Why High Performance Is Making You Feel Empty?

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about results and performance. Even so, there is a growing number of people who, despite achieving great results, feel empty inside. According to a survey by ISMA-BR, 32% of professionals show consistent symptoms of burnout, while 67% report that work-related stress affects their mental health.

This reveals an absence of meaning, a disconnection that is more symbolic than physical, the body and true presence are no longer aligned. In this context, work stops being an expression and becomes merely a means of survival.

The idea of continuous high performance has become synonymous with excellence. Intense routines, packed schedules, and constant deliveries are now seen as markers of success. However, this ignores the fact that energy and motivation are cyclical, ultimately leading to exhaustion.

This logic often creates environments where there is no space to think, only to act, resulting in structured exhaustion rather than true performance.

For much of the 20th century, social control operated through clear rules and external limitations. Today, we live under a different logic. According to Byung-Chul Han, we have moved from a society of “duty” to a society of “achievement.” We are no longer driven only by external demands, but by an internal pressure to constantly improve, produce, and be more efficient.

The issue is that today, the one who demands and the one who suffers are the same person. The freedom we believe we have becomes a trap, where the idea that everything is possible still doesn’t feel like enough. The pressure no longer comes from outside, it comes from within. In this context, burnout is no longer an isolated phenomenon but a collective symptom.

All of this generates a sense of emptiness, an absence within oneself and of oneself. Perhaps refusing narratives that confuse performance with meaning is a path toward true presence, something increasingly rare today.

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