How To Harness The Power Of Competition To Become Successful
Will you let competition make you or break you?
Competitive nature
A friend of mine once told me about an experience he had at school which inspired me to write this post. I have also decided to share his story with you guys.
The following events took place in a geography classroom.
During the lesson, Mr Smith the geography teacher asked the pupils a question: “who can differentiate between Yardangs and Zeudens?”
Two pupils raised their hands, my friend Geoff (who told me this story) and Jay. Mr Smith asked them both to stand up, he then pointed at Geoff to answer first. Geoff answered overly dramatizing, using a lot of hand gestures in his explanation. Mr Smith acknowledged his explanation with a gentle nod of the head and pointed at Jay to answer next which he did very eloquently. This made Geoff extremely jealous.
What I didn’t tell you guys was that there was a token cash reward for the best answer, and Jay winning the cash caused even more jealously to arose in Geoff.
After the geography class, Geoff went to Jay and asked him what he wanted to be in the future to which he replied a cardiologist. That was the first time Geoff had ever heard of the word or as a profession. “I’ll like to be a scientist” he responded, not because he wanted to be one but because he wanted his response to be as equally impressive.
This conversation caused a paradigm shift in Geoff’s aspirations, and ever since that day Geoff secretly began measuring himself against Jay and competing with him academically.
“Never hate the people who are jealous of you, but respect their jealousy. They’re people who think that you’re better than them.”
Just like Geoff, I was competitive with my friends academically and in sports. In one instance, I remember crying when I showed my dad my report card because my grades had dropped from the previous term and my best friend results were better than mine for the first time and the only time (I made sure of that).
Even at University, I channelled my competitive nature when I engaged in a healthy group competition with my course friends to see who can achieve the best grades. This competition was good for me because it pushed me to be more focused and to work harder. To my surprise, it also did not stop us from studying and co-operating in groups and helping each other solve problems.
The good and the bad of competing
“Competition when engaged in it’s pure and true form makes us better.”
From the dawn of time, competition has been a force for good and evil. It has induced individuals and groups to elevate themselves and their societies. Propelling progress in economies, businesses, technologies and sports. Conversely, competition has also led “men of old” into wars, political bottleneck, and economic calamity.
Studies has shown the good and bad effects of competition on children in classrooms and adults in the workplace. For example, competition has helped children to engage the boring tasks and inspire them to do their best. It can also damage their self-esteem and breed resentment in them when they try to push to be good enough or attempt to triumph over others. In adults, workplace competition can improve commitment to jobs, and drive the desire to go the extra mile to complete tasks. The down side comes when an employee is underperforming whilst his or her competition is doing well which can lead to stress and anxiety.
Political correctness is quick to down play and discourage competing to protect the self-esteem and individuality of those who don’t blossom in a competitive environment. Yet it is obvious that competition has characteristics that can be harnessed for good depending on how it’s used.
If we are taught to avoid competition we will never be able to test ourselves against others to determine where we are weak and should seek improvement. We will always avoid failure, and cling to mediocrity.
“A healthy envy will stimulate you to become one of those who are praised more than yourself, for the praises of others will spur you on.” — Leonardo da Vinci
People are afraid to enter competitions because they are scared of losing. They worry about what others will think of them instead of focusing on what they can gain from competing. In life, we will compete to be the best at school, team sports, job interviews, promotion at work etc. All of these can lead to benefits such as self-improvement, better chumminess etc.
Be aware of the negatives that can come from competing and what effect it can have on you, but stay focus on the positives and seek to learn from these.
How to excel at competing
1. You need to have the mindset and work ethic of an athlete — all the world class athletes before they compete would have gone through a tough and hard training camp to prepare them for the challenge ahead of them. This training camp would have instilled discipline, focus and desire to win in them to the point that it becomes part of their muscle memory and they can always tap from it when competing. When you are not prepared that’s when the pressure and stress of competing gets to you and nerves kicks in; you get overwhelmed and can’t perform under pressure.
2. Co-operation — competing and co-operation can go hand in hand just as previously mentioned about my university experience with my course friends. Competing shouldn’t stop you from working and communicating with others or trusting in others.
3. Treat opponents with dignity and respect — accept those who are different from you. Don’t dismiss losers or gloat over a competitor’s misfortune, but be willing be help others at cost of your own success.
Who should you compete with
1. Compete with yourself.
Run your own race.
“If you keep looking over your shoulder, you not going to see where you’re going. When you constantly direct your competitive efforts in response to what your rivals are doing, you lose focus on yourself and your goals.” — Victor Ng.
When you compete with yourself, you set the metrics that best suits you and you’re constantly challenging and improving yourself without having to worry about how others are performing and measuring yourself against them. This help foster a healthy mindset and true self satisfaction as you’re becoming your ideal future self.
2. Compete with only people with similar abilities to you.
“Knowing that we’re competing with someone sets off a cascade of hormonal and neurochemical changes in our bodies and brains that prepare us for peak performance.”
Be Humble, seek out people on your own level.
When competing with others, it’s best to avoid the high-performers to begin with, they will “whoop yo’ ass”. Seek out friends, work colleagues and opponents that you can beat and can beat you. Narrow the focus of your competition and make sure it is relevant to you then you will start seeing improvement in your abilities and performance.
Competition Hindrance To Look Out For
1. Competitive Nature — Beware of the becoming too competitive, it can be self destructive. Always comparing yourself to others, trying to out do others or trying to prove you’re better than others is not a healthy way to foster a good and fair competition. You will lose focus on what you’re trying to achieve.
2. Self Conscious — Self consciousness is an issue for beginners at the starting point of learning a new skill. Having an audience when you’re competing as a beginner will increase your self consciousness, and your performance can be hindered. However, competing with an audience present when you have mastered a skill will help you improve it.
3. Nerves — This is a stress response also known as ‘butterflies’ which is very common especially before you are about to give a big speech, present, perform and compete. It can cause you to choke and not perform to the best of your ability. You should always see ‘butterflies’ as your body’s attempt to prepare itself for a challenge. Your body is preparing itself for action and you should take advantage of it to gear you up to perform at your best.
4. Winning — Don’t be fixate on winning, life is not all about winning. Enjoy ‘the process’ of competing. ‘The process’ is what brings the best out of you, and helps you refine your skills until you own it and become the ‘cream of the crop’.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are competing with yourself or others with similar abilities to you, it’s important to understand the benefits and flaws of competing. Understand that you will fail, you won’t win them all and competition will reveal your weaknesses. How you respond will determine whether you will be successful in the end.
Don’t be fixate on winning, remember that life is more than accolades. Embrace co-operation and be happy for the success of others. Strive for a healthy competition from a place of integrity, respect, and self-acknowledgement at all times.
Take both the positives and negatives you gain from competing back to the drawing board, practice and work on them so that you can be better next time around. To your own surprise, each time you compete you will surpass your previous personal performance.
