Grace. The word or name conjures up wonderful feelings of spirituality, humility and beauty.

It also reminds me of the importance of having grace under pressure.

In my professional and personal life I have endured many high stress situations and events.

Working in crisis communication for example meant always expecting the unexpected, and sometimes horrible things happened and you had to be one to keep your cool and put appropriate words to it.

I’ve always been great at handling the BIG STUFF pressure and handling it with aplomb.

However it’s everyday pressure I’m not great with.

When small things happen that trigger my dominant personality traits, my instant reaction is to…react.

I don’t like the feeling that I may miss a deadline, or won’t deliver on something I promised or to the standard I wished, despite the fact I never miss a due date and my work is always high quality.

This perceived fear is my danger zone.

So when I’m up against delivery I tend to get more extroverted (I have to let everyone know I’m up against it), and that is not when I adopt extreme laser focus beyond all reason and become totally intolerant of interruptions.

Not pleasant I know.

Coping mechanisms perhaps. Learnt behaviours maybe. The good news is that I am a lot more aware of my reactions and can temper them more quickly or avoid them all together at times.

My ultimate goal though is to always act with grace under all types pressure. To be elegant and show great restraint under even the most trying circumstances.

I’m going to be that duck on the pond—above the water it all looks to be gliding smoothly, although underwater those legs are going a million miles an hour. Better yet…I’ll be a swan.

‘Grace’ is today’s word out of the jar. Read more about my .