Pressure is a Privilege

Ep.77  Pressure is a Privilege

Feeling the weight of responsibility? Good. That means you're in the game.

Jake Fine and Braxston Cave deliver a powerful "quick-hitter" episode that completely reframes how we should view pressure in our lives. Rather than seeing pressure as something negative to avoid, they make a compelling case for why it should be embraced as a privilege.

Braxston breaks down five key perspectives that have transformed his relationship with pressure. First, pressure reveals purpose – you only feel it around things that truly matter to you. Second, pressure is selective – it's given only to those who are trusted, which means someone sees capability in you. Third, preparation transforms pressure from something frightening into powerful fuel. Fourth, true leadership emerges specifically in high-pressure moments when others back away. Finally, from a faith perspective, pressure represents the privilege of being someone others count on when it matters most.

Jake adds that we've been conditioned to see pressure as a red flag when it's actually a sign we're "in the arena" rather than watching from the sidelines. The episode concludes with an empowering reminder that the challenges you face today are actively shaping who you'll become tomorrow. As they put it: "The weight you carry today is creating the person you're supposed to become."

Whether you're facing a deadline, a big decision, or leading others through uncertainty, this episode offers a perspective shift that could transform how you approach life's most demanding moments. Subscribe to Go All In for more quick, actionable insights that help you show up 100% every day.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Pressure as Privilege
• 1:20 Five Key Perspectives on Pressure
• 3:34 Being in the Arena
• 4:34 Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

Welcome back to the Go All In podcast. I'm Jake Fine.

Speaker 2: 0:25

And I'm Braxton Cave, and on today's episode we are going to give you guys another quick hitter episode, and the topic of this one is going to be viewing pressure as a privilege. And so I'm going to give you guys, from my view, you know, five bullet points to ponder, to think about and just give you guys a view into my brain of how I look at pressure. And so the first one to kick us off is I think pressure reveals purpose and I think if you're feeling pressure, it's a sign that you're doing what matters most to you.

Speaker 2: 1:00

There's not too many things where I think there's a deadline or there's a pressure upon you that you feel that if you don't care about it, right, and so no one. You know the thing? I added that no one feels pressure from the sideline. You don't feel pressure when you're sitting on the couch watching TV, right? So that's number one.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Number two is you should take some pride in it, because only the trusted, you know, receive pressure or get pressure and you know you don't give high stakes moments to people that you don't believe in, and so pressure is proof that someone out there believes in you, believes there's something within you. Even if you know you haven't seen it in yourself, someone else sees it, and I think there's a lot of times where you have conversation with people who are like. I think in our last episode Bill Coughlin mentioned like United Airlines saw something in me. Even though I didn't know it at the time, they saw something and that's why they invested in me. Number three is pressure doesn't crush people who are prepared, and I believe preparation builds confidence, and if you train your mind, your body, your habits, pressure just becomes fuel. It's not fear.

Speaker 1: 2:15

It's not a fear factor anymore.

Speaker 2: 2:17

So when someone puts something on your plate that seems like a lot or challenges you, you look at it, that kind of fires you up. It's not like, oh, I'm going to get timid and back away from this. You feel that fire in you to step up to the plate. Number four is leaders are forged under weight and to me, the greatest leaders in history were built in seasons where no one else wanted the responsibility that they were given, where no one else wanted the responsibility that they were given and we've talked about before on the podcast of like.

Speaker 2: 2:47

You know a lot of people will talk about it. I want this, I want that until they get in it and feel what it really takes to get there or to accomplish it, and so my piece on that would be embrace it. Number five is, you know, being a person of faith. You know I would say that it's thank God for the pressure, because it's a privilege to be the one that others look to when it counts. And if you want the rewards, you know you want the accolades, the recognition. You got to be willing to carry the weight, carry the burden. You know, heavy is the head that wears the crown, and so that's my. That would be my top five when it comes to viewing pressure as a privilege.

Speaker 1: 3:34

You hit a lot on the head. Mine's quick. I feel like you know pressure means that you're in the arena and I feel like a lot of people have been. You know we've been taught to avoid pressure like it's a red flag. You know like stress back off. You know Pressure that means something's wrong. But the real truth, you know, pressure means you're being trusted with something important and you know, like you've got a deadline or a big game, you know a room full of people counting on you. That's not a problem, that is a privilege. And you know it means you know, just like what you said. It means you're not on the sidelines, you're in the arena. That's the way I look at it and, like you know, one of the quotes I have, you know, talks about this. I want to say Rummy Hopefully I said the name right. The wound is the place where the light enters you. It really resonates with this topic and yeah, I mean that's all I got for it you know, for this one.

Speaker 2: 4:33

So we'll leave you with this, guys If you're under pressure right now, don't run from it. Rise to the occasion. You're built for this. You know, as Ben Newman says, everything you need is already in you. So the weight you carry today is shaping the leader, the parent, you know, whatever it is, it's creating you into that person that you're supposed to become tomorrow, and so own it and remember that pressure is a privilege. Keep showing up every day, 100%, until next time.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Keep showing up every day 100%.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Until next time.

Speaker 1: 5:07

We're out of here. See you next time, thank you.