How much pressure should you put on yourself?
Does pressure make a diamond you want?
Abstract
External v internal pressure.
We may be aware of what external pressure looks like, but what about internal pressure?
Both are subjective as we react differently in various contexts.
Internal pressure can include our standards for example, which can be extremely powerful, given it may dictate our action most of the time.
External pressure, from direct pressure from others to situational pressure, faces our values, morals, and beliefs, which dictates our response to it.
Although I have distinguished the two types of pressure, it is important to highlight that the two interact, which is what this post will be driven by.
When looking through the lens of productivity and self-improvement, the only person who can apply pressure towards a bias to action is you.
Whether the cue is an external source, like a motivational video, or a routine that we follow, we choose whether we should place pressure upon ourselves dependent on our circumstances.
These are the questions we will attempt to answer in this thought-piece:
Are you putting enough pressure on yourself or too much pressure already?
Is there a right amount of pressure?
Discussion
‘Pressure makes diamonds’
This is a cliché we have heard of, that indicates pressure shapes us into the person we aspire to become - something more valuable and sought after.
It’s admirable to thrive under pressure and in order to answer the questions presented in the abstract, this is what will be at the core of this exploration.
As with any cliché, the more frequently it is used, the more its meaning diminishes and becomes diluted, whereby I have noticed a caveat in the widely used ‘pressure makes diamonds’.
The roots of the phrase potentially stem before the 18th century - long before lab-grown diamonds became popular in the 1970s.
Therefore, the natural formation of diamonds was being referred to, where they are formed deep within the Earth’s mantle in conditions of high temperature and pressure.
But if you have been reading The Thought Base from its inception, you may remember my theme of defining things on your own terms.
It is not necessarily a major conflict, but I am of the view that this external pressure can only mould you to some extent.
In the case of this cliché, the encouragement is to withstand intense pressure to allow it to shape us into a better person.
But consider this.
There are diamonds more valuable and sought after than others.
You may realise that many blindly play the same game of consistently withstanding pressure, not breaking down or succumbing to it, and as a result hoping it would lead to an intended result.
What if I now said that you can shape this diamond to your liking?
Shape your diamond
Even when we say pressure makes diamonds, we are still inside a cocoon of other’s expectations, institutionalised standards, such as grades, work promotions, and quite simply at the hands of others that sculpt us to their liking.
Internal pressure can not only sharpen the diamond in terms of corners and brightness, as we take it upon ourselves to develop, but also can control the process of the diamond being made whilst it is in fruition.
What do I mean by this?
The longer that diamonds cool down, the larger they get.
Therefore, if you decide how much pressure you put on yourself over time, you won’t be dependent on external pressure as there is only so long you can be formed by others, even when you place yourself in high pressure situations.
This is because, if you don’t fit the bill, it is due to you not taking it upon yourself to develop yourself to your liking, i.e. taking initiative to improve independent of the circumstances around you.
The ownness is on you.
Just to reinforce this point, I’ll revert back to the Bunsen Burner days and the GCSE Chemistry experiment of crystallisation, which is a process that carbon undertakes to form the lattice structure we call a diamond.
This is an excerpt from the outline of a crystallisation experiment:
“The quicker a substance cools, the smaller the crystals will form because the molecules within that substance have a shorter time to arrange into a fixed, ordered pattern.”
This is a key point I’ll refer back to later in the discussion.
When can you place too much pressure on yourself?
To focus on the structure of a diamond, I will take this analogy a step further.
As I said before, a diamond is a lattice structure formed of carbon, and the finished product is one that is cut and shaped.
There are two key ideas I got from this.
One is on the rigidity of the diamond structure, which in this case is representative of how we build ourselves.
Alongside this, the extra detail that ions are not free to move in a diamond structure as it is a fixed lattice of carbon atoms which gives the diamond its strength.
The way I interpreted this is that it is indicative of the expense of rushing the process of building ourselves.
Ions are atoms or molecules with a net positive or negative charge, which enable an element to conduct electricity.
These ions could represent your experiences which have formed the person you are today but are experiences that you can’t relive.
These are opportunities you once had alongside past aspirations and desires you haven’t fulfilled.
The only way to relive them would be to melt down the structure, to enable the ions to move.
Even at that, this takes significantly more effort to do compared to how the structure was created in the first place.
When putting this into diamond terms, you would find that the temperature for the melting point (4500°C minimum) of a diamond is at least 5x the temperature of the conditions needed to form it (900-1300°C).
This highlights a struggle where people have to manage with what they have as a result of their decisions, even if they are dissatisfied.
Therefore, it is essential to build the structure ahead of ourselves carefully, as rushing the process would only lead to regrets.
The second idea I got was from the melting point itself.
As referred to earlier, the temperature required to form a diamond is 900-1300°C.
When raised above the minimum temperature threshold for the diamond to form, it can begin to burn and react with oxygen if it is present.
Ironically, when carbon reacts with oxygen, it can produce CO₂ which is bad enough in itself as it’s a waste product.
But what’s even worse is the possibility of carbon monoxide which is poisonous.
After a certain dose of it…
I think you know the rest.
The point I’m getting at here is that there is a misconception that can form when we say ‘pressure makes diamonds’.
Becoming obsessive with placing pressure upon yourself you may think makes you stronger, in terms of foundation and also with what you can withstand in the future.
However, there still comes a point where it becomes too much.
In reality, there is a range of temperatures that diamonds form, but its the cooling that is responsible for the size of the diamond.
The cooling is representative of consistency; sustained pressure over a long period of time.
Placing immense pressure on yourself, more than is reasonable, doesn’t benefit you.
It would only lead you to crash out or shut down completely.
Then you have to start from ground zero again.
Conclusion
There are multiple cocoons formed through other’s perceptions of you that you cut through in your life.
The sharper and heavier the diamond, the fewer cocoons that can handle it.
Essentially, realise that the pressure of the cocoon you are in contains the right conditions for you to be held in it.
If you don’t choose to take it upon yourself, you will sit in a cocoon made by others - it requires effort from an insect to form their cocoon in the first place and then emerge from it.
On the other hand, even if you are making an effort, at which pace do you want to emerge from the cocoon?
There is a middle ground for the pace you go at; a pace that you can consistently keep up with but also challenges you.
Pressure makes diamonds in a cocoon if the pressure doesn’t start with you.
P.S.
Have there been times where you have placed too much pressure on yourself?
Is there a point in life where the diamond forms completely? It would be interesting to get your thoughts on that.
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Well-thought piece :)