Competition is considered as an essential ingredient, if not a prerequisite, for success. One competes to win. While competing to win anyhow, one often forgets whether the means used are fair or not, desire for success being so overwhelming. Competition creates a sense of urgency and of restlessness despite increasing energy through flow of adrenal. The downside of unprincipled competition is losing friends, associates and well wishers. The winner takes it all and the loser is left with a feeling of loss. “Healthy Competition” term is used when positive flavor is to be given to the term “Competition”. It is for the losers to first understand and appreciate the reasons for not winning and then work on strategies and practice to win. Thus, like beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder “Healthy” in “Healthy Competition” is to be felt by the loser. This is truer in sports and games. In today’s world competition is largely not healthy.
Competition may not always be necessary.
Collaborate, cooperate and contribute should be the mantra for growth, happiness and success. Today, with the advancement of Information Communication Technologies, collaboration has become easier, faster and more effective. Tools and technologies offer a wide array of choices to collaborate. The opportunities to collaborate at work place, in professional, social and personal space, with associates, relatives and friends are numerous. Collaboration needs to be well thought through before being initiated. One needs to know the purpose, people and the time frame before one gets into collaborative frameworks.
Cooperation is a natural corollary and a requirement for collaboration. There may be a number of situations where one cooperates without collaborating, for example, cooperation with the boss, the colleagues and the subordinates at workplace, with the siblings at home and with class fellows in school or college. Cooperation creates goodwill and synergy. It increases the speed of learning. When one cooperates one feels good. When one feels good, the learning process expedites. When one learns, one feels happy. Again when happy one cooperates further and learns faster and feels happier. This is a cycle. Collaboration and cooperation create better environment for the happiness and growth of the people involved in the process. The happier the person more he or she contributes to the common good. While doing so, the person grows glows and shines. This may be a much better and easier process of personal growth than competition. Success through competition may evoke a temporary feeling of success but success through collaboration and cooperation evokes a longer lasting feeling. This is akin to increasing the size of the cake itself rather than fighting for the slices of the same cake.
One should not talk in terms of achievements or even in terms of performance. It should be in terms of contribution. It is more important to think and say as to what is one’s contribution to one’s school, college or university or to one’s company or organization where one works or lives or in society rather than the position one holds in these spheres of life. One who contributes selflessly is a much bigger achiever in life and society in the long run than the one who reaches certain level of positions in life. After a person or position is gone he is known for his contribution in making this world a better place rather than his personal attainments.
