Our ability to manage high-stress situations at work depends to a large degree on one specific factor—how we perceive the situation and frame it in our conscious and unconscious minds. The specifics of the situation matter of course, but what matters more is your mindset. Differences in mindset yield dramatically different outcomes in pressured situations. Specifically—whether you perceive the situation to be a challenge you feel equipped to meet (challenge state) or a threat that could potentially sink you (threat state).
Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that your brain and body respond very differently in each of those mental states. Challenge states are associated with adaptive mindsets, positive emotions, improved performance, a more efficient cardiovascular response, better-balanced hormonal responses and more involvement of the prefrontal cortex (responsible for cognitive functions such as impulse control and focus). Threat states, on the other hand, are associated with errors, second-guessing, poorer performance and more leakage of fear, self-consciousness and other distracting emotions.
It’s remarkable that such huge differences are determined based solely on how we perceive and frame the stressful situation, but it highlights how much our experience of stress is determined by our mindset and mental state. Whether you enter a challenge or threat state isn’t determined by an objective assessment of your skillsets in a given (stressful) situation but by your conscious and unconscious feelings, motivations and beliefs about whether you’ll be able to handle that situation well. You can try to manage your conscious feelings and beliefs about the situation to increase your likelihood of entering a challenge state (by telling yourself “You got this!”), but your unconscious perceptions and beliefs could still sabotage you and flip you from challenge into threat.
The challenge-versus-threat theory identifies three factors that determine your mindset: (1) whether you believe you have sufficient resources to succeed (e.g., skillsets, training, support), (2) whether you feel a sense of control in the situation, and (3) whether your primary motivation is to attain a positive outcome (e.g., nail the presentation and impress the boss) or to avoid a negative one (e.g., don’t get nervous and embarrass yourself). Feeling in control and equipped to meet the challenge and being motivated by achievement are associated with a challenge state and enhanced performance. Having an inadequate sense of control, questioning your ability and seeking to avoid a negative outcome are associated with a threat mindset and poorer performance.
Feeling set up to succeed: When you face a stressful situation at work (e.g., high-stakes presentations, meetings and negotiations; conflicts between or within teams or difficult bosses, vendors or coworkers) preparing well is critical because it helps you both practically and psychologically (confidence). Inadequate preparation can make you question whether you have sufficient practice, skills and resources to succeed and thereby predispose you toward a threat state.
Having a sense of control: You don’t always have control over your job. What matters isn’t whether you are in control but whether you feel in control, and the latter is far more attainable than the former. To gain a sense of control in a stressful situation, you need to identify the factors you can determine and focus on them. Job interviews are stressful and unpredictable, but there is much you can still control: your appearance (by what you wear), manner (by inhabiting the role for which you’re interviewing), professionalism (by getting there on time, preparing answers for questions they’re likely to ask you and preparing questions for them that show you did your homework). Focusing on the elements you can influence will make you and your unconscious mind feel more in control and therefore more likely to enter a challenge state.
Motivation to succeed: When you’re motivated to succeed, and you envision the goalpost, you are more likely to charge toward it. For example, if your goal is to wow your boss with your presentation (and you feel prepared and in control), you’re likely to stay focused and go through your deck like a champ. But if midway, your boss starts shifting in her seat and looking out the window, you might worry that she’s getting bored and go into damage control. You then might start rushing through your deck, skipping slides and going off script—none of which are likely to impress her.
There is one occupation in which high-stakes, stressful situations happen so regularly, everyone knows it extremely well—professional athletes. Athletes in all sports learn the psychology behind challenge and threat mindsets and train accordingly. In some sports, like tennis, you can literally see when players struggle to maintain their composure and confidence when they fall behind so they can stay in a challenge mindset. In fact, what separates the greats from the rest is their ability to manage intense pressure without their mindset shifting into a threat state.
Much as athletes do, we too can manage our mindset when we face highly stressful situations at work by putting in the effort to help us feel prepared and in control and by defining attainable successful outcomes. We also need to work on maintaining our mindset when things go poorly, as they invariably do at times, so that one bad stumble at work does not set us up to make another.
When you’re anxious and stressed about a situation at work, it’s important to remind yourself that your conscious thoughts and verbalizations (e.g., “I can’t deal with that”) convey messages to your unconscious mind that could put you in a threat mindset. You therefore need to monitor your internal dialogue, and what you say aloud, so that you don’t allow your worries to set you up for failure. That might sound like an impossible task to many. But it isn’t whether you acknowledge your distress but how you do so that matters. Your unconscious mind is always listening. But you can use that to your advantage.
Excerpted from Mind Over Grind copyright © 2026 by Guy Winch. Reprinted with permission from Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved
