will understand the discomfort you endure, and not everyone will choose that path for themselves. That’s fine. Facing hardship isn’t a prerequisite for living a decent life. It is, however, a prerequisite for achieving exceptional outcomes.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing comfort. There is, however, something wrong with claiming to seek the highest levels of success while being unwilling to commit to the work, focus, patience, and effort required to get there. This is the contradiction that I referenced at the start. You can have one or the other but not both.
Instead of avoiding or resenting difficulty and hard work, learn to embrace it. This isn’t about motivational slogans. Motivation is fleeting, it comes and goes. Hard work requires you to endure when initial motivation subsides.
The real risk in today’s world isn’t that pressure overwhelms us, but that we’re becoming increasingly intolerant of it. When we default to comfort, convenience, and immediacy, we rob ourselves of the very experiences that allow us to grow, develop, and evolve into the next iteration of ourselves.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re serious about growth, whether in business, fitness, or life more broadly, pressure isn’t something to eliminate. It’s something to learn to manage. Difficulty isn’t something to complain about, it’s something to respect.
‘Being comfortable with being uncomfortable’ has become a cliché because it’s repeated so often in motivational videos, but clichés usually exist for a reason. Being comfortable with discomfort forces you to step outside familiar ground, regulate yourself under stress, and keep showing up long after the novelty has worn off. Showing up when everyone’s watching is hard enough but showing up when no one’s watching is even harder.
A friend once said of me, “Ben has a propensity to keep going through the suck.” Strangely or not, I took that as a compliment. It captured quite succinctly a quality that’s served me well over the years, particularly in physical and professional pursuits. The path towards progress isn’t always glamorous. More often, it’s uncomfortable, lonely and quiet at times, and invisible for long stretches.
Pressure is a privilege. It’s a signal that you’re playing a meaningful game, be it sport, business or the game of life. Hopefully we can all learn to embrace and reap the rewards that lie on the other side.