At the time of this article, I have just come through one of the busiest times of my life. My business is thriving, new opportunities are opening up to me and I am in the middle of releasing another major project. 

I can truly say that this is the greatest season of my life. While my life is great today, I was talking with a friend recently and recalling the years when it seemed like my life was falling apart, I felt like a failure and it just seemed like I was in a hopeless position. 

This does not sound like the making of a success story. However, I look back on that time in my life now with a profound sense of appreciation. I realize now that adversity is a master teacher that matured and developed me for my moment of greatness. 

If you will embrace adversity with a different perspective, you can engineer adversity for your victory and for your success. 

These insights will shift your perspective on pressure and its role in your journey. 

1. No one on this planet is exempt from pressure. 

As a highly respected thought leader, I have had the pleasure of speaking with some of the most powerful and influential people on the planet. One thing I quickly observed is that they face challenges just like everyone else. 

The difference is that they do not become prisoners to the challenges in their lives. Instead, they allow the challenges in their lives to serve as a portal to change. I think one of the most important truths that you can ever learn is that you are not exempt from challenges. 

When you come to this place of awareness, you realize that you will encounter adversity but you do not have to be defined by adversity. You can allow adversity to produce wisdom and create an advantage in your life. Nobody is exempt from pressure but you can learn to embrace pressure and use it for your growth, development, and advancement. 

A life without challenges will be crippled and common. Challenges demand our growth and facilitate our evolution. The understanding that nobody is exempt from pressure will eliminate all the excuses for why you cannot pursue the life of your dreams. 

We all have different circumstances but those that overcome have mastered leveraging challenges as building blocks for success and prosperity.

2. You must understand the purpose of pressure in your life.

If you are anything like me, then you would probably prefer to experience a life without pressure. I prefer a calm life that is well-organized and relaxed. However, we live in the real world and you are going to face real challenges. As I have advised leaders around the world, I have been fascinated with their responses to pressure. 

The most poised individuals become undone when pressure is applied to their lives. Most people have a negative connotation of pressure. However, I have learned that pressure is not a bad thing. Pressure is a prophetic tool that shapes our growth, drives change, and stretches our capacity for greatness. In all honesty, we would never grow without pressure. 

The purpose of pressure in your life is to facilitate the unlocking of your potential and the expansion of your paradigm. As I stated earlier in this piece, I can think back to a time in my life when my business almost collapsed, critics were mocking me and telling me that I was out of my mind and I felt like giving up. 

Conversely, in that season I learned that pressure has a purpose in our lives. Pressure wants to serve as the catalyst for strategies and solutions. In other words, the adversity that we are encountering is only awakening unrealized potential and untapped power. 

Pressure is ultimately serving the purpose of positioning you for what is next in your life.

“Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.” – Kobe Bryant

3. Learn to see pressure as a gift.

Many people look at my life today and marvel at my success. I am often asked for the key to my success. However, I always find it interesting that nobody is interested in hearing about my failures. Honestly, I have learned much more from failure than I ever have from success. 

Failure taught me who I was, who I was not, what my strengths were, what my weaknesses were, and who my true friends were. Most of all, failure showed me what was not working in my life and empowered me with the wisdom to change it. What has failure taught you? 

Pressure may not seem like a good thing to you. On the other hand, pressure is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given in my life. In my life, pressure has provided me with the circumstances that I needed to see my limitations and my capabilities. 

What most people fail to understand is that pressure reveals problems in our lives. You have to stop seeing problems as a curse. Problems are simply portals to possibilities. When pressure begins to shine a light on a problem in your life, it adjusts your paradigm and opens you up to perspectives and solutions that you never imagined possible. 

You would have never discovered any of this without pressure. Those that learn to see pressure as a gift are those that ultimately unlock the greatness within and make significant contributions to the world. Pressure is the womb of discovery. 

Furthermore, discovery is the catalyst for breakthroughs.

4. You will never unlock your capacity without pressure.

So many people in the world today are frustrated with their lives. Why do I say that? They are stuck, stale, and stagnant. They know that more is available and possible; however, they are unwilling to leave the clutter of the common and dare to live an uncommon life. 

Years ago, I discovered that I could either remain stuck and make excuses for why I was not further in my life. Or I could stretch and embrace new possibilities for my life. What I discovered is that inaction is the seed for regret. Action is the seed for results. 

In other words, every single day of our lives we are choosing either to be people of action or inaction. The tomorrow that you step into is the product of the investments that you have made today. Small investments will never produce a significant tomorrow. Intentional investments produce an extraordinary future. 

Pressure shows up in our lives to stretch us. When we are stretched, we have the courage to shift the reality of our lives and seize new possibilities. Your capacity needs a challenge to be unlocked. You will never know your true power or potential without pressure. It is only when pressure is applied that your true potential is awakened. 

Pressure is a valuable treasure when you shift your paradigm. You realize that pressure is what ultimately forces you to leave where you have been and facilitates the journey of becoming who you were born to be. Pressure is a prophetic tool pulling out of you what has always been dormant in you awaiting discovery and recognition.