The Importance of Competition
Why do some people fear the C word more than the F word?
Three stages of Competition
- Competing against your previous best
- Competing for Respect (from pears & friends)
- Dominance & fear (this is the hardest level to achieve and is only achieved by 1% of the 1% divided by pie)
- Competing against your previous best is one of the healthiest forms of competition anyone should strive for & it is also the easiest to achieve. The goal here is to constantly strive to improve on previous efforts. For example, you ran 800m in 4 minutes and now you are aiming to get this to under 4.
- Competing for respect is a category many fall into and are sometimes afraid to admit, yet it is a normal part of life. This is often a desire to be seen as equal, we often need to put in the work to get here and it doesn’t happen overnight. An example is starting to learn a new movement yet aspiring to be equal or similar to someone who may have already been training the snatch for 5 years. We also see this often in the workplace aspiring to be at the same level as our colleagues who may have been there much longer than us.
- Dominance & fear. Some people just have this and many never will. It is also important to understand that if this was common the effect of dominance and fear would decrease. Michael Jordan, LeBron James & Tom Brady all have this, the moment they step onto the field or court. Whilst the first 2 are very achievable this is rare and requires a lot of sacrifices, time, and dedication. This also cannot be achieved without going through the process of the other 2.
I’m sure you have all heard the saying before – but competition can be unhealthy. Yes, this is true but competition is an important part of life that drives us forward. So let’s dive into it a little more and look at some ways people compete.
3 styles of Competing
- Competing down – DO NOT EVER BE THIS PERSON, Don’t be a CUNT
- Competing Equal – This Is where most of us should aim for or try and sit & compete with people as close to our level as we can as often as we can.
- Competing Up – competing up is one of the best ways to grow but it does require you to be a very good loser. Many will avoid this as the fear of failure or loss is not worth the progress that follows the lessons. For those who manage stage 3 of competition in our earlier chat this style of competing is the one that they crave & get up every day for. A great example of this is not for a 14-year-old to play rugby with the Australian team but rather to play a few years up.
Now I suppose your asking but why compete? Well, what If I told you that goal that was going to take you 20 years could take you 10? Would you be interested?
With competition, we will achieve and grow much faster than without, we just need to understand how to use and apply healthy levels & styles of competition that suit us as an individual and align with our goals, morals, and environment.
I hope you got something out of this now let’s go out and Compete. Be better, Be humble and Be proud.
Written By: Michael Earl
