What is the line between positive and negative pressure in the workplace?

Anything that is manipulative, or unreasonable is negative. Learn to stand up for yourself and fight for what you know are your solid rights and obligations. Outside of that, if it is simply a deadline, or anything that can bring about a positive benefit for your company as a whole, and that must include you, then find ways to work better under such pressure, that might mean making some adjustments outside of your work life so that you are better able to cope with your work demands! Think hard, about this! The solution might surprise you!

Positive "pressure" is when you are working hard but you are still feeling motivated. You still want to wake up and go to work. it pushes you to do your best work. It becomes negative if you are feeling a sense of burn out or that other people are taking advantage of you and the work becomes too overwhelming. It takes a lot of guts to be able to say no but it is worth it in the end

Positive pressure - Helps employees to perform better at work. For instance, a work target which can challenge the potential of an employee at the same time it is not too difficult for that employee to achieve it. Negative pressure - Harms employee performance at work. For instance, poor work environment wherein an employee tackles with prejudice from the boss and at the same made to work long hours compared to other employees.

Sometimes it is really hard to tell, but if when you get home you can't disconnect/abstract yourself form work, have trouble sleeping because you keep thinking how much you'll have to work tomorrow and how stressful you'll be, then probably you're having too much negative instead of positive pressure in the workplace. Also if you feel constantly or frequently upset, short-tempered, emotion overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, short-breathed, drinking too much caffeine or consuming large amounts of alcohol or having other unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with frustration and high expectations both while, before and after work that's also an indicator of negative pressure.