Peer pressure or self-pressure: Which benefits you more?

We all know that learning is best achieved interactively rather than through a one-way transmission process.

Learning from each other is one effective way to improve team abilities which is important for business organisations. Not many business organisations use peers as a training resource though. One significant feature in high performing organisations is the use of peers leading the pack to raise the standard of performance of the team.

From the time we were children, peer pressure had a negative connotation almost as if the people who surround us wield some power over us. Learning from a peer is perceived to affect one’s esteem.

The positives of peer pressure is mostly ignored though an honest look back will reveal many instances of peer pressure helping you to improve, be it studies, sports or any other common activity.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to succeed, but sometimes the most effective pressure comes from our peers. Accept and add a little positive peer pressure to your individual learning strategy for all the motivation you need to succeed.

Share your voyage

If you want to increase the chances of your success – involve someone else in your situation. Share your voyage with someone who has similar goals. If you meet a friend everyday at lunch to sit and chat, he or she will notice when you don’t show up.

You will show up if someone else expects you to be there. We don’t like to let others down. If others expect you to be at the gym, the club, or another meeting place, you show up because you feel obligated.

Peer pressure, the taboo of our youth, can be the saving grace of our fitness plan. It’s a positive arrangement because not only will you adhere to more workouts, but you will motivate others as well – a practical way to understand the theories of motivation.

Naturally, most people are driven to uphold or improve their perception by others and perception is relative – relativity is comparison. Use this as an encouragement and motivation to succeed.

Success

Think of a sport’s team in your old school. Good sports programs generate talent, but what really happens is that success breeds more success. Hard work and self-improvement catches on like wild fire, and the inner-competition to keep-up has everyone improving their level of play.

Think of ways to make those around you a part of your active development – you will be amazed at the opportunities that arise.

In business organisations, peer pressure is a given factor.

The choice you have to make is either to take it positively for self improvement or miss the opportunity by ignoring it. It’s not about competing against your peers but about learning from peers for self-improvement – and about learning from each other, which is the best way to develop yourself.