Ok so there’s this theory in psychology called the
Yerkes-Dodson law that essentially plots the relationship between arousal and
performance. The idea is that if you don’t care enough, you do poorly, but if
you care too much you also perform poorly. The trick is to hit the sweet spot
in the middle.
Honestly though, I think that I perform better when I’m
under less pressure and don’t care as much about what happens. It could just be
me, but frankly pressure tends to get to me very easily.
One example is that I used to care a lot about my
performance in dance class. If I got corrections I was embarrassed and I really
really wanted to do well. This stopped about halfway through last year, I quit
caring as much about dance simply because I didn’t have the capacity to do that
anymore. It became a form of exercise that had no bearing on the rest of my
life, I showed up, I danced, I left. And I think I improved as a result. Or at
least, my mental health improved. I stopped evaluating myself based on how I
did in class. I much prefer it this way.
I think that if you don’t have that much investment in an
activity, you’re going to do better because now you’re doing it for yourself.
Whether you succeed or fail, the only one who is going to know or care is you.
And in the end, that’s what it comes down to. You’re only accountable to
yourself, go out there and make you proud.
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