Under Pressure

I’m not sure if you like golf, but history was made in April when Rory McIlroy completed golf’s grand slam by winning The Masters golf tournament.  In his career he has now won all four major golf tournaments at least once, something only 5 other golfers have ever done.  Rory may or may not have shown coolness under pressure, as he missed a fairly easy putt on hole 18 that led to a playoff that he eventually won.   This got me thinking about how we all feel nervous at some point in our lives.  Public speaking is ranked as a bigger fear than death, and I’m sure many of us have felt those nerves when we have to give a talk in public.  How is it that this nervousness can sneak up on us, often quickly.  Pressure is a tough thing to handle, and it sure doesn’t feel good.

Some of the greatest athletes of our time have shown this coolness under pressure.  It seems that some of them may even enjoy the pressure of the experience.  I think back to Michael Jordan hitting game winning shots in the 1990’s, Kirk Gibson hitting a famous home run in the 1988 World Series, Tom Brady and the Patriots coming back from a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl LI.  Sports may be just a game, but they are an interesting example of human behavior.  Some can handle the pressure, some thrive under it, and some crumble.  I was glad Rory pulled it out.     

I was reading a book recently about John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest people in history who lived in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  He is often credited with his sangfroid (bonus points if you can pronounce that correctly), which essentially is the ability to stay calm under pressure.  Through many financial crises in his lifetime, he was able to “keep his head while others were losing their shirts.”   In hindsight it’s easy to say, “well he had lots of money so that’s easy,” but I’m not so sure how easy it was.  But it seems to me that this sangfroid is something we could all use a little more of, especially in an uncertain world.  I wonder if I can buy sangfroid on Amazon?   

I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but I would suspect that like most things in life, it takes some discipline and practice.  When things get crazy in life, do we allow our emotions to take over?  Or do we try to remain calm and think through the situation?  Are we quick to give up and figure that nothing can be done, or do we take a moment to think, to really think, about potential solutions or options.  Do we seek wise counsel from others who have this trait?  Have we trained ourselves to be resilient?  I know many of our residents are resilient, after all, you don’t live to 108, or 98, or even 88, if you don’t have some resilience (yes we do have someone who reached 108).  Maybe some of this is found in those old-fashioned values of discipline, resiliency, and patience, and if you’re from New England, stubbornness.  We could all use a little more sangfroid. 

“He could keep his head while he was losing his shirt.”

Ryan Holiday on John D. Rockefeller