Well, it’s healthy to be competitive, but some people prefer to work with their friends than against them so they might not enjoy it as much. I set myself goals – sometimes to be better than others at something – and I like the feeling when I excel (and dislike when I fail to) but I think the factor which decides if you are “too competitive” from others’ perspectives is how strongly you externalise your competitiveness.

So my real point is, blog-a-week competitions are silly. But, hey, if you ever want to work on something cool with me, just let me know ;-)

Hmm, I feel this rant falls a tad on the obvious side. It feels a bit akin to stepping up to the soap box to tell people how cold winter is. Competition is a core human trait and one that as you said is fine to make use of as long as you are sporting. I’m not sure you will find many to take opposition to that! Nice to see you haven’t gone soft though! Hah :)

I dislike competition and competetiveness, personally (though I like you Tom!); I feel that while it does propel us forwards faster than the alternatives, the cost is too high and we would be better, and ultimately better off, if we spent the energy on co-operating rather than competing. Efficiency and speed of change are not the only measures of success. However, in this regard I am against the spirit of the last few hundred, if not thousand, years, it seems. But that’s OK. I’m also quite aware that I just might be simply wrong about this. That’s OK too. :-)

Competition’s okay if everyone’s on board and sporting etc. Not so if you’re the competitive one and everyone else is just having fun. It can really ruin a pleasant activity or hobby for some if one person always has to be the best at it and rub it in everyone’s face or takes it too seriously, you know, like in that episode of Scrubs with Turk. No problems if you just keep it to yourself though. I don’t see why, if one person is being competetive and no one else is actively competing, that person would need to announce it to them or anyone else.

When did you change your theme btw?? It looks cool.

It was probably also the reason I didn’t get a first then? (Thanks for pointing out you’re better than me… again!) Since when did we have a friendly rivalry? If I’d have known that, I would have tried harder. I say we should do it again and see who comes out on top then! :P

I think you’re right mostly though Tom. There is however, a difference between just being competitive, and then bragging about it… like a dick. Like Kat said, better if everyone’s on board with it from the beginning, but there’s too much energy involved in making everything a competition. I bet I’ve watched more films than you – I win! You’ve watched more shit TV shows than me – you win! It could get too much. There is somewhat more satisfaction (I think anyway) in modestly knowing you’re the best, and garners more respect from your fellow competitivees rather than having to shout it to the world.

I would blame Ben and Jon for making you like you are though. :)

Wow! Five posts already! Maybe I should write more posts like this and less mindless ones about my life that no one cares about but me heh, I can probably find a balance somewhere. Anyways on to my replies!

@Andy Fair point, and I agree about the externalise your competitiveness, it is something I am trying to tone down but I suppose it can go the other way to, people may get annoyed if I am too competitive, but I often get annoyed when people aren’t competitive enough (e.g. when playing a game on xbox live but giving up and not really trying to win… its not fun if the other side isn’t bothering to play). The blog-a-week competition is a little silly as a competition but it is more about encouraging each other to blog regularly and it worked quite well last time.

@Jon I wrote this mostly because Rich had to remind about geocaching not being a competition (which is true it is a non-competitive sport) and I came across this awful article AND frosty was asking me to start up the Blog-A-Week competition again. So all things pointed at making a post about being competitive.

I would say that yes this is a really obvious post, but then again everyone else who has posted here disagrees with me!

@Gimbo Don’t get me wrong, I love co-operating too and I think one thing that is important to remember is the difference between friendly competition and aggressive competition. I enjoy Friendly competition my example of geocaching is exactly that, I love searching for caches in a group, I encourage people to find the caches I have found and I really wouldn’t have a problem when people overtake my finds however being a little competitive with it spurs me on to get off my arse and find them when I might otherwise just waste the time lazing on the sofa.

I would be quite interested in hearing you expand on your last point though regarding being “against the spirit of the last few hundred, if not thousand, years.”

PS

I like you too!

@Kat I think what I was trying to stress in my post was that as it is the competition that is the fun part, having to be the best and rubbing it in the face of others when you win is not good and ultimately not the point. It is the taking part (as all of our friendly teachers like to say) that counts. Too turn one thing that you said on its head though, it may be bad if only one person is being competitive in a group but equally if one person is not being competitive it can also be bad. Take a game of Halo it really winds me up when the person who is losing gives up and just messes around, it totally ruins the fun if people aren’t actually playing to win (even when they know they are going to lose).

Changed it a little while ago, it’s called Libro (by Deniart).

@Nick Just to clarify, I wasn’t ever trying to brag with my First comment, only saying that it was the fact that I had to match whatever work you were doing that kept me working so hard, I judged the quality of my work based on the quality of yours and lucky for me your work quality was always so high it made sure that I kept my work quality up too! <— This is a weird strange way of saying Thank You :)

Regarding your second points of “I’ve watched more films than you – I win”. That perfectly symbolises what I don’t like. Just going “I win” or “You win” is no fun at all. It is the taking part that is fun and it is what helps encourages me to try harder. To take film watching as an example, if it was (which I am not saying it should be) a competition. It wouldn’t actually be winning that I would care about, it would be the fact that it would have encouraged me to watch new and interesting films and talking about what we have both watched etc. It’s not about BEING the best, it’s about TRYING to be the best (a very important difference).

Another example is my arguing and my need to “always be right” that I know royally pisses most people off. However it is not that I need to be right it is that I really enjoy exploring all the possibilities digging deep and finding out the truth or at least what people think is the truth. I will argue about what I think is “right” and I want the other person to argue about what they think is “right”. If their argument is strong enough I will be won over or at the very least it gives me new things to think about once again if the other person just went “oh your right” that is boring! Having counter-arguments and evidence and different opinions and talking about them (even if it is heated) is awesome.

Note: You’re half right; it probably was Jon that helped build this competitive streak in me. (Remember the Stick incident?)

“Probably for the fun of sport, T-Rex! The goal isn’t actually the trophy.” Dromiceiomimus 08/09/09 http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1547

Competitiveness can be a good thing, and a bad thing for the reasons most people have mentioned above. With Caching, I really don’t think it’s an avenue for friendly competition. Its not a sport, at least I don’t see it as such, I see it as a fun activity, that gets me out to see new places, and more importantly, something I can do with my friends. And that’s what it still is, I don’t think there’s a single cache I’ve found on my own, because I prefer going with other people. There is a small amount of disappointment if I’m not the person to actually find it, but then that’s quickly dispelled when I realise I’m in an awesome place with my friends. If caching is gonna start going down that competitive road, then I don’t think I’m gonna want to go very much any more.

As Nick said, there’s a difference between being competitive, and being a dick and bragging about it. Xbox Live is no fun when someone acts like a dick every time they get a kill. It’s fun when your all having a laugh and joke together, but when that one person takes it too seriously, it stops being fun (think Monica, in Friends).

I always used to have some competition with my friend, Andrew. We were always the top two students in the class through Primary and Secondary (Comp/high) school, and he would usually end up top of the list with me trailing in second. He was also really good at everything he applied himself to. I remember feeling really jealous when he told me he was gonna start learning to play the guitar, since I knew, within a matter of months he would be better than me (who had been playing for a year or so by then). And he was! But thing is, he never bragged about any of it, (he was head boy, captain of football and rugby team, on academic quiz teams, (and did numerous things outside of school)). He is one of the most modest people I know, and has the more competitive side that @Andy talked about. He set goals for himself, and would work damn hard to achieve them, and never brag about having done so. He’s currently doing his PhD at Cambridge.

I sort of lacked that competitiveness, and give up too easily. I decided I was crap at guitar and stopped going to lessons, I decided Keyboard was too difficult so quit that. I also stopped caring that much about exams and so on, and just decided to have fun and get by. As such, I ended up settling in Swansea for a few more years, where as if I had carried on, I could have probably gone to Cambridge too.

So it’s an interesting topic, competitiveness, and I think ultimately its down to what you want to do, and the type of person you are. Personal competitiveness is a really good thing. You should set yourself goals and try to beat them – I’m currently trying to run the same distances I used to two years ago, and since committing to it, am making good progress. But, I think, finding competition where there is none is not a desirable quality. And to be a little blunt, I really don’t care how many caches you have found compared to me, or how much better your grades may have been (as an example). What I care about is that we had fun looking for caches together, and those hours spent in Uni were some of the most fun filled times I’ve had with all you guys. :)

@Tom: yeah I totally agree with you on the flip-side. Like I said, it’s all good if everyone’s on board.

I must say I did enjoy reading this post, i cant leave a long comment as I’m in work (At the BBC heh) but yup, just a quick message to say that your blog does entertain me while there aren’t any calls, texts, emails or tea to make! And your comments on competitiveness are pretty spot on, though you fail to balance the argument, you have allot of Pro and only a little con in the form of “Frowns”…course perhaps I’m picking fault just to be competitive?
Anyhow, keep up the blogging!