Avoid this mental pitfall

Making sure you are in the right frame of mind when entering a negotiation is very important and there are factors that potentially prevent you from performing at your best. Here are some examples:

Mandate - If you do not have a clear understanding of what you can negotiate, you will never be able to negotiate effectively. Having a clear understanding of what you can or cannot accept will make you a more confident negotiator.

Pressure from management - While some pressure will make you perform better, too much pressure will act as a huge weight in the negotiation and most likely also take away the interest for you to perform at your highest level. Having to negotiate against completely unrealistic expectations, which you did not establish yourself, is also not very inspiring for anyone.

Responsibility and authority - If you do not feel that you are fully in charge of the negotiation, for example someone comes in at a later stage and takes credit for all the work, you are unlikely to put all your effort into getting the best possible outcome. Another situation may be that you do not have the mandate to take the whole negotiation to the finish line.

The above are just a few examples, but all such factors affect your performance as a negotiator. Now, you may not be able to solve all of them, but as a minimum, you should be aware of them and how they may affect you and try to solve as many as possible before negotiating.