Producing great results consistently is hard. Producing great results consistently—and under pressure—is harder. It takes a great deal of confidence to pull it off successfully.

But confidence, it turns out, is only half of the equation.

In a previous article, I talked about the importance of confidence when producing under pressure. And it’s true. Confidence is a vital attribute when you’re leading a team (even if that team has only one member—you) through a high-pressure situation.

Confidence, however, is no guarantee of ...

I used to work 100 hour weeks.

I still do, on rare occasions. But back when I was first producing my weekly comedy TV show Almost Live!, they were routine.

And most of those 100 hours, especially the final 24, were in panic mode. I spent much of those 24 hours trying to hide the panic from my staff.

So why was I in such a panic? Because the pressure was overwhelming, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

Each week, we had ...