Pressure to perform is almost everywhere. We are constantly reminded by social media of what it could be, what’s better and how everyone is so successful. We need to be the best at work, the best son or daughter, have interessting hobbys, be the best partner, look good, or at least we have to appear to be good, dream big, shoot for the stars.
Restless nights, stress, burnout, it all comes in place if the pressure is too overwhelming. Otherwise, if the pressure is manageable, it can be motivating and lead to sucess. This project is about the pressure to perform in society, and it focus on the human aspect of it. It serves as reflection of diferent opinions and ideas of the protagonists. I wanted to convey this energy, and let the people which I photographed say their opinion about it.
The photos were developed with homemade caffenol, because coffee brings joy to me at the moment of being productive, and it felt adequate to approach the development process with it.
I like what I do
And I like how I do it
And I like my mistakes
And I like the way I learn
And I like the pace with which I learn my mistakes.
When my environment becomes too much for me, I tend to withdraw. I
practice procrastination until the stress level becomes so great that I am
actually forced to work to meet a deadline. In the second before that, I
often feel exhausted and lethargic.
It´s always good, it´s never perfect. In my fight against the feeling of not
being enough, I recall this sentence. Again and again. So far without
success, that is still to come.
We live in a world where everything has to happen very quickly.
Society demands a lot from people.
That’s why people are under a lot of pressure.
Depending on the profession, the work must always be done on the same day.
Very quickly, people reach their limits.
But if you succeed, the effort was worth it.
But one must not forget, health is also very important.
For me, the term pressure to perform has two faces; depending on the personal
condition and the interplay of external circumstances, I perceive it as a stressful,
paralyzing state or a sprouting, euphoric excitement. At the moment, fortunately, the
positive feeling prevails!
What is the most important thing for us? To be equal with each other.
I come from a very simple family where it is quite normal to go to school
and then get a decent education, get hired by a company and then work
hard from 9 to 5 o’clock to earn your money.
Personally, I have noticed for myself that this is not at all what I want to do.
It took me a very long time to understand that there are other ways and I
also have found ways to deal with the fact that people are critical, that they
do not understand my path.
I think the main issue around it is the issue of fear. Fear of failing, fear of
getting negative energies of other people, not being respected, and being
recognized as inferior.
There is just a lot more to me personally. I’m much happier when I do what
makes me feel happy, even if I’m not as successful, financially or
whatever. I can draw my energy from it by simply doing exactly what I
enjoy and then I am ready to go beyond borders.
What I find very difficult is social media. Where it’s all about presenting
what you have, what you have achieved, how beautiful life is. The whole
thing has become a game of having to outbid others and that even then
you can basically feel inferior when you see how great the life of others
are. This is a very negative aspect and I always try to remind myself that
this is all just a sham.
Here in Germany, we can deal with this fear in a completely different way. I
realized that I have total freedom and we must not have fear.
On the contrary, I am actually very happy and grateful that I can do what I
want to do, that I can always feel safe and in my case also have a
family that stands strongly behind me, good friends who support me and
that gives me a lot of energy.
Personally, I think it’s a pity that more and more the profit is in the foreground and thus every year the performance has to increase. I love my job and have been doing it for over 25 years with a lot of fun. The fact that profit comes out here is nice for me, but by the way, I’m more concerned with the fact that I can help people to find a beautiful piece of jewelry that reminds them of a special occasion and with which they can then remember the rest of their lives based on this piece of jewelry. No matter if this customer can now spend 1,000 or 100,000 €.
This performance pressure messes up everything and would be more of a reason for me to do what offers the same satisfaction but whereby you do not necessarily have to earn more and more money…
But so far, I have not discovered such a vocation…
I believe that our society puts us under pressure in almost all areas of life.
The different services provided in each case constantly compete with each
other, whereby an attempt is made to meet the given expectations.
Therefore, one’s own performance should not be dependent on that of
others, as well as one’s own reflection should dictate the pressure to
perform, because in the end you should look at yourself and have
achieved the goals you have set for yourself.