“You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.”—Michael Jordan
I mentioned, yesterday, that there is room for competition in the Spiritual dimension. Personally, I really do believe that competition is spiritual. How competition fits within our Spiritual dimension is sportsmanship.
We tend to think of competition as something that is divisive and, therefore, a negative. We want to emphasize cooperation over competition. The former, however, leads us to the “successful side of mediocre”, whereas the latter makes everyone better.
Don’t get me wrong. We need to cooperate. We need to share and work together. When it comes to growth and universal improvement, however, competition is supreme.
When one is competitive, one is focused first on being the best he/she can be. When performance is team-oriented one must succeed for the benefit of the team, as well as one’s self. When individuals vie for the top spot, others are working for the same position. Thus, each pushes to out do the other. In the end, everyone gets better.
I have made no secret of my passion for the sport of wrestling. I consider wrestling unique in that there are, inherently, three levels of competition—team against team (in dual meets), individual against individual, and individual against him-/herself (i.e., in making weight, conditioning, and the psychology of defeating the voices in one’s head). In preparation, much like all sports, improvement is dependent upon one athlete pushing another. Competition in practice makes everyone better.
Life is not unlike sports. We need competition to drive us to do better. Competition drives innovation. Competition drives the economy. If you question the benefits of competition to society, make a quick study of the comparative histories of East Germany and West Germany in the span between the end of World War II and the reunification in the 1990s.
In the Spiritual dimension, we consider competition as a driving force for a greater whole. With a well-centered focus, competition is not a matter of one being better than another. Rather it is a matter of being the best one can be at the moment. It leads one to “leave everything in this room.” If two athletes face off in an arena and give their all in the pursuit of victory, there will be but one victor, but in the end each has brought out the best in the other. As a result, both athletes will emerge from conquest a better athlete.
Sadly, competition is not always such as this. Unfortunately, sports have become about winning with little regard for success. Trophies are awarded without effort. In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby tells us: “If you ain’t first, your last.” Second place finishers are disgraced. There are winners and losers—and there is no glory in losing.
In society, the demonization of competition leads to a sense of entitlement. Without competition there is no drive to improve. I touched on this in ‘Leading in the Commons’. We dare not push too hard lest we upset the status quo. As a result, no one progresses.
I dare say that competition—healthy competition—is essential to the betterment of society. The constant push to “be your best today; be better tomorrow” drives everyone to get better (should, of course, they likewise determine to “be better tomorrow”).
To be one’s best today that he or she might be better tomorrow is a choice. It is a choice that requires resistance—i.e., competition. If I aspire to be better, I must have someone or something to work against me. As an athlete, I need a competitor who is giving 100%. Otherwise, I have a shallow victory and see no improvement. In practice, if one or more training partners opt to “take it easy” no athlete is challenged to improve.
I want to see my children give their all in practice. I demand this of them not only because it will make them better, but because it is necessary for their teammates to improve.
As a university professor, I am of little value to the students if they do not participate and challenge me. I cannot be “better tomorrow” if they do not demand everything of me today. Likewise, if I don’t challenge them, I am nothing more than a poor excuse of an audio textbook.
Whatever our position in life, we are made better by competition. When we “leave it all in this room”, it demands that others do the same. The result is that everyone gets better.
Carpe momento!
“If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today.”—Lou Holtz