Will you let competition make you or break you?

Competitive nature

A friend of mine once told me about an experience he had at school which inspired me to write this post. I have also decided to share his story with you guys.

The following events took place in a geography classroom.

During the lesson, Mr Smith the geography teacher asked the pupils a question: “who can differentiate between Yardangs and Zeudens?”

Two pupils raised their hands, my friend Geoff (who told me this story) and Jay. Mr Smith asked them both to stand up, he then pointed at Geoff to answer first. Geoff answered overly dramatizing, using a lot of hand gestures in his explanation. Mr Smith acknowledged his explanation with a gentle nod of the head and pointed at Jay to answer next which he did very eloquently. This made Geoff extremely jealous.

What I didn’t tell you guys was that there was a token cash reward for the best answer, and Jay winning the cash caused even more jealously to arose in Geoff.

After the geography class, Geoff went to Jay and asked him what he wanted to be in the future to which he replied a cardiologist. That was the first time Geoff had ever heard of the word or as a profession. “I’ll like to be a scientist” he responded, not because he wanted to be one but because he wanted his response to be as equally impressive.

This conversation caused a paradigm shift in Geoff’s aspirations, and ever since that day Geoff secretly began measuring himself against Jay and competing with him academically.

“Never hate the people who are jealous of you, but respect their jealousy. They’re people who think that you’re better than them.”

Just like Geoff, I was competitive with my friends academically and in sports. In one instance, I remember crying when I showed my dad my report card because my grades had dropped from the previous term and my best friend results were better than mine for the first time and the only time (I made sure of that).

Even at University, I channelled my competitive nature when I engaged in a healthy group competition with my course friends to see who can achieve the best grades. This competition was good for me because it pushed me to be more focused and to work harder. To my surprise, it also did not stop us from studying and co-operating in groups and helping each other solve problems.