“strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same”
Hill Sprint Story
I was running hill sprints this past Wednesday with the College group and as we sprinted up the hill, I had the guys try to catch one another. This created a mini competition amongst the group. I like to do this during conditioning workouts to bring the most out of the athletes. During our break periods the thought occurred to me, “I wonder how these guys interpret competition. Do they have negative or positive bias towards it”? So i asked and we started to chat about it.
Competing has always been a QUALITY I admired in the best athletes in the world. Ahtletes like Michael Jordan.,
I had a extreme desire to be great (and I still do). This EXTREME Desire to out compete anyone in my path created an obsession but it also made me abit of sore loser.
In my case, I wouldn’t lash out against others or throw a temper tan-drum (i did this plenty in my childhood) I upgraded my approach and held it in…arguably worse. I would hold it in and create stories in my head against my competitors. This created a habit of passive aggressive. I started to form a negative bias towards competition because of this pattern. It wasn’t until after my playing career ended that I realized how unhealthy this is.
Comparison syndrome
As Andrea from www.harleytherpy.co.uk puts it “In psychology, the human drive to compare ourselves to others is called “social comparison theory”. This is what I would confuse with being competitive. Sure, there is a level of comparing yourself to your opponent but if your allocating your focus energy towards them to the point its distracted you and causing you to be very angry, unfocused and off your game then it becomes anti productive.
How to use comparison in your favor
Instead of constantly comparing yourself to your ompare yourself where you were 3 months ago, 3 weeks ago, or even 3 days ago. Are you making progress from your past self? That’s a healthy way to compete.)
Resources
(https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/comparing-yourself-to-others.htm)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/competing