A Word On Performance

Work and our relationship with it, fascinates me.

Especially so since I began studying psychology.

The science of psychology provides a framework of understanding. It is a means to explore our feelings and motivations towards not only work, but our entire existence.

One perspective we can adopt in this exploration, is human existence as performance.

Performance on stage, in sport, at work, in the home, in art and music, in our hobbies and pastimes.

In all of this, and more, we are required to perform.

Performance might be high level and intense such as that we might find in a surgeon's theatre. It could be equally intense but hold a playful intent such as in music or stage performance.

Performance is human behaviour focused, intent, and purposeful. Even if the purpose is enjoyment rather than what we might get from it. And it is within this state that we become The Performatist.

Indeed, this might be the purest form of human behaviour–the engagement in an activity for its inherent enjoyment. I have written about this before, the resultant experiences of which I call Purposeful Accident.

In recent weeks and months as my family and I, like millions of others, have been under lockdown, I have been exploring. I was digging into what the scientific literature has to say on the psychology of human performance.

Down The Performance Rabbit Hole

The subject is deep and broad taking in many fields. Psychology of behaviour, creativity, sport and work, biological science, nutrition, physiology, kinesthetics and others.

For this new material, I'm sticking with the psychological aspects of human performance. Although, I have no choice but to dip my toe into other areas.

I'm compiling what I'm discovering and I'd like to share some of that with you.

This subject matter might seem somewhat distant from subjects I written about two or three years ago, but it's more a natural progression. It's what I find as I go further down the rabbit hole of the meaning and purpose of life.

There's no end to it, I realise that.

But I have no choice.

I'm still working on the material and it may be a couple of months before it's complete, but crucially, I am enjoying the process. I am taking my own advice and following my curiosity.

I hope you'll come too.

Here's some of what I'm making. The password to access this page is “per4orm”.