The future belongs to those who can perform under pressure

New research reinforces the growing link between emotional regulation, resilience and sustainable high performance.

The people who sustain high performance are rarely those under the least pressure. They are the ones who recover fastest.

For more than three decades, South African human performance specialist Richard Sutton has seen one characteristic consistently separate exceptional performers from everyone else: their ability to recover, adapt and continue making good decisions under pressure.

“Pressure is inevitable,” says Sutton. “The people who thrive aren't those who experience less stress. They're the ones who have developed the capacity to regulate their response, recover effectively and continue performing when it matters most.”

Research reinforces the link between emotional regulation and performance

Today, a growing body of international research is reinforcing those observations. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Nature Human Behaviour, involving more than 150,000 participants across 37 countries and regions, found that people who regularly use adaptive emotion regulation strategies experience lower psychological distress and greater psychological wellbeing. The findings add to growing evidence that emotional regulation is fundamental to both mental health and sustainable performance.

The implications extend far beyond individual wellbeing. The World Health Organization estimates that depression and anxiety cost the global economy approximately US$1 trillion annually through lost productivity. The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization also recognise mentally healthy workplaces as essential for healthier people, stronger organisations and more sustainable performance.

Symposium to examine mental health, resilience and human performance

Sutton will present Managing Mood, Emotions and Health: Lessons from the World's Best Performers at the Integrative Mental Health Symposium, taking place in Cape Town on 29 August and Johannesburg on 30 August. Bringing together leading international experts in psychiatry, neuroscience, integrative medicine and nutrition, the symposium will explore the latest evidence in mental health, resilience and human performance.

“The greatest opportunity isn't simply helping people recover from poor mental health,” Sutton says. “It's giving people the skills to build resilience before they reach breaking point. Performance isn't built when pressure arrives. It's built in the choices we make long before it does.”

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