Do you perform much worse under stress?

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I am like KazigluBey. I do perform MUCH better under stress. I even try to sleep few hours a night to create stress, when I need to be highly productive.
The problem is that that is not sustainable for more than a few days... Maybe getting stress from sports might be better.
The only way I can be productive without stress is to be really excited about something.

Reminds me of the "What's Up?".
Took me over a year to figure out!

Actually, my native language is causing me to calculate an accurate answer. Because, there are many ways to ask, "how are you?", and there are also many answers that means fine, but all of them used in different situations, different ages of people, different relations, and also saying it in the right tone is important. The answer can change the whole meaning, your respect to the person in front of you. Simply giving an answer 90% doesn't work in Turkish. I have the ability to use my language well, but there are many social complexities in speaking. Turkish is not recommended for aspies, it makes social life much worse.

When I'm speaking English I can simply simply answer everything, being a much more social person, be more confident, saying the things that I can't imagine to say in my native language.

Interesting, I've tried to induce stress, but unfortunately to no avail.

I'm usually useless under stress but I'm ok in emergencies.

I can't function under stress.

Neither can I. I can't handle stress well.

I don't handle stress well. As a result, I can't function properly.

It depends what kind of stress I'm under. If its stress for high performance, I have all the tools available or can access them, and I can have confidence that I can pull it off well if I push myself - I typically do great.

On the other hand if I don't have the tools, the request is unreasonable or well outside the lines within which I know I can function, and the task is simply going to overpower me (ie. going to a new job where I don't know the field, nothing is intuitive, and I'm not trained or allowed to ask questions - they simply fire employees who don't intuitively 'get it'; thankfully not my current state), situations like that where no amount of effort on my part can have a positive effect, after trying long enough, I'm drawn into something of a forced day dream (I want to work and go out honorably but my body/mind simply won't let me) and from that point on I'm waiting in a sort of hellish limbo for the ax to come down.

The great news - as I get older I also have more control over my own life, I find myself less and less in the kind of situations where I'm forced to function by someone else's parameters - that's been a very good thing. Even if I choose to over-prepare for things; so be it. Little, short of perhaps being strapped to a torture table, is worse than having your head held underwater needlessly by the incompetence of others.

I'm horrible under stress.... the worst is when I have to be in social situations and I'm tired and stressed. I tend to blurt out things without thinking (duh) that are completely inappropriate....

Also have a hard time getting things done.... when there are so many things requiring immediate attention I get close to shutting down because I can't decide which is most important to do first. I'm working on "little steps" -- telling myself it doesn't matter which, just do something no matter how small and that seems to be helping a little.

Yes I usually perform worse under stress. My motor co-ordination suffers so I make very jerky movements and I get very clumsy. My brain goes blank or jumps to faulty conclusions and the quality of my decisions becomes worse. I get hot, and the discomfort of that distracts me because it's a sensory issue.

I have quite often managed to tough it out, but I get the feeling that stress doesn't do me any good, except in very small doses.

Exactly the same here...

No human being performs optimally under stress. The distinguishing feature between people is that some people are better able to manage under stress, and bring their level of performance closer to optimal levels.

Biologically, our bodies are programmed to do a number of things in response to external stimuli. Release of factors liks adrenaline and cortisol provide a short term improvement to some function, but with a significant cost. Ongoing external stimuli will cause an increase in consumption of resources, which ultimately impairs function and leads to fatigue.

For my part, normal stress has limited impact on me. I have a very fast relapse time, and stressor factors are generally forgotten in short order. However, chronic stress knocks me completely flat. I have had a handful of breakdowns where my coping strategies for my AS went completely out the window. All of them were caused by significant environmental stress related to changes in employment or residence.

O.P.
Yes, I truly start to become a 'true believer' in executive dysfunction at this point/juncture, as dr. Jekyl and Mr. hide transform and I become different .

My wife too notices these changes along with : My gait, and a jerkiness begins to manifest in my movements.^
Once I can remember overhearing my wife girls comment about me to her and say" he's behaving strange/weird again" in these 'turns'.

This could materialize itself from day to day dynamics of stress and I could never put my finger on that 'one trigger'.
It reminded me of bipolar depression to where this cycles up and down ,independent of cognition.

I don't perform under stress. I freeze.

I feel "angular" and "jerky" under stress. I get sensory overload.
I do not perform well under stress. But the stressors for me may be a bit different than the norm. I have no problem lecturing or monloguing in front of hundreds of people. I have no problem "performing" or public speaking - because it often can involve special interests and uninterrupted speech on my part. (no reciprocity.) But if I have to do something socially - as i just did then - when my son was picked up by a mother and her son for a playdate - i do manage but I manage in an eccentric and rather stressed and quirky manner, and my body feels jerky and weird, and I get brain fuzzed and blank and over-loaded and then I come inside and feel like bursting into tears because of the sensory and processing pressures I feel - even with a bit of normal conversing with a really nice person - as is this mother. oh...and i start over-talking AT people.....

I call it brain fry. I cannot focus. always been like this - to varying degrees at different points in my life.