The Nielsen Ratings of Life

Performance is defined as “an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment,” or “the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.” We can consider every day we live as a performance; not for the sake of entertainment, but as vocation. If we choose to look at our life’s work as self-employment (the state of working for oneself rather than for an employer), then our focus is inward in regards to our performance evaluations. If we only look to the audience for validation, letting their applause or boos judge who we are, we are missing the point of performance: self-expression. The more honest our self-expression, the less we concern ourselves with viewer ratings.