The Truth About Competition
I've been rethinking how I feel about competition.
I grew up playing sports so I developed a very competitive nature and I do not like to lose.
In life and business we draw a lot of parallels to sports and use a lot of similar logic, but is this the right perspective in being successful?
Are we looking at competition the right way?
Learning to compete is necessary and vital to creating a mindset that allows you to work hard and improve your skills at whatever it is you choose to do.
Competitiveness is a necessary driver for each of us.
But we focus our attention on competing with others.
Or we compete against the clock.
We think that the most competitive person wins all the time.
We create distain (real or perceived) for the competitors in our space and we set out to beat them.
An attitude of winning puts our focus on the results and we always keep score.
The timeframes and the scoreboards that we create in our minds are all arbitrary.
They aren't real and they don't matter if they aren't chosen with purpose.
When you decide that you are going to lose more weight than your neighbor Karen by July 4th you are focusing your competitive nature against someone else.
So if Karen loses 7 pounds and you lose 8 does it really matter?
Are you any better off?
When you plan on growing your business to $1million dollars by the end of 2020 you are competing against the clock.
So if you do $1million in revenue but you still can't pay your bills does it even matter?
Did you set the right mark?
Would it be better to see those 'others' as rivals that drive us to improve?
The truth is that the games we play in life and business do not have clear winners and losers. Your win does not come at my expense. If I don't beat the clock the game doesn't end.
It serves us better to shift our perspective and to be focused on competing within ourselves...
How can I improve?
What can we do to make our business better?
How can I serve my audience or my customers more effectively?
By focusing on us and what we control, instead of an irrelevant scoreboard we set ourselves up to constantly improve and get better ultimately leading to those wins you seek.
The reality is that winning is irrelevant but we can always be better.
Focus & Fortitude
-Linc