Competing At The Highest Level, Essential

June 9, 2020

Like the air we breathe, competition is all around us.

Sometimes it is a breath of fresh air. Other times not so much.

By some estimates, it is growing and becoming fiercer.

No matter the industry.

Take college football as an example.

The informative source athleticbusiness.com analyzed, “There is a way that college football programs use to get top prospects through the door that has grown in recent years. Facility spending has ballooned as those amenities have become the new arms race in college football. Clemson's $55-million upgrade to its football facility spawned a miniature golf course, Whiffle ball field and giant slide.”

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Very impressive. Makes you wanna go there.

“A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don't ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren't blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.”…Tom Brady

The giant global news and entertainment team at CBS Sports adds, “Today the talk of the athletics facilities world is not about Alabama or Texas A&M or Clemson or Oregon. Northwestern – yes, that Northwestern, the longtime doormat of the Big Ten, located in Chicago – is moving into a $270 million, glassed-in facility on the shores of Lake Michigan.”

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It appears that the only thing worse than being in the college football arms race, is not being in it.

If a university wants to place themselves in a position to win games and millions of dollars in revenue, they need to join the party.

Even if they aren’t invited.

Crash it.

All you need to do is watch or listen to the news and it becomes evident from industry to industry, across the globe, the competition for revenue is fiercely increasing.

On September of 2019, the business savvy team at investopedia.com dissected, “Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) shares fell more than 2% during Monday's session following a 5.5% drop on Friday.

CEO Reed Hastings believes that Apple Inc. (AAPL) and The Walt Disney Company (DIS) will usher in a "whole new world" for streaming services in November.”

In our modern world, whether we like it or not, even on an individual level, we seemed to be embroiled in a competitive arms race.

The informative group at businessinsider.com educates, “According to data from Trulia, the median price of a San Francisco home has risen from $420,000 in January 2000 to $1.38 million in January of 2019. That's a 329% increase. Four-bedroom homes have risen faster than the average, becoming more than 500% more expensive since 2000.”

Heaven forbid if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and you are looking to provide a home for your family, you know all too well that the sky high prices in the housing market have forced out people who are employed in important public services like teachers, firemen, policemen and the like.

How many can afford a million dollar home on their salaries?

Having said that, viewing the plight of the service and restaurant industry workers is not for the faint of heart.

What’s a mother to do?

Compete. Or be left behind.

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Was that direct enough?

Is competition a bad thing? It depends upon who you ask.

The most basic definition is that it is the act or process of trying to get or win something others are also trying to get or win. They want it. You want it. There’s only so much of “it”.

But both of you are not going to get it.

You’re trying to make sure it is you. Or your child.

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One of the friends in our circle who is a parent and coached his children to compete at the highest high school level in their respective sports once mentioned how to achieve his goals, mostly in an ethical way, he had to destroy the careers of several young people.

Athletic scholarship once on the table. After he was finished, their scholarship was gone.

His children earned over $250,000 in scholarship funds back at 2008’s value. Today that value would be far higher.

Would he do it again? Would you?

In terms of competition, it appears, like it is similar to the college football arms race. The only thing worse than being caught up in it, is being left out of it.

And, if it were only about you as an individual, you could move to the least expensive and safest place to live and learn how to be content.

“Any time you have a competitive situation like politics is, there are winners, and there are people who don't win, and their supporters can sometimes be very emotional.”…Justin Trudeau

The problem is that it is not only about you. It also involves your children, wife and other family members who have needs and more important, high expectations of you. Fail and the consequences can be dire.

In her Psychology Today article titled “The Benefits of Feeling Competitive”, Ms. Lisa Firestone Ph.D. offered, “Being competitive can have an ugly connotation in our society. It has become, in some ways, synonymous with greed, envy and narcissism. But feeling competitive isn’t always about climbing the ladder, winning the race or getting ahead. Competitive feelings are completely natural. Moreover, they’re unavoidable.”

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That does seem to be the point. Competition is unavoidable. Even if we want to avoid it, where do we go to avoid it?

Perhaps the alternative is to learn how to enjoy it and even possibly embrace it. Where can we receive some valuable lessons?

The book industry is often a good source.

One book geared towards women that appears to be turning heads and influencing those heads to turn the pages is “Embracing Victory: Life Lessons in Competition and Compassion”.

Interesting.

Compassion is not always a word associated with competition. Usually there is the lack of, when fierce competition is involved.

The author is Ms. Mariah Burton Nelson.

Amazon shares, “Award-winning athlete Mariah Burton Nelson urges women to stop denying that they're competitive. She teaches them how to compete without losing their dignity & sense of humor. She shows how competition can, under the right circumstances, enhance both intimacy & success at work, at home, & in sports. She challenges women to follow in the footsteps of the female athletes who compete openly. Using personal stories, interviews with more than 200 women, & research involving a thousand women & girls nationwide, Nelson counsels women to embrace victory as a Champion does: honorably, compassionately, with intensity & integrity.”

Sounds interesting, inspiring and very effective. Appears to be worth a read.

In a competitive world, in terms of this subject, we should be studying or reading something.

According to worldpopulationreview.com, “The current US Census Bureau world population estimate in June 2019 shows that the current global population is 7,577,130,400 people on earth, which far exceeds the world population of 7.2 billion from 2015. Our own estimate based on UN data shows the world's population surpassing 7.7 billion.”

The next question often uttered is how much population can the world sustain?

And the next.

Does the earth have enough resources to sustain that burgeoning population?

Whatever the answer to the last question is, one thing we know for certain.