We are victims to the performance-based school system

Do you find yourself constantly feeling like a failure, as if you’re never doing enough? Perhaps this is because you’ve been conditioned to measure your worth by the performance-based systems you learned in school — systems deeply connected to the capitalist values of success and failure.

From a young age, we’re taught that our value is determined by how well we perform in school. Good grades bring praise, admiration, and rewards, while poor performance labels you as inadequate or not smart. These early lessons shape how we view ourselves as adults, conditioning us to believe that worthiness is something earned through external achievement. We’re constantly striving to meet rigid expectations set by society, even if it means neglecting our own needs and wellbeing.

Culture of Competition

School doesn’t just teach us academics; it instills a culture of competition. We are trained to compare ourselves to others, and this comparison becomes the measure of our worth. You become aware of your place within the school’s hierarchy: whether you’re an average student, one of the “smart” ones, or part of the lower sets. These labels create social divisions, leading to a sense of superiority or inferiority based on academic performance.

I remember in school how students in lower sets were openly referred to as “dumb.” Those of us in the middle sets (myself included) were keenly aware of how much better the top students were treated. One experience sticks with me: a top-set student cheated on her GCSE exam by writing answers on her hand, but despite this, she received only a mild telling-off. No serious consequences were imposed because she was seen as too valuable for any further consequences. In contrast, students in lower sets who made similar mistakes faced much harsher punishment.

This experience taught me an important lesson: the world treats you better when you’re perceived as successful. But here’s the twist — even the student who cheated was a victim of the same system. She cheated not out of dishonesty, but out of fear and pressure to maintain her status. Her worth was tied to her performance, and failing would mean losing that value.

Performance-based structures and thinking is a cause of life dissatisfaction

If we look beyond school and into adulthood, we can see the same dynamic playing out in other areas of life. Think about celebrities or politicians who do unethical things just to maintain their position of power. While family background and personal traits contribute to such behaviour, it’s also driven by a broader societal structure, capitalism, that rewards performance and punishes failure. In this system, success is defined by wealth, status, and productivity, and if you don’t achieve these, you’re seen as personally responsible for your own failure.

In a capitalist society, poverty, a lack of material possessions, or a lower social standing are framed as personal failures, rather than the result of structural inequality. Your sense of worth, survival, and even your safety are tied to what you produce or achieve. We’re conditioned to believe that if you’re not constantly achieving, you’re falling behind. This constant pressure to perform distracts us from what truly matters: how we feel about ourselves, our relationships with others, and our connection to the Earth.

This is why so many people feel like their achievements are never enough. We’re stuck in a cycle of looking over our shoulders, fearing someone else might take our place, and comparing ourselves to others to gauge our worth. It’s an illusion that keeps us trapped in a performance-based mindset, constantly striving for more but never feeling satisfied.

Unplugging from perfomance-based ways of living

The good news is, we have the opportunity to unlearn and heal from this performance-driven way of living. We need to challenge the idea that our worth is determined by external forces, as if there’s an invisible examiner constantly grading our lives. This mindset keeps us trapped, always trying to prove ourselves, always performing in hopes of one day feeling “worthy.”

To find a healthier perspective, we can look to indigenous cultures that view worth in a fundamentally different way. For example, the Shona people of Mozambique and Zimbabwe teach that “love is the ultimate purpose of life”. In many indigenous societies, your worth isn’t tied to individual achievement but to your contribution to the wellbeing of the community and your relationships with others. Value is seen as inherent, a reflection of the divine spark that exists in each of us. They see worth as measured by the love you gift onto others; not based on performance or social status.

It’s time for us to reprogramme our thinking and let go of the performance-based system that measures our worth according to societal standards. We need to build a world and self-identities rooted in a deeper understanding of value — one that recognises and honours our individual gifts, no matter how widely they are acknowledged. Everyone’s contribution matters, whether or not it is publicly celebrated. We all play a vital role in raising and elevating the collective consciousness.

As Dr. Kyra Bobinet says, “We are losing our souls to these corporations.” And I would add that we’re also making ourselves sick trying to keep up with impossible standards, constantly comparing ourselves to others, and punishing ourselves for not having it all together.

It’s time to return back to ourselves. We must create new measures of success that align with our highest selves. Success doesn’t have to be about what you produce or how much you achieve; it can be about how connected you feel to yourself, your community, and the world around you.

Ending affirmation

I am a reflection of the divine. I carry an aspect of the divine within me.

I was chosen to be on Earth to contribute to humanity with my inherent gifts and abilities.

May I be directed towards my divine path whenever I find myself getting caught up in the performance-game within the matrix.

May I stay aligned and connected with my highest self.

Thanks for reading!

Love Ash, x