In the recent controversy on the Paralympics, there appears to be some confusion regarding the notion that learning, work, sports, creativity, productivity are best served by focusing and valuing the effort involved in these pursuits. There is no suggestion that the inevitable different levels of achievements attained should not be celebrated. But excellence is much more likely to emerge when people's attention is on the effort and process of learning. In any case, excellence cannot be achieved without considerable effort; indeed, when excellence is not attained the problem generally will be in the level of effort shown.
People who tend to be focused on results or success divide their energies between the process and end result; this also means that their minds are operating both in the present and in the future. As a consequence, performance anxiety is the most common kind of fear and can be chronic and even crippling for some individuals. Failure and success are integral to learning; for the mature person, both provide ongoing challenges. However, some people live for success, have a consequent dread of failure and such fixations limit rather than enhance their creativity and productivity. Bill Gates puts it well when he says: "Success is the greatest impediment to progress." It is unfortunate that success and failure are used as motivating forces: the result is either to extinguish or diminish a love of learning or to create perfectionism or addiction to success. People who love learning and work are driven by excitement and challenge; those who attempt to prove themselves through achievements, whether academic or non-academic, are driven by fear.
The other issue regarding effort versus results is that whilst a particular virtuoso performance deserves to be lauded, it is wise to keep the success separate from how you view who achieved it. Many children and adults who were labelled "a fool", "stupid", "not too bright", "average" have had to hide their potential for fear of further ridicule. These individuals may have demonstrated a weak knowledge of a particular subject and, certainly, that required challenging, but in a way that does not put down the person but sets the next learning task. What is often not appreciated is that those children or adults who are labelled "brilliant", "genius", "successful", "wonderful", following high achievement in a particular knowledge or skill area, often develop major performance anxiety, perfectionism and addiction to success. This phenomenon is due to these people's accurate assessment that "my worthiness and value in this world is dependent on my performance, not on the uniqueness and sacredness of my person". Over-attention to the behaviour that gained them recognition not only breeds massive insecurity but it narrowed their fields of endeavour down to the "success" area(s). Emotional, social, physical, sexual and spiritual illiteracy often results from addiction to success.
Emphasis on performance also creates an unhealthy competitiveness and comparisons by others between individuals who do poorly and those who achieve highly. Disillusionment and withdrawal often are the consequences for those who have been unfavourably criticised and continued pressure to exact performance by those who demonstrate high performance. The best form of competition is self-competition where individuals are encouraged and supported to challenge themselves out from their present level of attainment and not look over their shoulder at what others are doing. So many people, young and old, do not take on new challenges for fear of being not good enough and being compared to others. The wisdom of their avoidance is often missed by a society that is success and competition driven.
Certainly it is desirable to use superlatives to describe a performance - "brilliant", "excellent", "mind boggling", "superb", "beyond expectation" - but individuals are not their behaviour. What is more worrying is that those who are labelled "brilliant" etc put themselves and others under considerable pressure and strain and they are very prone to burnout. There is also the sad statistic that a high percentage of men die quite soon after retirement. These men have lost sight of the uniqueness of self and believe that their worth lies in their behaviour. Ironically, anonymity results when performance is the goal of individuals.
Certainly, society benefits greatly from the efforts and attainments of all its members, but it is a sick society that puts products and performance before people. The focus on progress is vital for all individuals, cultures, religions, families and workplaces. It is essential that the uniqueness of individuals, families, cultures and the differences in creativity and productivity be encouraged, supported and appreciated. Equality for all the members of a society must not mean losing sight of difference. Equality does entail cherishing of each individual and the provision of opportunities to develop their giftedness and potential; it must not mean the promotion of sameness.
Dr Tony Humphreys is a consultant clinical psychologist and author of Work and Worth: take back your life.
