SlowTalk: Performance! – Pressure or compulsion?

Performance pressure may already begin in kindergarten when parents expect their children to do well or constantly demand to ‘be the best’. On the one hand, this may be well intentioned in a world that is highly competitive, but on the other it may deprive children of their childhood when play is an important element in their development. By focussing children too early on the ‘goal of success’ they are very likely to opt out of activities in which they are not good yet and deprive themselves of learning opportunities. Instead of exploring a broad field of options, their experiences of life are narrowed down at an early age.

Children also have a tendency to internalize what adults expect of them, and what starts out as performance pressure may eventually develop into a self imposed compulsion. Either way, the constant focus on success and being the best cannot be maintained all the time and in everything we do. This is very stressful to may people and when they do not come out on top, it puts a dent in their self esteem, The consequences can range from physical injuries in athletes to greater risk of depression or other mental disorders as well as to cheating at school, because the focus in on achievement, rather than learning.

• So what then is a healthy way to perform?
• Can we free ourselves from both pressure and compulsion?
• How do we achieve the optimum for our age, education skill, talent, etc.?
• How do we perform at a level that upholds the person who we are?

These are some of the questions which we may ponder tonight – and you are free to ask your own questions and listen what other people may have to say.
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