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Phrase: Under the gun
Have you heard about Usain Bolt?
The man who thrived under the gun, thrilled millions and earned millions through endorsements has lost everything.
Apparently, he has been caught up in an investment scam and lost everything except $2,000.
Wow!
That’s a bummer, for sure.
While Usain Bolt thrived under the gun, most of us dislike being there.
The phrase under the gun is often used to describe a situation where someone feels pressure to complete a task or meet a deadline.
It usually implies that there is no power to reduce or delay the task, so the person must work quickly and efficiently.
Any failure to meet it may have serious consequences.
As you may have guessed, the term comes from running races.
Once the starter raises the pistol, participants cannot ask for a time-out and must start the competition when the starter fires.
While being under the gun once in a while can help build resiliency and character, having to deal with high-stress levels daily has been proven to be detrimental to our health.
In Japan, a common situation is that a worker is placed under the gun and forced to meet a seemingly impossible deadline.
You’d think that if the employee managed to meet that expectation, they would be praised, and they are.
The problem is that the next time a deadline is given, it may be shortened.
Japanese companies are famously understaffed, which means people are constantly under the gun to meet deadline after deadline.
Usain Bolt managed to make money under the gun, but most of us barely manage to earn a living.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 69.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.