Competition Isn’t So Bad A Thing!

With an almost-filled, weekend, sporting schedule athletes have so many choices these days to race and compete with like-minded individuals. Yesterday morning, 70,000 runners ran 5K, 10K or 21.1K at the Army Half Marathon. Already in its 19^th edition, this national-level run takes runners through an lovely and lively excursion of the CBD area, and four, mild bridges. By mild, I mean if you trained on hills and slopes; otherwise, it does the take the wind and potential PB out of you.

How many of these runners were actually competing? I observed some runners blast off immediately into the impending horizon. Some could not resist over-taking, while others did not like being overtaken. What is this thing about competition? Haven’t we heard that a little competition won’t hurt anyone? Even at the last few hundred metres, runners sprinted with each other to gain a few seconds advantage. The victory may not spell in absolute value, but in ego terms, it could buoy our self-esteem.

So often, we hear clichés like ‘winning isn’t everything’, ‘you compete against yourself’, ‘completing is more important than competing’ or ‘nobody really wins the race.’ How can competition be useful?

1)    Being competitive and competing are distinct things.

2)    The competitive spirit can bring out the potential in us.

3)    It may encourage you to jump out of complacency, and into a more capable state.

4)    Competition pits those who want to be the best, with the best.

5)    Competition can be from within; you attain your personal best without undue influence from outside.

6)    It provides an avenue and venue for expressing your skill, talent and ability.

How do you compete? How do you respond to competition? As a team-leader, how do you engage competitiveness in your team’s performance? How do you activate intra-team competition? How do you bring out the best of each member?

Inject a little competition into your life!