Hendrie Weisinger

The subtitle of Performing Under Pressure by Hendrie Weisinger and J. P. Pawliw-Fry, The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most covers the book's content very well. Clearly distinguishing pressure and stress, both authors dive into pressure management. Nobody performs better under pressure. Decision-making skills suffer from pressure. Performance, judgement, and attention are influenced negatively in both professional and personal areas of life. The authors use many examples from athletes, businessmen, entrepreneurs, musicians, and presenters. Performance Under Pressure draws from a research among 12,000+ people and contains findings from other neuroscience, and psychology. Professor Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow is consistent with these authors' point of view. Counter-intuitive at times, precisely why you're fooled by your own brains when performing under pressure. Besides lots of theory in the first part, the second part of the book offers 22 strategies to reduce pressure and perform better. The third part makes it even more practical by stressing the importance of confidence, optimism, tenacity, and enthusiasm. This completes the acronym COTE of armor to ride with the four horsemen and face life's challenges when it matters most. Some of the personal tests can be done online at www.pressurebook.com.… (meer)

Anyone who presents or performs in public should read this book. It is a scholarly yet very accessible book divided into three sections: part 1 helps you to successfully cope with pressure once you understand how pressure affects how you think, how you choke up, how you apply pressure to others and yourself and when things are stress rather than pressure; part 2 teaches you pressure solutions; part 3 teaches you long-term strategies to manage pressure with confidence. There is an excellent bibliography and index. I received a copy through Goodreads First Reads program in return for a review. If only I had this to read decades ago at the beginning of my career!… (meer)