Competition
Sometimes you hear someone described as competitive. You hear things like, “wow, they are just really competitive.” Generally it isn’t always the most flattering comment. Oftentimes, it’s actually either intended as an insult or a way for the person who was just defeated to mentally “justify” their “loss”.
So what is wrong with a little competition? You’ll hear those against competition site that it leads to poor self esteem, by awarding the winner, and clearly labeling the loser. I have to adamantly disagree.
Competition in a sense is an activity that simulates life. In life, sometimes we come out on top (the winner), but oftentimes we don’t. Competition teaches us that if we want to “win”, we have to pull out our best. To succeed in competition, we have to plan, prepare, and then DO the work to reach the goal. Isn’t that just like life?
Life really is one big competition. To be successful, we plan, we prepare, and we train (mentally and physically). We put in the time, the effort, and go for it. But here’s the other lesson that we learn from competition: when we don’t “win”… we didn’t lose!
What do I mean by that? In competition, the winner is the one that receives the big gold medal. It’s the same way in life right? The winners in life drive the big cars, and live in the fancy homes, right? Not necessarily. In the media we hear words like “overnight success”. Let me tell you that study after study reveals that there is no such thing.
One of the areas you see this in is professional sports. You’ll see a boxer come out of nowhere, and dominate the field. Their PROFESSIONAL record may be non-existent, but what about their “unseen”, “unreported” amateur record? You know, the record from the past ten years of hard work, passion, and drive where they LOST 70% of their competitions prior to be classified as a “pro”. You see, successful people in ALL areas of life have to learn to deal with failure (losses). The thing that separates those on top from those that make the next episode of “Where Are They Now” is the ability to pick themselves up from a loss, and LEARN.
Champion is a word that typically depicts the overall winner. We think you need to reevaluate this perception. A champion in our minds is someone that leaves nothing on the table. A champion puts in the hours, the training, the studying, everything. Then when it’s time to compete, they are ready; nothing left on the table. When you’re competing in life, second-guessing and regrets do nothing to propel you forward. What moves you forward is knowing that you have done your part to continually improve. And when the time came, you gave it your all…NO REGRETS.
But now, what if after all of the training, preparation, and effort, you don’t win? Now you’re a loser right? Well, only if you choose to be. Or, you can look back and evaluate what you’ve learned from the loss. EVERY loss is an opportunity to learn. It’s funny, most parents would tell a child that fell off their bike to dust off and get back on, and try again. They wouldn’t put a big FOR SALE sign on it, and get rid of it at the first, second, or 50th failed attempt. They would encourage their child to get back on, and learn from their mistakes. Boy, does that bring back some memories!
Many of us need to take some of our own advice. Falling down doesn’t mean it’s over, it means that we’ve had an opportunity to learn. There are countless stories of famous failures. Thomas Edison said it quite well, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
So, don’t sell your bike! Get up and dust off. Life is a competition. If you take your wins (successes) and losses (failures), and keep moving forward, you will find yourself atop the platform with the big gold medal!
And finally, when someone does say that you are “so competitive”, take it as a compliment. One of the most powerful ways to improve is to use our peers to progress forward. Think about it like this, how many people do you know that use the last greatest, coolest home gym for a clothes hanger? Or, have a membership to a gym that they NEVER use. When you surround yourself with people that have a common goal, and are sincerely working to better themselves (and even outdo you), you are able to push yourself just a little bit further today than you did yesterday.
Check out this video with some famous failures you might know….
Also check out the Team Chip Minute on Competition, filmed live at the Team Chip in-house tournament!
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Tags: abilene martial arts, competition, karate for kids, life skills, martial arts, martial arts for children, martial arts in san angelo, martial arts instruction, Martial Arts Success, taekwondo, team chip, team chip tae kwon do, team chip tkd
January 13, 2012 at 12:33 am |
[...] Typically we lack personal discipline, plain and simple. We quickly forget the “positive feeling” of the results of being disciplined, but long remember the pain of failure! (The paradox here is that the pain of failure should be a great reminder, a great teacher helping us to remember why we should stay disciplined.) And here’s the kicker, when we “fail” in our discipline, we feel terrible, and then we start that spiral downward that makes regaining it (discipline) even more difficult. We’ve talked a lot on failure in a previous blog. Be sure to check that out the blog that talks about failure (Competition). [...]