Why Competition Should Inspire, Not Consume You

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Welcome, my usual and new readers, to my blog. The topic for this week is healthy competition.

Can competition be healthy? I think so, as long as it focuses as a growth engine and not as a fight to destroy someone.

In life, things have to stay in balance.

That this competition is an impulse but that does not consume you, that motivates you without causing any kind of damage.

Because I have seen cases of many people who compete only to destroy the opponent, simply for reasons of vanity or only for simple evil.

Because then, within its nature, is like that feeling that as it gives them pleasure to cause damage, and this is part of a psychopathic behavior, obviously. Because there are people who are like that by nature, and people to whom they only like to fanfare or pretend to other people that they are winners in life.

For a long time, in different societies, especially here in Latin America (although I have also seen it in other cultures of other countries), but speaking here of Latin America, people like to pretend a lot what it is not, especially at the level of having a social position or of the achievements that they have won.

For example, if they show that they are doctors, they like to have, for example, in their office all the titles they have won and show them with pride, or the competitions they have won.

It is like showing the trophies or diplomas of the achievements that that person has had, that makes them feel proud.

But at the same time, it is like an exhibition of vanity, telling people: "Look, I have achieved all these trophies and all these successes in life, and you? What have you achieved?"

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And obviously, this can be the motivation so that other people can move forward and can fight.

But I understand it as something that can be very toxic, because a person to be motivated and to be overcome by another who has had so many achievements and see that you cannot reach it, because it has been the case of my own and many other people that I know who have felt frustrated to see that they do not achieve that position or that degree or that trophy or that victory that the other person has had, no matter how much they have tried for many years.

Then, there are people too You have to take into account that there are people who are like privileged in that sense.

There are signs when you can know that a competition is healthy, and it is when this competition inspires you to improve and not to obsess.

When in a competition there is mutual respect, you admire the person who is competing with you and learn from that person. That is another sign.

When the objective is to grow and not only win to have the prize or the trophy, because even losing, you gain experience to see how the other people participate and what they do.

And that is the idea of a competition.

Another sign that a competition is positive is that you feel with energy. You are not bitter or you are not resentful for having to compete.

This is what happens many times, and I say it from my own experience.

Now, when a competition is not positive and it is a toxic competition, is when the person or when you want to win at all costs, and people start cheating.

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They start talking to slander the other participants or start manipulating the others.

And when the self-esteem of the person depends on winning, because if you lose, you feel that you are worth nothing.

And also when you have a lot of envy or you get angry when you see that other people triumph. Then, this is already signs that a competition is really toxic.

To maintain balance, because you have to overcome your own goals and not only those of the others.

You have to celebrate the successes of others too, and you also have to set limits.

Because if rivalry takes away more of what it gives us, then we have to rethink that. You have to also think if we compete for growth or we compete for fear of being left behind.

This is an important factor also.

And also because sometimes you have to create alliances with other people to be able to get further.

In general it should feel like a challenge game, not like a war.

If a competition leaves you empty instead of proud (without being vain), then that is already a sign that something is not right.

And well, this is what I can say about healthy competition.

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